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Freemasons (DJs)

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Freemasons

Freemasons are a dance band from Brighton, East Sussex, England. The act consists of music producers Russell Small (who is also one half of the House production duo Phats & Small) and James Wiltshire (who also works with Phats & Small but under the alias Jimmy Gomez).

Career

The duo is well known for using samples and loops from classic club/dance and Disco songs and blending it in with the new sounds of today's contemporary dance genres. The name is taken from the Brighton pub Freemasons which they frequently visit. The duo also record and do remixes under the similar sounding Freemaison name, which is also the name of their newly-formed record label that was founded in 2005. They have also produced tracks under the names of Alibi, Walken, Funk Fanatics, and BN3 (which is part of their hometown of Hove's postal code).

In 2005 the duo transformed Jackie Moore's 1979 #1 Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play track "This Time Baby" and Tina Turner's 2000 hit "When the Heartache Is Over" into an international club hit as "Love On My Mind". It was released in the States on their United States label home, New York City based Ultra Records.

They were also the remixers on Faith Evans 2005 #1 Hot Dance Music/Club Play and #4 Hot Dance Airplay hit "Mesmerized".

The Freemason's follow-up, "Watchin'" was released in the United States in 2006 with Amanda Wilson as their lead vocalist for the track. "Watchin'" peaked at #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play and within the Top 20 of the Hot Dance Airplay chart. The third original single from the Freemasons, "Rain Down Love" reached the Top 20 of the Hot Dance Airplay chart. It also hit the Top 10 on some Rhythmic format radio stations. Their fourth single (released digitally), "Nothing But a Heartache" featuring vocals from Sylvia Mason-James was released in June 2007. Although it got great play by DJs, it failed to chart as well as its predecessors.

The Freemasons have also been praised for their remix of Beyoncé Knowles' original song, Déjà Vu in 2006 (for which they were nominated for a Grammy). It is reported that Beyoncé was so impressed with the remix that she requested that they also remix all singles released from her album, B'Day. The Freemasons followed this up with further remixes of Ring the Alarm, Beautiful Liar (duet with Shakira), and Green Light, transforming her traditional R&B tracks into funky house tunes, attracting a new base of house music-fans. Freemasons' remixes of Beyoncé's songs are now among the most eagerly anticipated in clubland. They also co-produced "The One" on Kylie Minogue's album X with Richard Stannard.

On 29 October 2007, the Freemasons released "Unmixed", an album containing unmixed versions of most of their mixes to date.[1] As a bonus, there is a data track containing samples and a cappella versions of "Unmixed".[2]

In 2007, The Freemasons worked with Kelly Rowland, to produce the very successful remix of her single "Work", for the non-American markets.

The follow up to Uninvited, When You Touch Me, was released in the UK on 30 June, 2008. The song features singer Katherine Ellis. The video premiered in late May 2008. The song entered the UK Singles Chart in June 2008 and reached its peak of #23 on July 6.

Beyonce's sister, Solange Knowles has used the duo's production skills to recreate her new single "I Decided" for its European release due for summer 2008.

Freemasons have announced that they will be releasing the song "Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)", featuring pop diva Sophie Ellis-Bextor. The single was released on the 15th of June 2009 in the United Kingdom [3].

Discography

Albums

Singles

Year Single Chart positions Album
UK AUS BEL BUL FIN FRA IRE NL
2005 "Love On My Mind" (featuring Amanda Wilson) † 11 46 27 — — 70 38 26 Unmixed
2006 "Watchin'" (featuring Amanda Wilson) † 19 — 34 — 5 — 49 29
2007 "Rain Down Love" (featuring Siedah Garrett) † 12 — 20 17 8 — — —
"Nothing But A Heartache" (featuring Sylvia Mason-James) † — — — 18 — — — —
"Uninvited" (featuring Bailey Tzuke) 8 — 2 7 — 11 50 4
2008 "When You Touch Me" (featuring Katherine Ellis) † 23 — 28 — — — — 30
2009 "If" (featuring Hazel Fernandes) — — — 15 — — — —
"Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)" (featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor)[5] 4 — — 9 — 62 38 85 Shakedown 2

† Refers to singles also featured on the Shakedown album.

Remixes

2005

2006

2007

2008

Producer credits

References

  1. ^ Louis Pattison (2007-11-02). "Dance Review - Freemasons, Unmixed". BBC. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  2. ^ "Freemasons UNMIXED". I Like Music. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  3. ^ Freemasons & Sophie Ellis-Bextor
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ Freemasons Myspace
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