Danny Donnelly

Danny Donnelly is the founder of the pinoeering D&B/Rave label Suburban Base Records. He was also the creator/owner of some of the UK's biggest selling album brands, including the multi platinum selling Pure Garage, Pure R&B, Pure Dubstep and Euphoria (compilations) series of albums and has amassed over 50 platinum and gold disc awards in his career to date. He is currently Chairman and Founder of Pure Film Productions and has Written /Directed /Produced a number of British feature films.

Early life

Danny was born in Bow, East London. From a young age he had a very strong love for music, his music tastes were influenced by what his older sister was listening to. He eschewed mainstream chart music in favour of Hip Hop and R&B. By the time he was 11; he was listening to soul pirate radio stations and amassing a large record collection. He began to discover ways to make money so he could buy more records. As his dad owned a grocery store in Londons East End he would to go to the cash-and-carry warehouse and buy cheap chocolate bars to sell to the kids at his school. As Danny earned income he would reinvest in further products, he started selling pencils and pens and other stationery which he even sold to the head of departments at his school, showing the first signs of the entrepreneurial instinct for which he is now known. At 16 Danny left school, without bothering to return to collect his exam results he began to immerse himself in the music industry.

Music career

Danny started working in a record shop at the age of 16. He also got a slot playing his record collection on pirate radio stations and working across East London at 'Blues Parties'.A year later decided to open his own record shop. His idea was to open a shop which sold exclusively dance and urban music. He applied for a loan and the bank agreed a loan as soon as he turned 18. He used the money to buy a lease on a shop in Romford and some stock. He named the shop Boogie Times, the store specialised in dance music as well as producing its own self-made white label records. Donnelly's first release as producer was a track called Hypersonic, and he later went on to record under the pseudonym Q-Bass. The Boogie Times white labels were well-received by customers as well as DJs from across the Capital which enhanced the store's reputation. In the wake of this success, Donnelly was able to fund a nascent label entitled Suburban Base and pay off his loan entirely. Due to the demand for the music being produced by the Romford based label Danny found it necessary to secure a nationwide distribution deal. Within just 12 months of gaining a distribution deal, one of his records, a rave version of Sesame Street, reached the top of the UK singles chart and another two of his records reached the top 40. The now legendary D&B/rave label Suburban Base Records (widely known as Sub Base), launched the careers of many D&B pioneers and delivered classic anthems from the likes of DJ Hype, DJ Zinc, DJ Rap & Aston Harvey (latterly of The Freestylers), Danny Breaks (Droppin Science), Remarc,DJ Swift (Mampi Swift), Pascal etc. Danny's Music Publishing arm Suburban Base Music also represented many of the Jungle/ Drum & Bass scene's leading players.

Donnelly then went on to launch his own TV advertised compilations label Breakdown Records, responsible for the successful 'DRUM & BASS SELECTION' series, becoming the first ever TV advertised Jungle Compilation album, which spawned many imitations. The successful album branding being perhaps an indication of where his career might later lead.

Sub Base USA was opened with an office in Los Angeles and a distribution deal for North America. Sub Base USA was the first label to tap into the US scenes now firmly established home grown talent, with first mix albums from DJ's such as AK 1200, Diesel Boy, Phantom 45 etc. Danny secured the first ever label deals for a drum & bass record company in the far east with Sony Japan, and also across South America with BMG, discovering and signing DJ Marky from Brazil, helping further to pioneer this UK sound globally. He also developed a new label called Fruit Tree which concentrated on the Garage sound coming out of New York and New Jersey, working with such heroes as Gerideau, Victor Simonelli, Booker T and DJ Camacho. Danny had the foresight to give Rodney Smith aka 'Roots Manuva' his recorded debut as part of IQ Procedure through Suburban Base hip hop imprint Bluntly Speaking Vinyl, pleading with him to record solo, although at the time resolutely loyal to group members he did so only a year after leaving the label and went on to huge acclaim.

At the same time the publishing catalogue of Suburban Base Music Limited grew with acts signed to recording deals with labels such as Virgin/ BMG/ MCA/ RCA/ Junior Boys Own/ Strictly Rhythm to name but a few. Deals that were most often co-ordinated by Danny, including the teaming up of Suburban Base Music signed act Shelley Nelson with Virgin act Tin Tin Out, which resulted in a UK Top Ten with 'Here's Where the Story End's' a number one airplay hit that year, only missing out to Robbie Williams 'Angels' as the largest airplay hit of the year! Tin Tin Out & Shelly then had a further top 20 placing later that same year with 'Sometimes'. Danny also controlled the publishing interest of hit garage anthem 'A Little Bit Of Luck' by DJ Luck& Mc Neat, a top ten hit in 2000.

The UK underground Garage label Quench Recordings was set up in 1998 and quickly gained recognition with releases from its artists such as Ed Case, Underground Solution, Ray Hurley, DJ Lewi, and resident studio engineer Mark Yardley (Stanton Warriors), with the K Warren mix of 'Something In Your Eyes' becoming a massive hit. And later releasing the first ever mix albums from The Heartless Crew, Shortee Blitz and from UK garage pioneer DJ EZ, making him a household name via the PURE GARAGE album brand.

Album Brands

After nine years of success with Suburban Base Records Danny decided to move on and made the difficult decision to cease releasing music on the Suburban Base imprint. This was to allow him to pursue other new challenges in business and he felt it would be a great injustice to continue running Suburban Base without his full attention. In 2000 Danny joined forces with an acquaintance with a major label background in sales & marketing and together as Tailormade Music they conceived and compiled album brands that would become household names. Compilation albums that include titles such as DriveTime, All Woman, Pure Grooves, and Funky Divas, Their division went on to be one of the most successful in British music, licensing concepts to various major labels including Sony, Universal, and Warners and eventually heading up the compilation dept of Telstar/Sony for several years.

From this collaboration also grew publishing companies & record labels including Trance Euphoric label 'Liquid Asset' which has seen releases from Matt Darey, Moogwai, Solarstone and john '00' Flemming, notching up more club and chart hits, as well as nationwide club events for the EUPHORIA brand and five successful seasons as the biggest Saturday night event in Ibiza. In the following 5 years that company was responsible for some of the biggest selling album brands in the UK, PURE GARAGE (DJ EZ) and PURE R&B (Firin' Squad) have been the biggest selling Urban album brands of all time, and EUPHORIA the UKs biggest selling Dance/Trance album brand.^[1]

Film Industry

Danny founded Pure Film Productions in 2010 and within a short space of time established the company as a force within UK independent film making.

Donnelly was credited as Executive Producer for the Pure Films co-production of the micro budget ‘Horror’ movie ‘THE TAPES’ which premiered at the Empire Leicester Square in Sept 2011. Pure Films first exclusive production VICTIM made the official selection of the Raindance Film Festival 2011 and became the first screening to sell out across the whole event program, VICTIM is due for nationwide cinema release in Feb 2012.

Danny has since taken on more of a creative role in his film productions, he has written a number of screenplays and has made his directorial debut with the movie PAYBACK SEASON starring Kidulthood's Adam Deacon, who takes the lead role of Jerome. The movie will also feature Anna Popplewell from the Narnia films and StreetDance 3D's Nichola Burley as well as the acting debut of World Cup legend Sir Geoff Hurst MBE.

Pure Films co-production THE MAGNIFICENT ELEVEN - a feel-good British comedy from IRVINE WELSH the creator of ‘Trainspotting’, starring Dougray Scott & Robert Vaughn is in production as of October 2011.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ donnelly, danny (2010). "imdb". Imdb. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4005910/. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
2. ^ Bridge, Rachel (June 26, 2005). "How I Made It: Dan Donnelly, founder of Pure Worldwide Entertainment Group". http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article537306.ece. Retrieved 4 October 2011. 
3. ^ mag, falvour (Mar 27th 2011). "Danny Donnelly: Stoking the fires of UK Independent Film". falvour. http://www.flavourmag.co.uk/danny-donnelly-stoking-the-fires-of-uk-independent-film/. Retrieved 4 October 2011. 

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