Chris Coco - Biography - 2007

Chris Coco is a producer, DJ and broadcaster

Currently:
DJing all over the world

Chris has played tunes on every continent on earth except Antarctica. His greatest gigs include sets at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, supporting Robbie Williams; Pacha and Manumission in Ibiza; outside the Sydney Opera House in Australia and UK festivals including Glastonbury and Big Chill. He has recently mixed a Sessions album for Ministry Of Sound (released July 2007).

Chris has two different sets - the eclectic mash-up style that he perfected with Rob DaBank on their Blue Room radio show (BBC Radio 1 2002-2006) and the house style that he has been playing since the beginnings of the acid house scene way back in the last century.

City Reverb:
A band project, featuring Chris and Micky Buccheri on vocals. This is his most accomplished musical adventure so far. The album, Lost City Folk and the Grace Reunion, features 12 tracks mixing electronic and live band elements to create a unique and beautifully atmospheric sound that Chris describes as Robot Soul. Is it a new genre? It is now.
www.myspace.com/cityreverb

Production
This year Chris has mixed violinist Sally Cooper’s album. This is a classical meets electronica project for Universal Australia. He is also remixing dance tracks with DJ Rob DaBank and making music with chillout stars Afterlife.

On the radio:
Chris presents occasional late night shows on BBC Radio 2.
For the latest news and journal entries go to www.chriscoco.com

The history bit:
Raised in Sussex, Chris was a prime mover in the acid house boom of the late Eighties. His Frenzy and Coco Club nights turned Brighton's Zap Club into the South Coast's party epicentre. His DJing inspired him to make the enduring party classic Feel It by Coco Steel & Lovebomb. But Chris' more complex, downbeat side was already starting to emerge on the group's debut album It, released on Warp Records in 1994. Drawn to increasingly eclectic sounds, Chris reconnected with a passion for moody electronica, dub reggae and film soundtracks first nurtured as a youthful fan of New Order, Kraftwerk and The Velvet Underground.

Chris then spent the late Nineties juggling multiple careers. He was the editor of dance music bible DJ Magazine but it was under his Chris Coco guise that he became a globe-trotting DJ, spinning everywhere from sunset parties in Ibiza and Brazil to fashion parties for Fendi in Tokyo; from film parties on the beach in Cannes to theatre launches is London; from big sunny outdoor events in Sydney to smoky after hours clubs in Naples. He also made two experimental electronic albums as Coco, Steel & Lovebomb, New World (1996) and The Sun Set (1998), and the lounge classic Yachts (1999) for A Man Called Adam's Other label.

While still collaborating on upbeat club anthems with Rui Da Silva and Stonebridge (including club hit The Beach) he compiled the more mellow and relaxed Solar Spectrums, Real Ibiza and Acoustic Chill collections. He also remixed tracks by Doves, Afterlife, Giorgio Moroder and others and did a late night radio show for London’s Jazz FM.  

Then, in 2002, as well as starting work on the cult Blue Room show for BBC Radio 1, he released his first solo album project, the critically acclaimed Next Wave, on Distinctive Records. That set included collaborations with singer Nick Cave, author Iain Banks, actor Patrick Bergin and a version of Fleetwood Mac’s Albatross featuring original guitarist Peter Green.  

2003 and 2004 saw the release of a Blue Room compilation for BBC Worldwide and and the double mix CD set Chillin At The Playboy Mansion with Chris Coco in the States as well as live radio broadcasts for BBC Radio 1 from festivals like Glastonbury and Sonar and plenty more gigs around the world including a successful tour of Australia and China and several trips to Moscow.  

2005 was packed with the release of more new material. Remasterpiece, an ambient reinterpretation of various classical pieces with pianist Sacha Puttnam, was released on venerable old label EMI Classics; Heavy Mellow, another artist album with accompanying art visual DVD, came out on Distinctive; and Dub Club, Chris’s compilation of reggae and dub was released by legendary reggae label Trojan.

2006 was mostly take up being in the band and doing DJ supports in massive stadiums on the Robbie Williams world tour, finishing in December with a support DJ slot in Australia. The Rob Da Bank and Chris Coco compilation Listen Again and the Electracoustic compilation were also released.