Goldie

For other uses, see Goldie (disambiguation).

Goldie

Clifford Joseph Price, better known as Goldie (born 19 September 1965 in Walsall, England) is an English electronic music artist, disc jockey, and actor. As a musician he works mainly within the jungle and drum and bass genres, and has helped to promote these styles globally.

Early life, graffiti

He is of Jamaican and Scottish heritage. He was put up for adoption and raised in child-care homes and by several foster parents.

Price was a member of a breakdance crew Westside, based in the Whitmore Reans and Heath Town areas of Wolverhampton, in the 1980s. He later joined a breakdance crew called the Bboys, and made his name as a graffiti artist in the West Midlands. His artwork around Birmingham and Wolverhampton was featured heavily in Afrikaa Bambaataa's documentary Bombing (which was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK).

He took part in the largest ever British graffiti art battle alongside Bristol artist Robert "3D" Del Naja, who later formed Massive Attack. He is also mentioned for his graffiti in the book Spraycan Art by Henry Chalfant and James Prigoff, which contains several samples of his art.

He moved to the US and started selling grills (gold teeth) in New York and Miami, a business which he continued after his return to England in 1988, and turned into his trademark.

Music career

By 1991, Price had become fascinated by the British breakbeat music scene; and his girlfriend, DJ Kemistry, introduced him to the pioneering jungle/drum'n'bass producers Dennis 'Dego' McFarlane and Mark 'Marc Mac' Clair, known as 4hero.

In 1992, Price released his first track as Ajax Project. At the same time, he did design and A&R work for 4hero's Reinforced label.

His releases "Killa Muffin" b/w "Krisp Biscuit" and the Dark Rider EP were put out under an alias, Rufige Cru. More recently, he has used the alias Rufige Kru to release collaborations with other producers such as Heist.

His track "Terminator", released under the name Metalheads (sic) in 1992, was a huge hit in the jungle scene, and is noted for pioneering the use of timestretching. In 1993 he released "Angel", another 12" on the Synthetic Hardcore Phonography label. 1994 saw him setting up his own record label, Metalheadz. The label was a huge success, releasing some of the most important 12"s of that era.

Goldie next to another person's "Timeless" tattoo, 2001

His first globally released album, Timeless, followed in 1995. Timeless shot straight into the charts at number seven, which was a first for a drum 'n' bass record. The album fused the breakbeats and basslines common in jungle with orchestral textures and soul vocals by Diane Charlemagne. The album's title track was a 21-minute symphonic piece. Inner City Life, a track taken from the album, sold over 15,000 copies on vinyl.

With his reputation firmly established, Price released his second album in 1998, Saturnz Return. The album's opening track, "Mother", is an hour-long orchestral drum and bass piece. The remainder of the album features appearances by David Bowie, Noel Gallagher of Oasis, and KRS-One.

In 2002, Price said that he had been working for three years on a film called Sine Tempus, described as a coming-of-age story of a young paintbrush artist, and in 2006 announced its soundtrack as his new album. The album was released via the metalheadz website in 2008. The film is still listed as 'forthcoming'.

Price is also known for his work as the leader of the Rufige Kru. This group has no fixed members; it has included some of most well-known drum and bass producers such as Technical Itch, Heist, Cujo, Agzilla Da Ice, Doc Scott and Rob Playford.

In August 2008, the BBC started broadcasting Maestro, a reality television show in which celebrities, including Price, learn to conduct a concert orchestra. The series winner will conduct at Proms in the Park, part of the BBC's Last Night of the Proms.

Selected album discography

• Timeless – (1995)
• Saturnzreturn – (1998)
• Ring of Saturn – (1999)
• Goldie.co.uk – (2001)
• MDZ05 – (2005)
• Drum and Bass Arena: The Classics – (2006)
• Malice in Wonderland – (2007)
• Sine Tempus – (2008)

Selected singles discography

• Inner City Life (12") FFRR 1994
• Angel (12") FFRR, FFRR 1995
• Jah / Deadly Deep Subs (Remixes) (12") Razors Edge 1996
• Digital (12") FFRR 1997
• Kemistry V.I.P. / Your Sound (Remixes) (12") Razors Edge 1997
• Moving Shadow 100 (CD, Maxi) Rhythm Republic 1997
• Shadow 100 (12") Moving Shadow 1997
• Believe (12") FFRR 1998
• Temper Temper (12") FFRR 1998
• Angel III / Sinister (The Remixes) (12") Razors Edge 2004
• Say You Love Me (12") Metalheadz 2005

Selected mix discography

• INCredible Sound of Drum'n'Bass – (1999)
• Goldie.co.uk – (2001)
• MDZ.04 – (2004)
• D&B Arena Classics – (2006)
• Watch the Ride – (2008)

Acting career

Price has appeared in several films, most notably the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough and Guy Ritchie's Snatch. He also played gangster Angel Hudson, in the British soap opera EastEnders (2001 - 2002).

Price has starred in Everybody Loves Sunshine (1999) (UK title) AKA B.U.S.T.E.D (US title) with David Bowie.

He hosted Crime Business on digital TV channels Bravo and ftn, as well as presenting The World's Deadliest Gangs on Bravo in 2001.

A young Price appeared on Central Weekend, a Friday evening topical debate show on Central TV, promoting graffiti as an artform. He also appeared on various young peoples TV shows as part of breakdance crew, the Bboys from Wolverhampton. In 1995 he appeared on Passengers as well as a Channel 4 documentary about himself in 1998.

Price also appeared on the second series of Celebrity Big Brother UK in 2002; he was the first celebrity to be "evicted".

He was scheduled to appear in The Games, a UK reality TV show on Channel 4. During training for the water-ski jump event, he fractured his femur, and was unable to take part in the show. He was replaced by Adam Rickitt.

As an author

In 2002 Hodder & Stoughton published Price's autobiography Nine Lives, which he wrote with Paul Gorman.

Recent art

In 2007 Goldie returned to the art world with an art exhibion 'LOVE OVER GOLD' managed by Eddie Lock. which ran at the Leonard street gallery.

In 2008 he teamed up with Pete Tong to provide much of the artwork for Tong's new Wonderland club night at Eden nightclub in San Antonio Ibiza..

Goldie also had an exhibition in Berlin, 13th - 26th June 2008 and has an upcoming show set for 2009 in London

Marriage and personal life

At the beginning of the 1990s, Price had a relationship with drum and bass artist Kemistry, who died in a car accident in 1999. He was romantically involved with singer Björk for several years until their break up around September 19, 1996. Price also dated supermodels Stella Tennant and Naomi Campbell, and in the 2000s married model Sonjia Ashby, but was divorced around 2005. As of 2003, he had five children. Price generally keeps his private life out of the tabloids, and spends great effort to avoid having his photo taken during his downtime. As of 2006, he lived in a country house in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, which he bought in 1998.

External links

• http://www.metalheadz.co.uk/
• Goldie at Rolldabeats
• Goldie discography at Discogs
• VH1.com – Bio entry for Goldie
• Goldie at IMDb
• Goldie at inthemix.com.au
• Goldie - 2008 art exhibition
• [1]

Interviews

• Goldie - biting through – Interview by Jan Goodey
• The War is Over – Mixmag Interview by Tony Marcus
• Saturnz Return – Mixmag Interview by Matthew Collin about the release of his album Saturnz Return.
• Goldie - Headz Will Roll Interview by Tim Colman