| DJ Sets ::Calvin Harris
N0. 34 RATED DJ IN THE WORLD ON THE
DJ LIST
1984 –
2006: Early Life and Career
Harris was born on 17 January 1984 in
Dumfries. He was first attracted to electronic music in his
teens and was recording bedroom demos by 1999. According to
an interview with News of the World, all the while he created
music, he started becoming an antisocial person, which affected
his personality. His earliest success was when he was 21:
the songs "Da Bongos" and "Brighter Days"
were released as a 12" club single and CD-EP by the Prima
Facie label in early 2002 under the name Stouffer.
Harris signed contracts with EMI (publishing) and Sony BMG
(recording) in 2006, after his music had been discovered on
the social networking website MySpace. Harris had recently
moved back from London to his hometown of Dumfries because
he was unable to find a job. He had only managed to release
one song in 2004 with artist, Ayah Marar. The song appears
on The Unabombers' 'Electric Soul 2'.
2006 – 07: I Created
Disco
Harris in 2007Harris' first album I Created Disco was released
on 29 June 2007. The album contained uptempo electroclash
songs that were influenced by music from the 1980s. To promote
I Created Disco, Harris embarked on a tour of the UK, supporting
Faithless and Groove Armada.
The first release from the album was "Vegas" on
limited edition vinyl and the first charted single released
from the album was "Acceptable in the 80s", a tribute
to the style and culture of the decade. The song reached the
top ten on the UK Singles Chart, remaining on the chart for
fifteen weeks."The Girls" was the album's second
single, it reached the top 5 in the UK singles chart. The
fourth release from the album was "Merrymaking at My
Place" which reached number 43 in the UK chart. His song
"Colours" is featured on the Kia Motors ad for the
Soul.
In 2007, Dragonette released their cover of Harris' "The
Girls" retitled "The Boys", during which the
band alludes directly to him: "I even like those scrawny,
Scottish, into pop music but not like sorta like pop dance
electro music." It was Dragonette's version of the song,
however, that made its way onto Karl Lagerfeld's Spring/Summer
2008 runway show.
2007 – 08: Collaborations
With Other Artists
Harris performing in 2008In 2007 Harris recorded with Kylie
Minogue. He had caught Minogue's attention after his recordings
had been passed on to her by another record producer. Harris
says that working with Kylie was "surreal, but fun"
although he admitted to Mixmag in 2007 to "needing a
few drinks before meeting her." Harris co-wrote and produced
two songs on Kylies' X album; 'In My Arms' and 'Heart Beat
Rock'.
He was recently credited as being the producer in a remixed
version of The Mitchell Brothers song "Michael Jackson".
Harris is also currently working with British pop-star Sophie
Ellis-Bextor, co-writing some new songs for her upcoming fourth
studio album.
In 2008 he collaborated with UK rapper Dizzee Rascal on Dizzee's
song "Dance wiv Me". They performed an acoustic
version for the BBC as part of the Glastonbury Festival 2008
coverage. The song was released digitally on 30 June 2008
and went straight to number 1 in the UK. On 18 October 2008
he was also featured on Radio 1's Essential Mix with a 2 hour
set.
In 2009 he produced Dizzee Rascal's next single entitled
"Holiday". He was supposed to make an appearance
in its music video, but objected to dancing along in some
scenes, wearing a certain shirt for the video and not wearing
his "fly eye" glasses.
In a BBC Radio 1 interview with Fearne Cotton, Harris said
that he turned down working with Lady Gaga in 2008 because
he disliked the demo given to him and that he did not want
to offend her at the time. In later BBC online interview,
Harris stated he considers Gaga to be a "good artist".
2009 – Present: Ready
For The Weekend
On 3 April 2008, Harris stated that the only existing copy
of his upcoming album work was lost when his laptop was misplaced
during the baggage handling problems at the opening of London
Heathrow Terminal 5. He later stated on the BBC's Glastonbury
Festival 2008 coverage that he got his baggage back including
the album within a few days. Harris recently admitted however
that this was a lie as the album was not in his luggage at
all, and that he hoped that what he said would buy him some
more time to finish recording the LP.[14] Harris' second studio
album was released on 17 August 2009 in the United Kingdom.
Calvin Harris performing in Kilmarnock, Scotland promoting
Ready for the Weekend in 2009The first single, "I'm Not
Alone" was exclusively performed in Sydney, on New Year's
Eve. The new single debuted on BBC Radio 1 on 23 January 2009,
on the Pete Tong radio show and was released in April 2009.
It debuted in the UK Singles Chart at number 1 on Easter Sunday
on downloads alone, then stayed on top for a second week after
the physical format had been released. On its release his
single "Ready for the Weekend" went to number 3
in the UK Singles Chart.
Harris Performing in Warsaw, Poland in 2009.Harris will
be touring around the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, the
Netherlands and the United States promoting his new singles
and his new album. His single "Ready for the Weekend"
features singer Mary Pearce. Other tracks included on the
album are "Worst Day" featuring Izza Kizza and "Yeah
Yeah Yeah La La La" used in a Coca-Cola advertisement.
In June 2009, NME announced that Harris' second album, Ready
for the Weekend would be released on 17 August 2009. His songs
"Holiday" and "Ready for the Weekend"
are listed on radio line-ups. Excerpts from "I'm Not
Alone" were used in Madonna's remixed version of "Frozen"
in her Sticky & Sweet Tour. Also excerpts of "I'm
Not Alone" are used on the 2009 live coverage of the
British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) on ITV4.
On 7 June 2009, Harris appeared at the Summertime Ball at
the Emirates Stadium and performed "I'm Not Alone",
"The Girls" and "Acceptable in the 80s".
He then brought on Dizzee Rascal and Chrome and performed
"Dance Wiv Me". Harris will make a guest appearance
on Tiësto's song "Century" on his new album
Kaleidoscope which was released on 6 October 2009. On 15 August,
Harris made an appearance on the first Soccer AM show of the
season.
Harris performed at Wembley Stadium on 25 October 2009 as
part of the pre-game entertainment for the NFL International
Series game between the New England Patriots and the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers.
On 14 November 2009, Harris invaded the stage of British
TV talent show The X Factor during a performance by John &
Edward holding a pineapple on his head and bending over to
point at his rear end. He was subsequently evicted from the
studio by the security team and told not to return to have
his say on the ITV2 programme The Xtra Factor—in which
he was to have been a "Celebrity Guest". He later
apologised on Twitter, saying he was a fan of the boys, "At
the end of the day, I had a pineapple on my head. Sorry if
I caused anyone embarrassment. PS, I love Jedward". On
16 November however, Harris spoke to The Chris Moyles Show
and revealed that he had been "inspired to make a mockery
of the show", as well as stating that "If you look
at music it's a frightening stranglehold that Simon Cowell
has got over the entire music chart in the UK at the moment."
On the same day, John and Edward's "mentor" Louis
Walsh, appearing on The Paul O'Grady Show, accused Harris
of trying to "cash in" on John & Edward's fame,
and claimed to not know who he was.
On 28 November 2009, Harris was a guest at 1xtra Live and
appeared on stage with Dizzee Rascal as he sang his single
Come Dance Wiv Me.
On 15–31 January 2010, Harris will be playing at the
2010 Big Day Out which is situated in all major capital cities
in Australia and New Zealand.
Calvin Harris has stated in a recent interview with Q Magazine
that he will "probably never make another album",
and insisted that from now on he will be devoting his talents
towards production and acting.
N0. 34 RATED DJ IN THE WORLD ON 
