Felix (musician)
Felix | |
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FELIX in Los Angeles 2012 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Francis Wright |
Also known as | Felix |
Origin | Chelmsford, Essex |
Genres | House, dance |
Occupation(s) | producer, DJ |
Years active | 1992–present |
Felix (born Francis Wright) is a British producer and DJ. He is known for his hit track "Don't You Want Me" and his underground house project "The Party Crashers".
Life & Career
Felix was born in Chelmsford, Essex. His passion for music began early with a love of Soul & Funk from the "Street Sounds" compilations and the House Sound of Chicago. At the age of 15, after exploring a brief interest in Hip Hop, he decided to create his own music and began getting involved with DJ'ing.[1]
After a handful of releases, Felix's 1992 track "Don't You Want Me" became the real game changer of his career and went on to become one of the most important tracks in dance music history.[2] In an interview with AXS (ticket merchant) celebrating the track's 23 year release, Felix admitted "[he] was working a 9-to-5 job when the song first came out. It was just such a massive, massive hit.It caught a lot of people off guard and it changed [his] life completely because [he] jumped into it full-time... making music, then touring, DJing, and producing."[2]
The track, "Don't You Want Me", which sampled Jomanda's "Don't You Want My Love" (co-produced by Rollo and Red Jerry), went to number one on the Billboard European Hot 100 Singles and Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts. It also reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart in 1992.[3] A remix of the song - "Don't You Want Me: Pugilist Mix" - formed the soundtrack to the multi-award-winning 1997 TV commercial for Blackcurrant Tango. "Don't You Want Me" was also sampled by David Guetta and Snoop Dogg on their collaboration "Wet" ("Sweat" - clean version) in 2011.
"Don't You Want Me" was sampled by Meck in 2007, to provide the majority of the music for his single, "Feels Like Home". In 2008, Madonna used elements of Meck's version during "Like a Prayer" on the Sticky & Sweet Tour.
Other UK charting singles for Felix included "It Will Make Me Crazy" and "Stars".[3]
"Don't You Want Me 2015" was released on Armada Music on 13 April 2015 and included five new mixes: "Classic", "Turbo", "Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike", "Atjazz Club" and "Brodanse Bass Hall".[2]
In 2015, Felix launched his new label "DANCE FX" and all sales from his release of "Reaching for the top" were donated to the David Lynch Foundation.[4]
Felix is currently working on new releases, but is also enjoying his time with his family.[1]
Discography
Albums
Singles
Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
Album | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [3][5] |
AUS [6] |
AUT [7] |
BEL (FLA) [12] |
FIN [13] |
GER [8] |
IRE [14] |
NED [9] |
NOR [15] |
SWE [10] |
SWI [11] | |||||
1992 | "Don't You Want Me" | 6 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | #1 | ||
"It Will Make Me Crazy" | 11 | 55 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 9 | — | 6 | 3 | ||||
1993 | "Stars" | 29 | 100 | — | 31 | — | — | 16 | — | — | — | — | |||
"Fastslow/It's Me" (promotional only) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
1994 | "Get Down" (promotional only) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Singles only | ||
1995 | "Don't You Want Me" (Patric Prins remix) | 10 | — | — | — | 16 | — | 19 | — | — | — | — | |||
1996 | "Don't You Want Me" ('96 Pugilist mix) | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
2015 | "Reaching For The Top" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
2016 | "Give You My Heart" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
2016 | "Golden" feat. SJae | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||||||||
See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
- List of notable house music artists and releases
References
- 1 2 Nonato, Pedro. "Dance Music 101: DJ Felix". Rio Music Conference. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
- 1 2 3 Foster, Allen. "FELIX releases celebratory remix bundle of historic 'Don't You Want Me'". axs.com. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
- 1 2 3 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 197. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ↑ "ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: FELIX RELEASES NEW TRACK TO SUPPORT DAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION". magneticmag.com. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
- 1 2 "Official Charts > Felix". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- 1 2 Australian (ARIA Chart) peaks:
- Top 50 peaks: "australian-charts.com > Felix in Australian Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- Top 100 peaks to December 2010: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
- #1: "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 13 September 2016". Imgur.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
- 1 2 "austriancharts.at > Felix in der Österreichischen Hitparade" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- 1 2 German chart peaks:
- "Don't You Want Me": "Offizielle Deutsche Charts > Felix – Don't You Want Me (single)" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- "It Will Make Me Crazy": "Offizielle Deutsche Charts > Felix – It Will Make Me Crazy (single)" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- "#1": "Offizielle Deutsche Charts > Felix – #1 (album)" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- 1 2 "dutchcharts.nl > Felix in Dutch Charts" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- 1 2 "swedishcharts.com > Felix in Swedish Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- 1 2 "hitparade.ch > Felix in der Schweizer Hitparade" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- ↑ "Ultratop (Vlaanderen) > Felix in Ultratop Vlaanderen" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- ↑ Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
- ↑ "The Irish Charts – All there is to know > Search results for Felix (from irishcharts.ie)". Imgur.com (original source published by Fireball Media). Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- ↑ "norwegiancharts.com > Felix in Norwegian Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- ↑ "Certifications Albums Argent - année 1992". Disque en France. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
- ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Felix)" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
External links
- Discography at franken.de
- Felix discography at Discogs
- Felix Facebook Fan Page
- Official Website