Guru Josh
Guru Josh | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Acid House, Techno, Electro house |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Labels | Deconstruction, Ministry of Sound, |
| Website | Official Website |
Paul Walden (born 6 June 1964), commonly known as Guru Josh, is an English musician currently performing under his own stage name as Guru Josh. Guru Josh was an original music icon of the British post-acid house music scene in 1990, most recognised for his debut single "Infinity," initially released in 1989 on Walden's record label, Infinity Records. The song was later re-released in 1990 by BMG Records, and remixed for re-release in 2008 by the German artist DJ Klaas.[1]
Guru Josh is a Songwriter/Musician/Producer who creates his own music yet also performs live on Stage using a Roland G6 Keyboard accompanied by a saxophonist whilst playing a medley of his hits, he also is active in creating new tracks on a regular basis and on occasion also DJ's when required.
Guru Josh has now completed and is soon to release a 2011 remake of his hit single "Infinity" which is due to be released during summer 2011.
Early life
Walden is the son of a Jersey dentist, Harold Walden.[2] After studying dentistry in 1981, he began his career as an entertainer and keyboard player at the Sands nightclub in Jersey, performing under the name of Syndrone and Animal and his Crazy Organs.[3] Soon after, he joined forces with the likes of Seal and Adamski.
"Infinity"
In 1989, Guru Josh released "Infinity," also known as "Infinity (1990s... Time for the Guru)," from the album of the same name. The song achieved widespread success in Europe, especially in Germany, the UK, Portugal and Austria. The song was later re-mixed and re-released on multiple occasions (the most popular remix by Klaas), still receiving particular success in 2011.[4]
In summer of 2011 Guru Josh declared his intention to release a remake of Infinity under the name of "Infinity 2011" bearing the name of the Artist Guru Josh. This remake is currently undergoing appraisal by interested parties and is due for release during the latter part of summer 2011.
Other work
Guru Josh released several other singles in 1990 including "Freaky Dreamer," "Holographic Dreams," and "Whose Law (Is It Anyway?)," which reached #26 and #12 in the United Kingdom and Germany, respectively.[5] "Hallelujah" was released in 1991. Shortly after this, Guru Josh diversified into also doing multimedia production creating the Dance in Cyberspace series of music videos under the name of Dr. Devious and also VR, in collaboration with Darrel Jameson, Guy Labbé, Dave 'Flipping Mental' Evans, Marcus Pennell and others.[citation needed]
Guru Josh has been performing worldwide since 1989 at venues including Manumission, Es Paradis, Eden, Guaraná, and Atlántico. His music has also been featured on many of the leading music compilations released between 1990 and the present day.[5]
In 2010 he released as Guru Josh a new single entitled 'Frozen Teardrops' featuring a new female vocalist by the name of "Lauren Hall", despite strong showings in digital download sales the single failed to find a place in the charts.
During March 2011 he has released another track called "Love of Life" which went on sale at the end of March 2011, this time dropping the trademark saxophone sounds for a more modern and punchy house style he has found remixers such as Sgt Slick from Australia, Digital Freq from Mexico and The Fusion & DJ Dima June from Russia all willing to put their stamp onto his song. Currently four versions have been released:- The Sgt Slick version being a club orientated version, Digital freq having offered an Electro House version and The Fusion & DJ Dima June having offered a softer more melodic tune and finally the radio edit which is loosely based on Digital Freq's base loops but with a much stronger reworking of the melody and chorus.
On top of continued success in his music career, Guru Josh has also recently created 3D glass art under the name of "Louie Fabrix", sold in small exhibitions in New York, Madrid, Paris and Berlin, receiving critical acclaim and huge appreciation from his fanbase.[6]
Guru Josh Project
In 2007, Guru Josh Project was formed by Darren Bailie and signed by Big City Beats. The group consisted of Paul Walden a.k.a Guru Josh,[7] Anders Nyman,[8] and Darren Bailie.[9] In 2008, "Infinity" was re-released as "Infinity 2008", which was remixed by the German DJ Klaas. It experienced widespread success, peaking at No. 1 on the Belgian, Dutch and French and Danish singles charts, the Czech airplay chart and the Eurochart Hot 100.[4]
Towards the end of 2008 / beginning of 2009 the members of The Guru Josh Project disbanded to pursue other individual interests [10].
Unfortunately, Darren Bailie decided to register the trademark name "Guru Josh Project" without the knowledge or consent of the other members, this culiminated in a court hearing on the 11th of April 2011 to which Darren Bailie was found culpable and guilty of making a false trade mark claim, costs were awarded to Guru Josh and the summary of the court register is this :-
On the 11th day of April 2011, Mark Bryant for the Judge Registrar, For The United Kingdom Government, The Controller General did rule that Darren Bailie acted in bad faith and was described as both unacceptable and reckless in his TM application to register the mark GURU JOSH PROJECT.
Mark Bryant also ruled Darren Bailies application was not right or honest and granted MR Walden the right to sue Darren Bailie for damages and finds MR Bailies claims disingenuous. [11]
Discography
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart performance | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [12] |
GER [13] |
AUT [14] |
SUI [15] |
FRA [16] |
NED [17] |
SWE [18] |
ITA [19] |
FIN [20] |
NOR [21] |
ICE [22] | ||||
| 1989 | Infinity (1990s...Time For The Guru) | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | — | 3 | — | — | — | 5 | — | ||
| 1990 | Whose Law (Is It Anyway?) | 26 | 12 | 18 | 14 | — | 30 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008 | Infinity 2008 (as Guru Josh Project) | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 20 | 6 | 3 | 1 | ||
| 2009 | Crying In The Rain (as Guru Josh Project) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2010 | Frozen Teardrops (as Guru Josh) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2011 | Love of Life (as Guru Josh) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
References
- ^ 'Infinity 2008' at discogs.com
- ^ Jersey Evening Post article of 15th November, 2008 Retrieved 04 January 2009
- ^ Guru Josh Biography
- ^ a b 'Infinity 2008' Charts Success
- ^ a b Guru Josh discography
- ^ Louie Fabrix
- ^ 'Guru Josh' Official Site
- ^ 'Ander Nyman Music
- ^ 'Darren Bailie' Official Site
- ^ 'Guru Josh Project' Official Site
- ^ [http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-os/t-find/t-challenge-decision-results/o12511.pdf Applicant number 2497715
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 238. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ German Charts - Guru Josh
- ^ Austrian Charts - Guru Jush
- ^ Swiss Charts - Guru Josh
- ^ French Charts - Guru Josh
- ^ Dutch Charts - Guru Josh
- ^ Swedish Charts - Guru Josh
- ^ Italian Charts
- ^ Finnish Charts - Guru Josh
- ^ Norwegian Charts - Guru Josh
- ^ Icelandic Charts - Guru Jush