Ben Watt

Ben Watt (born 6 December 1962, Barnes, London) is a UK musician, DJ, and record producer, best known as one half of the duo, Everything but the Girl. Watt is the son of British bandleader Tommy Watt. He lives with his spouse and creative partner Tracey Thorn in North London. The couple have twin daughters born in 1998 and a son born in 2001.

Recording artist

Ben Watt began recording in the early 1980s with a collection of folk-jazz solo recordings on Malvern, Worcestershire indie label Cherry Red ("North Marine Drive"). He then joined forces with vocalist Tracey Thorn in 1982 and concentrated for 18 years on writing and recording nine studio albums together as Everything but the Girl, racking up several UK Top 10 singles and albums and a global and U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-two ("Missing") in 1995. The band memorably shifted focus from their alt-pop in the mid 90's to achieve widespread recognition for their hugely successful interpretations of electronica ("Walking Wounded", "Protection" with Massive Attack, "Temperamental").

DJ and remixer

Lazy Dog

In 1998 Ben Watt established the London deep house Sunday club and compilation series, "Lazy Dog" with Jay Hannan. Lazy Dog attracted a cult following all over the world. Its main regular twice-monthly venue was the tiny Notting Hill Arts Club in west London. From 2001 onwards it became so popular that clubbers had to queue for hours to get in. Pavement parties developed lasting several hours and the queue became almost as famous as the club itself.Compilations: Lazy Dog Vol 1 (2000) is a collection of the key tracks from the club night , such as 'Cada Vez' by Negrocan, 'Beau Mot Plage' by Isolee and 'Tracey In My Room' where EBTG's 'Wrong' is fused with Soul Vision's 'Come Into My Room'.Lazy Dog Vol 2 followed in 2002. Each compilation sold over 50,000 copies, a huge number for essentially underground club compilations. Moving away from EBTG's mainstream eclecticism and into club-oriented dance music production, Ben also turned out an accompanying string of dancefloor remixes including 5-star re-rubs for Sade, Sunshine Anderson, Zero 7, Maxwell, Meshell Ndegeocello and Sandy Rivera. After five untouchable years, Lazy Dog, the club night started by DJs Ben Watt and Jay Hannan in west London in 1998 ended on May 16 2003 with a farewell closing party at their second home, The End, in central London. It was almost exactly five years to the day since Ben and Jay started their phenomenal success story at Notting Hill Arts Club on Easter weekend 1998, but acknowledging their joint desire to move forwards and onwards into new projects, they parted company and left Lazy Dog at the top, a small pinnacle in the capital's clubland history.

Buzzin' Fly

In April 2003 Watt launched his own independent record label and club night, "Buzzin' Fly", with a cluster of underground hits and a series of mix CDs ("Buzzin’ Fly", volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4). The label is home to Justin Martin (breakthrough DJ nominee at House Music Awards 2004 and 2005), French-Portuguese trio Rodamaal, Lyon's Manoo and Francois A and Portugal’s Darkmountaingroup. Watt also records his own club-oriented productions for the label including best-sellers 'Lone Cat' (2003), 'A Stronger Man' (2004), 'Pop A Cap in Yo Ass' (2005) and 'Just a Blip' (2007). The label won Best Breakthrough Label at the House Music Awards 2004 and was nominated at Best British Label in the DJ Magazine awards in 2007.

Neighbourhood and Cherry Jam

From 2002-2005 as part-owner-founder of new West London nightclubs Neighbourhood and Cherry Jam, Watt orchestrated the music policy and image of both venues, helping establish their reputation at the forefront of the capital’s club scene. Under his creative direction Cherry Jam's intimate surroundings hosted packed underground club nights as well as the Libertines' first official debut show, art exhibitions and the long-running spoken word night, Book Slam. At Neighbourhood, Watt brought in artists such as Groove Armada, the Rough Trade Records 25th Anniversary, the inaugural prestigious House Music Awards and a string of international DJs to guest at his own in-house nights until his resignation in June 2005.

Current activity

Now a central figure on London's club scene, Watt DJs regularly in the capital as well as all over Europe, Australia and North America with regular sell-out shows in many metropolitan cities. 2005 saw him tour extensively on the festival circuit (Good Vibrations, Homelands, Coachella, Ibiza, Lovebox Weekender, Electric Picnic) and he currently fronts Buzzin’ Fly’s two new London residencies – monthly underground Sundays at Plastic People, and quarterly events at The End. In 2007 he also launched a sub-label of Buzzin' Fly called Strange Feeling Records, a home to alt-indie. First signings have been the critically acclaimed Copenhagen band, Figurines, and the Hugarian trio The Unbending Trees based around the speak-singing and poetic lyrcism of vocalist/writer, Kristof Hajos.

Ben also hosts a weekly radio show, the Buzzin' Fly Radio Show, on the Kiss Network. It goes out live on Saturday mornings (00h00 - 01h00). With internet restreams and syndicated re-broadcasts it now reaches 250,000 listeners.

Non-fiction

Watt's autobiographical book, "Patient" (Penguin, 1996), details his battle with a rare life-threatening auto-immune disease (Churg-Strauss syndrome). It was shortlisted for the Esquire Non-Fiction Award 2006 and was a "Sunday Times" Book Of The Year (2006) and a "New York Times" Notable Book of The Year (2007). It has been since been translated into Spanish and Swedish.

Discography

ingles

* "Cant" (Cherry Red Records) - June 1981
* "Summer Into Winter EP" (Cherry Red Records) with Robert Wyatt - March 1982
* "Some Things Don't Matter" (Cherry Red Records) - February 1983
* "Lone Cat" (Buzzin' Fly / dist. Amato) - April 2003
* "A Stronger Man" with Sananda Maitreya (Buzzin' Fly) - Jan 2004
* "Outspoken Part 1" (Buzzin' Fly) - Jan 2005 (feat "Pop A Cap In Yo' Ass" with Estelle and "Attack, Attack, Attack" with Baby Blak
* "Buzzin' Fly Vol 2 EP" (Buzzin' Fly) - April 2005 feat "Le Boom" by Justin Martin remixes of "Lone Cat (Holding On)" by Justin Martin, and "Pop A Cap In Yo Ass" by Ben Watt featuring Estelle)
* "We Are Silver EP" (Buzzin' Fly) - April 2007 (includes "Old Soul" and "Lone Cat" remix)
* "Just A Blip" (Buzzin' Fly) - June 2007 (features on Buzzin' Fly Vol 4 Sampler EP)

Album

* "North Marine Drive" (Cherry Red Records) - February 1983

Compilations mixed by Ben Watt

* "Lazy Dog Vol. 1" (Virgin Records) with Jay Hannan - October 2000
* "Back To Mine" with Tracey Thorn as Everything But The Girl - May 2001
* "Lazy Dog Vol. 2" (Virgin Records) with Jay Hannan - March 2002
* "Buzzin' Fly Vol 1: Replenishing Music for the Modern Soul" (Buzzin' Fly) - March 2004
* "Buzzin' Fly Vol 2: Replenishing Music for the Modern Soul" (Buzzin' Fly) - April 2005
* "Buzzin' Fly Vol 3" (Buzzin' Fly) - June 2006
* "Buzzin' Fly Vol 4" (Buzzin' Fly) - May 2007

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/benwatt Ben Watt's MySpace page]
* [http://www.ebtg.com Everything But The Girl official site]
* [http://www.buzzinfly.com Buzzin' Fly Records]
* [http://www.endclub.com/profiles/Ben-Watt Ben Watt profile and interview from The End]
* [http://www.ilikemusic.com/interviews/Ben_Watt_interview_Buzzin_Fly_Everything_But_Girl-3373 Interview with Ben Watt on I Like Music]

Audio links

* [http://www.endclub.com/podcasts Ben Watt Live at The End podcast]