Robert Owens (musician)

Robert Owens (born 1961) is an R&B/Urban and House music vocalist best known for his work with the Chicago house group Fingers, Inc. in the mid-1980s. As a solo artist he has placed several songs on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, two of which hit #1: "I'll Be Your Friend" (1992), and "Mine To Give," a collaboration with Photek.

Though electronica has always been a producer's medium (and the few vocalists keeping their heads above water are usually women), Robert Owens became one of the figures most associated with the late-'80s golden era of Chicago house. Born in Ohio in 1961, he grew up singing in the church, but was working as a DJ when he met pioneering Chicago producer Larry Heard in 1985. The pair formed Fingers Inc. with Ron Wilson, and released a few singles ("You're Mine," "It's Over") and the 1988 full-length Another Side. The group dissolved soon after as Heard's burgeoning solo-production career (as Mr. Fingers) took over.

Owens had already released tracks on his own - "Bring Down the Walls" and "I'm Strong" for Alleviated, with production from Heard, and signed a solo contract with 4th & B'way Records. His 1990 album "Rhythms in Me" disappeared soon after within the quickly disintegrating Chicago house scene. (One of his best-known features of the late 1980s, the epic house moment "Tears," appeared under the names of Frankie Knuckles and producer Satoshi Tomīe.)

Owens had virtually retired from music by the early '90s. By 1996, he had returned to dance music with Ordinary People, a two-part EP for Musical Directions. He teamed up with Tomiie and Cevin Fisher for a track from Tomiie's "Full Lick" LP in 1999, and one year later appeared on the Photek smash "Mine to Give."

He collaborated with Coldcut on their album "Sound Mirrors", on the track "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" in 2006.

In October 2004, "I'll Be Your Friend" appeared in the popular video game , playing on the House Music radio station SF-UR.

Discography

Albums

*"Rhythms in Me", 4th & B'way/Island/PolyGram Records, 1990
*"", Unisex Records, 2002

ingles

* "Tears"
* "Changes"
* "Tell Me"
* "Far Away"
* "I'll Be Your Friend"
* "Ordinary People"
* "Love Will Find Its Way"
* "I'm Strong"
* "Picking Up The Pieces"
* "A Thing Called Love"
* "In Love Forever"
* "Can You Feel It"
* "Never No More Lonely"
* "After The Rain"
* "Bring Down The Walls"
* "Mine To Give"
* "Mine To Give" (David Morales Happy Mix)
* "Last Night a DJ Blew My Mind" (w/ Fab For)
* "If"
* "A Greater Love" (w/ DJ Spen)
* "Love Someone" (w/ Atjazz)
* "I Go Back" (w/ Harry Ramero)

Compilation Albums in Which Robert Owens Is Featured

* "The Original Chicago House Classics: Full Length 12-Inch Mixes from the Godfathers of House." Demon Music Group Ltd 2002
* "The Kings of House: Compiled & Mixed by Masters At Work." Rapster/BBE Records 2005
* "Renaissance: The Masters Series, Part 9" Renaissance Recordings 2007

ee also

*List of number-one dance hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

External links

* [http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/TUTORS.9.0.html?act_session=43 Robert Owens RBMA video lecture session]
* [http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/TUTORS.9.0.html?act_session=192 Larry Heard RBMA video lecture session Pt.1]
* [http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/TUTORS.9.0.html?act_session=193 Larry Heard RBMA video lecture session Pt.2]
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Robert+Owens Robert Owens artist page on Discogs]
* [http://www.ianroullier.com/interviews_and_features/robertowens.htm Robert Owens interview, IDJ magazine, February 2008]