Ice MC (rapper)

For other people named Ian Campbell, see Ian Campbell (disambiguation).

ICE MC aka Ian Campbell (born 22 March 1965 in Nottingham, England) is a hip-house/eurodance rapper

Ice MC

Career

His parents are from Jamaica. Ian grew up in the area of Nottingham called Hyson Green. When he was in high school his initials IC quickly got him a nickname ICE (lately he interpreted it as Ian Campbell Esquire). After leaving school he hung around Nottingham for a couple of years until in 1983 he joined a group of breakdancers and started touring Europe with them. In 1989 in Italy he met Roberto Zanetti - singer, composer (as Savage), and producer (as Robyx). Their first single called "Easy", made in a hip-house style, came out in 1989. It became successful all over Europe, reaching the top 5 in Italy and the top 3 in Germany. The two next singles, "Cinema" and "Scream", and the subsequent debut album, "Cinema" (released later in 1990), were also very successful. In 1992 his second LP, "My World", came out but failed to achieve the success of its predecessor due to the fact that hip-house had ceased to be popular. His third album, Ice'n'Green, was released in 1994 and featured Alexia on vocals. Three of his most successful songs, "Think About The Way," (also featured in the soundtrack to the 1996 film Trainspotting), "It's A Rainy Day" and "Take Away The Colour", made the charts all over the world. Ian now got a new look and new style: raggamuffin. The album was also released in the US where the two biggest singles saw substantial club play and moderate dance music radio airplay, thus becoming hits. In 1995 "Ice'n'Green - The Remix Album" was released. This contained various remixes of previous hit singles. In 1996, ICE MC decided to leave Roberto Zanetti and Alexia due to some disagreements between them. Shortly after that a new album called The Dreadatour (produced by Masterboy) was released. The hit from the album was "Give Me the Light", but the album itself was not very successful because the era of Eurodance was clearly coming to an end. Later on in 1998, also with Masterboy, he released two promos, "Busy Body" and "Energy", but they failed to attract any attention. After this, he decided to return to England and take a break but some personal problems and unwise investments forced him to find a job away from the music business. At the end of 2002 he decided to return to Italy and to contact Robyx again. Together they started writing some new material and at the beginning of 2004 they began recording a new album. However his new single, "It's a Miracle", and new album, "Cold Skool" (released on April 19, 2004 on Time Records), failed to achieve any noticeable success.

Discography

Singles

• 1989 - "Easy"
• 1989 - "Easy (Attack Remix)"
• 1990 - "Scream"
• 1990 - "Scream (The U.S. Remix)"
• 1990 - "Cinema"
• 1990 - "OK Corral!"
• 1990 - "OK Corral! (The Cotton Remixes)"
• 1990 - "The Megamix"
• 1991 - "People"
• 1991 - "People (Remix)"
• 1991 - "Happy Weekend"
• 1991 - "Happy Weekend (Remix)"
• 1992 - "Rainy Days"
• 1993 - "Take Away the Colour"
• 1993 - "Take Away the Colour (Remixes)"
• 1994 - "Think About the Way" (UK release was named "Bom Digi Bom")
• 1994 - "Think About the Way (Boom Di Di Boom Remixes)"
• 1994 - "It's a Rainy Day"
• 1994 - "It's a Rainy Day (Remixes)"
• 1994 - "It's A Rainy Day (The Christmas Remix)"
• 1995 - "Take Away the Colour ('95 Reconstruction)"
• 1995 - "Ice'n' Mix" (Triple set remixes) (Italy Only)
• 1995 - "Megamix" (France only)
• 1995 - "Run Fa Cover" (US only)
• 1996 - "Russian Roulette" (Sweden only)
• 1996 - "Funkin' With You" (France only)
• 1996 - "Give Me the Light"
• 1996 - "Give Me the Light (Remixes)"
• 1996 - "Music for Money"
• 1997 - "Let's Take It Easy"
• 2004 - "It's a Miracle"
• 2004 - "My World"

Albums

• 1990 - Cinema
• 1991 - My World - The Early Songs
• 1994 - Ice'n'Green
• 1995 - Ice'n'Green - The Remix Album
• 1996 - Greatest Hits and Remixes
• 1996 - Dreadatour
• 2004 - Cold Skool