"89's the year, house music is in your ear!"

Debut of a new Hip-house mix tonight Black on Red from 7pm on Corks RedFM 104-106 one of my favourite ever mixes serious classic shit all the way!

Knock ya out the box!

Knock ya out the box! Fast Eddie mix comin on my mix tomorrow!

I'll make ya dance!

Lidell Townsell plus Kool Rock Steady = YAAAAAAA!

The classic mix of the classic anthem!

I'll be bumpin the vocal in the mix on Saturday night on RedFM as we pay respect to hip-house on Black on Red

Modern day hip-house classic

Don't you want some more?

Mr Lee "Get busy"

More hip-house chronicles I just wanna go crazyyyy to this one special hip-house mix from yours truly on Black on Red Saturday night!

Hip-housin with Doug Lazy!

Two more classics

"I throw bass and you fetch like Trigger"

Classic shit

"It's not hip-hop or hop-hip it's hip-house"

"Yo party people get ready for this
this is a serious song that can't be missed
It's not hip-hop or hop-hip it's hip-house
get ready, cause i'm about to turn it out"

One of my missions in 010 is to bring hip-house to new audiences!

I have some nice mixes coming in the next few weeks; this is some of the most under-rated and best party music of all time but many of the OG's remain obscure and broke; two of my favourite music forms together means happy Stevie stay tuned for some killer tunes both old and new

One for the late night crew! Jill Scott

One for the late night crew!

I'm gone through an old Philly phase these last few days one of my favourite soul singers and one of my favourite albums this stands up there with anything the greats of the 70's did and that's saying something.

Teddy Pendergrass RIP

One of my favourite soul singers died yesterday

I'll have a full tribute on Black on Red on Saturday

Rest in Peace Teddy

Here's ten of his best, starting off with the track that defined 10 years of my DJing in Sir Henrys Back Bar in the 90's

One for the late night crew! O.V. Wright

Willie Mitchell RIP (he produced much of Wrights material, including this?; not sure but it's one of my all time favs)

Willie Mitchell RIP

The legendary producer of Al Green, Syl Johnson and Ann Peebles, died today (Full tribute written a few days later below)

Free download of my mix here



Willie Mitchell died last week. To the man or woman on the street this will not mean much but almost every even casual music fan will of heard and hummed one of his songs in various forms over the years. Willie was highly respected in the world of southern soul, and helped mould Al Green into one of the most important soul singers of the last 40 years. Tunes such as "Let's Stay Together" and Ann Peebles "I Can't stand the rain" are rightly regarded as some of the most important soul tacks of all time, and Willie Mitchell was behind these and many more over a fantastic career that saw him writing, producing and performing for well over five decades.
TIna Turner was one such artist who benefited from Mitchell's genius. Her own comeback in the early 80's was spearheaded by the U.K. success of her "Let's Stay together" cover, while she also covered "I Can't stand the rain" during her most successful era. Rod Stewart, John Mayer and a host of other well known pop stars also turned to Mitchell over the years, and he was at hand to help spearhead the comeback of Al Green a few years ago too, as the two recreated one of soul musics great partnerships on a couple of very good albums. It is his early work with Green that elevated Mitchell to soul genius though.
He had been a respected musician who enjoyed some solo hits and was constantly on the road, but once he took over as head of the impressive Hi records, he really made his mark. He assembled one of the most impressive house bands in soul music and helped create a signature sound that combined jazzy chords with tight funky drums. Disciples such as the Rza of the Wu Tang Clan helped re-popularize this sound many years later through a major pillaging of Mitchell's back catalogue while producing some of the best hip-hop ever made. Kanye, Timbaland, Dilla and most of the modern day producers held Mitchell in great esteem, and Timbaland helped put Missy Elliot on the road to stardom with their cover and re-interpretation of "I Can't stand the rain" in the mid 90's. Before that she was a respected writer, singer and rapper, but ever since she has been a major musical player in the U.S.
It's a shame that the songs original singer, Ann Peebles, never found the solo fame her talent so obviously deserved, and she is seen by many as one of the most under-rated singers of the 70's. Similarly Syl Johnson, O.V.Wright and Otis Clay are all under-rated, despite various degrees of success. All three benefitted from some brilliant production from their label boss but much of this remained under the radar despite some heavy sampling and acknowledgement from the modern hip-hop and soul generation.
The same could certainly not be said of Al Green. He's been even more sampled and highly regarded and has been massively successful over the last 40 years. It was only a couple of weeks ago that I was mentioning how he gave Cork one of it's greatest ever concerts in 2005 and it is fair to say that he is one of greatest soul and pop singers alive. Willie Mitchell discovered Al Green and claimed "Of all the singers, he was the only one that could hear jazz changes and really sing in that style. Once we got that sound together, I just kept making those arrangements ... and it was just hit after hit. Al Green more recently said "Willie is like my brother, my father, my coach, my founder" The appreciation was mutual. May he rest in peace.