Phats & Small

Infobox musical artist
Name = Phats & Small


Img_capt =
Background = group_or_band
Origin = flagicon|England Brighton, England
Genre = House music
Dance music
Pop music
Years_active = 1998 – present
Label =
Current_members = Jason "Phats" Hayward
Russell Small

Phats & Small are a duo of British house music producers and DJs, comprising Jason "Phats" Hayward and Russell Small. They define their sound as "mutant disco", and the majority of their output is heavy with disco samples. They are based in Brighton, one of the leading cities in the production of dance music in the United Kingdom.

History

They appeared on the scene in 2000 with "Turn Around", a track that featured sampled vocals taken from Toney Lee's "Reach Up". The track was re-recorded in 2001 with the vocals sung by British singer Ben Ofoedu, and debuted at #3 in the UK Top 40, before climbing to #2. In 2001, they also released their first album, "Now Phats What I Small Music", a play on their name and the compilation series "Now That's What I Call Music!". Ofoedu sung on two tracks, "Feel Good" and "Tonite", which were also released as singles. In 1999, Phats & Small also achieved notoriety for remixing the Earth Wind & Fire classic, "September" and Simply Red's "Ain't That a Lot of Love".

Ben Ofoedu left the group to pursue a solo career as singer, songwriter and producer, and his back-up singer, Tony Thompson, was promoted to main vocalist. He sang on most tracks in Phats & Small's second album, "This Time Around", released in 2001, which featured an eponymous single, as well as the french-flavoured track "Change" and the controversial "Respect The Cock" (which was supposed to feature the phrase famously uttered by Tom Cruise in the film "Magnolia"). The second album was co-produced by James Wiltshire, better known as Jimmy Gomez.

After a few years away from the studio, Phats & Small returned in 2005 with a new vocalist, Ryan Molloy, and a new album, "Soundtrack to Our Lives", featuring the single "Sun Comes Out", this track sung by a returning Ben Ofoedu and a new female vocalist, Carrie Luer.

It should be noted that Small is also one half of the popular production team The Freemasons.

External links

* [http://e.discogs.com/artist/Phats+%26+Small Phats & Small discography at e.discogs]