News
Legendary DJ and Producer, Paul Oakenfold, Signs to Kassner Music
Kassner Music is very proud to share the news that it has acquired the publishing catalogue of world-famous DJ, producer and artist Paul Oakenfold.
Arguably the first global superstar DJ, Oakenfold has had huge success as a hitmaking producer for everyone from Happy Mondays to Madonna to U2. He was an innovator of DJ culture across genres, crucial in bringing underground club sounds to a worldwide mainstream audience and a pioneer of contemporary electronic soundtracks for hit Hollywood movies and videogames.
Growing up in South London, Oakenfold began his career as a crate-digging rare groove DJ in Covent Garden at the same time as A&Ring at trendsetting labels Champion and Def Jam, where he worked on releases from the likes of Public Enemy, Salt ‘n Pepa and the Beastie Boys.
In 1987, Oakenfold, together with fellow DJs Danny Rampling, Johnny Walker and Nicky Holloway, made a famous trip to Ibiza to celebrate Paul’s 24th birthday. They were hugely influenced by the Balearic party scene that they discovered there and decided to transport the vibes back to London. Oakenfold started his Spectrum and Future club nights to recreate the Ibiza experience and established himself at the forefront of the British dance music revolution. This reputation brought him increasingly high-profile production opportunities and his first major success in this capacity was Happy Mondays’ third studio album ‘Pills, Thrills, ‘N Bellyaches’, released in 1990. The platinum-selling record reached #4 on the UK Albums Charts and included Oakenfold’s co- writes “Loose Fit” (UK Top 20) and “Bob’s Yer Uncle”. It went on to be a critical and commercial smash that opened new doors for Oakenfold, who then began to remix for the likes of U2, The Cure and the Rolling Stones.
Around the same time, Oakenfold launched Perfecto Records, which became one of the most successful dance labels of the 90s and is still operating today. One of Perfecto’s best known releases was “Not Over Yet”, the first single from the album ‘If I Could Fly’ by Grace. The track peaked in the UK Singles Chart at #6 in 1995 and as a remix at #16 in 1999, both versions also experiencing great success across Europe.
Oakenfold’s career continued to diversify as he began to write music for film and TV. He contributed to soundtracks for major studio releases such as Swordfish, The Bourne Identity, Collateral and The Matrix: Reloaded and co-wrote the “Big Brother UK TV Theme”, which reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart when released in 2000 under the artist name Element Four and is still used on the series almost 25 years later.
Oakenfold debuted his first studio album, ‘Bunkka’, in 2002, which included the single “Starry Eyed Surprise” featuring Shifty Shellshock (UK Singles Chart #6, Belgium #3, Netherlands #19, New Zealand #19) and the double A-side “Southern Sun”/”Ready Steady Go” (which reached the UK Top 20), as well as features from the likes of Ice Cube and Nelly Furtado. His 2006 follow-up release, ‘A Lively Mind’, boasted a further UK Top 10 success with the single “Faster Kill Pussycat”, which featured American actress Brittany Murphy.
In 2009, Oakenfold co-wrote and co-produced Madonna’s global hit “Celebration”, one of three new songs featured on her third greatest hits album of the same name. It reached the top five in many national charts, including Italy and Sweden (where it attained #1 status), Canada (#5), France (#2), Germany (#5), Netherlands (#3), Japan (#5) and the United Kingdom (#3). At the 52nd annual Grammys, the song was nominated for the ‘Best Dance Recording’ award.
Since the success of “Celebration”, Oakenfold has continued to write, release and produce music and his status remains as one of the world’s superstar DJs. Perfecto Records is still an active home for quality electronic music, and 2024 sees the continuation of the ‘Perfecto 30’ celebration, an expansive series of global events, musical releases, and exclusive artist/DJ performances that reflect not just 30-plus years of the Perfecto imprint’s success, but the goalpost-moving achievements of Oakenfold, Perfecto’s co-founder and figurehead.
Paul Oakenfold said of the deal: “I’m very happy to be signing with Kassner. Looking forward to this partnership and all we can achieve together.”
Alex Kassner commented: “We are delighted to welcome Paul to the Kassner Music family. The dance music scene that he inspired was a huge part of the youth of a whole generation. We are honoured to be entrusted with his life’s songwriting work, which our team will push to new audiences through sync placements and promotion for sample use.”