J. J. Jeczalik
Jonathan Edward Stephen Jeczalik, better known as J.J. Jeczalik (born May 11, 1955) is a retired electronic musician and co-founder of the former electronic music group, Art of Noise. JJ also worked as a producer and musician on a number of the Pet Shop Boys early recordings. Jeczalik has produced under the name "Art of Silence" as well in the mid 1990s.
He currently resides in Oxford, England with his wife and two daughters where he works as a school teacher.
Before Art of Noise
Before working with Trevor Horn and the ZTT label, J.J. had studied little about music. But through working with Geoff Downes (whom co-founded The Buggles with Horn) and his Fairlight CMI sampler, J.J. got in touch with Horn in the early 1980's and became the main programmer and player for Horn's own Fairlight. J.J. worked with several artists and bands including:
When the Fairlight CMI Series II came out in 1982 J.J. got access to "Page R", the built-in sequencer for the Fairlight. While working on the Yes album 90125, J.J. was messing around with drum and percussion samples from Yes' drummer Alan White. J.J. along with sound engineer, Gary Langan, sequenced drum beats and breaks in Page R and created, "Beat Box", the debut single for Art of Noise.
During production of Malcolm McLaren's album "Duck Rock", J.J. and Langan met Anne Dudley, a classical session composer. Along with Horn, Langan, Dudley and Paul Morley, J.J. co-founded Art of Noise in 1983.