PIANOMAN - From '90s Dance Icon to 2025 House Visionary
Most music fans recognize the name PIANOMAN from the iconic '90s dance anthem "BLURRED" – the genre-defining track that brilliantly sampled Damon Albarn's vocal from Blur's "Girls And Boys," becoming a staple of the era's rave culture.
For those immersed in the '90s dance scene, PIANOMAN's legacy extends far beyond that breakthrough hit. Tracks such as "Cast A Spell" and "Whitney Tune" cemented James's reputation as one of the decade's most innovative producers, leading to major label deals with Ministry Of Sound, Universal Music, Armada Music, Trick Records, and Storm Music, among others.
What remains lesser known is James's extensive career as a lyricist and songwriter spanning over three decades since 1991. Behind the scenes, he has crafted songs for numerous artists and vocalists across multiple dance genres, writing authentic narratives about life, love, and the human experiences that connect us all. His compositions draw from personal truth – when it happened to him, it has happened to others – creating an emotional resonance that transcends the dancefloor.
"Shine For You" exemplifies this deeply personal approach showcasing his evolution from sample-based production to emotionally driven original song writing.
With this new direction, PIANOMAN has signalled a creative renaissance – leaving behind the legacy of his sample-based classics to forge a new path with original house anthems crafted for 2025 and beyond. The icon returns, not to recreate the past, but to define the future of house music.

Godfather’, ‘Legend’, ‘International Hero’. All accolades attributed by loving fans Worldwide to the DJ, Producer and scene pioneer known as ‘Slipmatt’. For over three decades, this dubplate diamond has been changing the game, staying on the pulse and keeping ahead of the curve, packing dancefloors and selling out clubs long before it was cool and still does so to this very day.
  
Having produced a ton of successful singles and compiled a number of hit selling mix albums under his ‘Slipmatt’ alias for some of the World’s most respected record labels including United Dance and Ministry Of Sound, ‘Slipmatt’ is also one of the masterminds behind legendary production outfit SL2 (along with Lime and MC Jay), the visionaries responsible for the chart smashing anthems ‘On A Ragga Tip’ & ‘Way In My Brain’ among many others on the iconic label XL Recordings, home to legendary acts such as ‘The Prodigy’, ‘Basement Jaxx’; and ‘Adele’. 

‘On A Ragga Tip’ is presently enjoying a resurgence of popularity as it goes on the current Virgin Media TV ad as part of their Un-Limiting adverts which includes the new ‘On A Ragga Tip’ Un-Limiting Remix, which has equally proved as popular as ever with dancefloors around the globe and this year alone is scheduled  to collaborate in the studio with Shades Of Rhythm, Andy Galea of Sol Brothers, Alex P, Awesome 3, Alexis Raphael, Sooney and, his good friend DJ Lime with some brand new SL2 releases also in the pipeline.

This wayward don of dance has also played at every major dance event and venue worth knowing about over the years including Energy, Telepathy, Fantazia, Vision, Universe, World Dance, United Dance, Dreamscape, Helter Skelter, Slammin’ Vinyl, Rezurrection, Elevation, Moondance, Raindance, Peace Fest, Clockwork Orange and to top it all off had the great honour of playing directly after his good friends ‘The Prodigy’ to a packed O2 Arena of over 20, 000 people, bringing that particular night to an epic close, and ringing in the year 2014 with a tremendous bang.

‘Slipmatt’ also repeatedly continues to play across the globe in the USA, Asia, Australia, Europe and every corner of his native UK for a string of well recognised and well attended club promotions, festivals and events. He’s no stranger to a Festival or two either playing at leading big top gigs such as Glastonbury, Boomtown and We Are Festival and there has also been and continues to be multiple overseas visits to Ibiza where Slipmatt still to this day enjoys regular return trips to the White Isle’s most infamous hot spots to play such as Eden, Es Paradis and Benimussa Park (The Zoo) 

His media outreach is quite noteworthy also, having started RAW FM, been a resident on Kiss FM, a regular in M8 Magazine and Mixmag, featured in the illustrious DJ Magazine Top 100, he’s been on BBC television a number of times including the famous chart show ‘Top Of The Pops’, runs two of his own popular Radio shows and Podcasts ‘World Of Rave’ and ‘Slip’s House’ and additionally, has won a multitude of awards, including that of ‘Best DJ’ and ‘Best Producer’ awarded by some of the industries most respected bodies such as Kiss FM and EHM.

Not one to ever slow down or fall behind and always keeping himself fresh and relevant, this dancefloor don has been focusing lately on the biggest and best house beats, which has led him to an already extraordinarily busy 2020. Add to that his upcoming book “My Story (and How I Became a World Class DJ)”, which is set to be a smash hit amongst rave fanatics the World over later this year and with over a hundred gigs booked for 2020 already (mid-Feb), there are no signs of this crowd pleasing international artist slowing down any time soon. 

Godfather Of Rave and still keeping it fresh? Definitely.

by Jon Brown | 2020

Host BBC Radio 1 Future Dance Fridays 8pm -10pm

Broadcaster / DJ / Producer / Vocalist   

Bookings - tommi@nge-booking.com
Mgmt - seb@wearebigfoot.com

https://linktr.ee/sarahstory_

Resident DJ for Funkylove & Indulgence. DJ at End Bar in Leeds. Mainly play Funky House and Funky Vocal House, Disco House, Jackin and some Tech.

Profile photo courtesy of weareAcademy94

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