K-Klass are a Welsh/English electronic music group from Wrexham, Wales and Chester, England, who are based in Manchester, England. Its original members were Andy Williams, Carl Thomas, Russ Morgan and Paul Roberts.
K-Klass | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Pharmacy Allstars |
| Origin | Wrexham, Wales and Chester, England |
| Genres | Electronic, house, garage house |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Labels | Deconstruction/BMG Records Parlophone/EMI Records |
| Members | Russ Morgan Paul Roberts Bobbi Depasois |
| Past members | Andy Williams Carl Thomas |
In 1991, K-Klass signed with the label Deconstruction Records scoring five top 40 hits on the UK Singles Chart and later to Parlophone. In the mid-1990s, K-Klass were one of the busiest and most successful remix acts around, remixing the likes of Bobby Brown, Janet Jackson & Luther Vandross, New Order, Rihanna, The Corrs, Whitney Houston, winning the IDA remixers of the year in 1996 for their mix of Carleen Anderson “True Spirit” then getting a GRAMMY nomination in 2002 for their remix of Samantha Mumba “Baby Come On Over”. Since leaving Parlophone Andy Williams and Carl Thomas have both left K-Klass leaving just Paul Roberts and Russell Morgan alongside original vocalist Bobbi Depasois as K-Klass. Roberts and Morgan run their own record label Klass Action[1]
Career
editWilliams and Thomas teamed up with Morgan and Roberts, from Chester, after meeting at The Haçienda in Manchester during the 1980s.[2] According to Paul Roberts:
We all met at the Hacienda in 1988. We had met before, though. Andy and Carl had done some gigs. Myself and Russ went to see Andy and Carl's band, Interstate play in Chester supporting 808 State. Andy and Carl were already pretty established, but we had no gear at the time - it was basically an SH-101 and a little Tandy mixer. We took about five tracks to Eastern Bloc in Manchester, just to see what they thought. We didn't have a name for the band or anything, and the tracks were just numbers, but they were really keen, and we put it out on a white label. We were playing a lot of live shows at the time, and used to take along boxloads of stuff to sell, and it went down really well.[3]
After recording the Wildlife EP, K-Klass's first hit was "Rhythm Is a Mystery", sung by Bobbi Depasois, and released in 1991. The track reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart after a re-release the same year[4] and featured prominently in the 1992 film Encino Man.[5]
"Let Me Show You" reached number 13 in 1993. Subsequently, the band purchased a retired Royal Observer Corps underground bunker in Borras for use as a recording studio.[6] They released two albums, Universal, featuring Depasois' vocals, and K2. In 1995, K-Klass won the I.D.A Best International Remixer award, the first UK artist to do so.[7]
K-Klass have played many live events, including stints at nightclubs in Liverpool, Sheffield, Hong Kong and Ibiza as well as the Hollinwoodstock Music Festival in Oldham in 2014.[3]
They have also been involved with producing and remixing tracks by other artists. K-Klass was one of the producers on the Pet Shop Boys album, Bilingual, and have also produced for Candi Staton, Rebekah Ryan, Rosie Gaines and The Corrs. They have remixed tracks by Carleen Anderson, Bobby Brown, Sunscreem, Kylie Minogue, Geri Halliwell, S Club 7 ("Bring It All Back") and M People. Their remix of "Baby Come On Over" by Samantha Mumba was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2002 in the Best Remix category.[2]
Roberts and Morgan appeared on 97.3 Forth One's Friday Night Floorfillers on 22 February 2008, whilst covering for the regular presenter, Krystal.
In 2013, a collaboration with Lempo and Japwow on Applique Music, titled "Brass Attack" was featured on the album Done & Dusted.
Selected discography
editAlbums
edit| Year | Title | UK [4] |
AUS [8] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Universal
|
73 | 140 |
| 1998 | K2
|
– | – |
| 2017 | K-Klass Presents: House Classics
|
– | – |
Singles
edit| Title | Year | Label | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [4] |
IRL [9] |
AUS [10][8][11][12] |
US Dance [13] | |||
| The Wildlife EP | 1990 | F.R.O. Records | 86 | - | - | - |
| "Rhythm Is a Mystery" | 1991 | Deconstruction | 61 | - | - | - |
| "Rhythm Is a Mystery" (re-release) | 3 | 7 | 130 | - | ||
| "So Right" | 1992 | 20 | 19 | 184 | - | |
| "Don't Stop" | 32 | - | 175 | - | ||
| "Why" | - | - | - | - | ||
| "Let Me Show You" | 1993 | Deconstruction / Parlophone | 13 | 22 | 18 | - |
| "One, Two, Three" | Deconstruction | - | - | - | - | |
| "What You're Missing" | 1994 | 24 | - | 107 | - | |
| "Burnin'" | 1998 | Parlophone | 45 | - | - | - |
| "Live It Up" (vocals by Tubbs) | - | - | - | - | ||
| "Let Me Show You '99" | 1999 | Klass | 172 | - | - | - |
| "Baby Wants to Ride" | 2002 | Junior London | 84 | - | - | - |
| "Footsteps" (with Frances Nero) | suSU | - | - | - | - | |
| "Talk 2 Me" (featuring Kinane) | 85 | - | - | 9 | ||
| "Now You're Gone" | 2003 | - | - | - | - | |
| "Dance with Me" (featuring Rosie Gaines) | 2005 | 236 | - | - | - | |
Remixes
edit| Artist | Title | Album / single |
|---|---|---|
| Aqua | "Bumble Bees" (K-Klass Radio Edit) | Bumble Bees |
| "Bumble Bees" (K-Klass Klassic Klub Mix) | ||
| Atomic Kitten | "Right Now" (K-Klass Phazerphunk Radio Edit) | Right Now |
| Blondie | "Rapture" (K-Klass Radio Edit) | Beautiful - The Remix Album |
| "Rapture" (K-Klass Klub Mix) | ||
| Bobby Brown | "Two Can Play That Game" (K-Klassic Radio Mix) | Two Can Play That Game |
| "Two Can Play That Game" (K-Klassic Mix) | ||
| "Feelin' Inside" (K Klass Klub Mix)[14] | ||
| Carleen Anderson | "Apparently Nothin'" (K-Klassic Mix) | - |
| "Apparently Nothin'" (Pharmacy Dub) | ||
| Cher | "All or Nothing" (K-Klass Klub Mix) | Believe |
| The Corrs | "So Young" (K-Klass Remix) | - |
| "Lifting Me"(K-Klass mix) | - | |
| Frou Frou | "Must Be Dreaming (K-Klass Ultra Vocal Mix)" | Must Be Dreaming |
| Geri Halliwell | "Lift Me Up" (K-Klass Phazerphunk Mix) | "Lift Me Up" |
| "Lift Me Up" (K-Klass Phazerphunk Edit) | "Desire" | |
| Holly Valance | "Naughty Girl" (K-Klass Radio Edit) | - |
| Janet Jackson / Luther Vandross | "The Best Things in Life Are Free" (K-Klass 7") | - |
| "The Best Things in Life Are Free" (K-Klass 12") (CD Version) | ||
| "The Best Things in Life Are Free" (K-Klass 12") (Vinyl Version) | ||
| Kylie Minogue | "Where Is the Feeling?" (K-Klass Klub Mix) | Where Is the Feeling? |
| Lisa Stansfield | "The Real Thing" (K-Klassic Mix) | Lisa Stansfield |
| M People | "Love Rendezvous" (K-Klass Klub Mix) | - |
| New Order | "Ruined in a Day" (K Klass Remix) | - |
| "World (Price of Love)" (World in Action Mix) | - | |
| "World (Price of Love)" (Pharmacy Dub) | ||
| The Other Two | "Tasty Fish" (K-Klass Klub Mix) | Innocence |
| "Tasty Fish" (K-Klass Pharmacy Dub) | ||
| Paul Morrell feat. Mutya Buena | "Give Me Love" (K-Klass Remix) | - |
| S Club 7 | "Bring It All Back" (K-Klass Club mix) | - |
| Samantha Mumba | "Baby Come On Over" (K-Klass Mix) (nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Remix) |
- |
References
edit- ^ IMO Records. "K Klass Biography". Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012. "K Klass Biography"], IMO Records Retrieved on 08 March 2011.
- ^ a b Wrexham band up for Grammy Award—BBC website 23 February 2002, recovered 8 November 2006
- ^ a b "K-Klass biography on somewhere4u.co.uk". Archived from the original on 23 August 2006.
- ^ a b c UK chart information:
- Top 100 peaks: "K-Klass - Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
- Peaks below #100: Zywietz, Tobias. "Chart Log UK: Alex K - Kyuss". zobbel.de. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
- ^ Encino Man (1992) - IMDb, retrieved 6 March 2021
- ^ Former nuclear bunker for sale - BBC website 27 November 2000, recovered 8 November 2006
- ^ "K-Klass". BBC News. 19 November 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ a b "Bubbling Down Under Week Commencing 20 January 1992". Bubbling Down Under. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
- ^ "The Irish Charts - All There Is To Know. Discography K-Klass". irishcharts.ie. IRMA. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^ "Discography K-Klass". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
- ^ "K Klass ARIA Albums chart history 1988 to 2022, received from ARIA in 2022 page 1". ARIA. Retrieved 3 December 2023 – via Imgur.com.
- ^ "K Klass ARIA Albums chart history 1988 to 2022, received from ARIA in 2022 page 2". ARIA. Retrieved 3 December 2023 – via Imgur.com.
- ^ "K-Klass Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
- ^ "Bobby Brown - Feelin' Inside at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 13 April 2012.