Owen

Biography

In his brief recording career Owen has had tracks/remixes on labels such as: Alphabet City(Germany): Alternative Route: Azuli: Blanco Y Negro (Spain): Deep Vision(USA): Enigma(Belgium): Kontour (Germany) :Lock : Looq (USA) : Ministry Of Sound: Moody(USA) : Multiply : Nympho Soundz(USA) : St Clair(Canada): Universal : Virgin.

Born in Maidstone, Kent, UK in '71…Owen's interest in music started in his early teens under the influence of the Hip-Hop scene & late eighties bands such as the Stone Roses & Happy Mondays. At the age of 17 Owens love of dance music was transformed after a visit to Manchester's "Hacienda" club in '89 and he started to DJ at local bars & parties in the Kent area.

After a brief spell living & working in London away from the dance music scene, Owen moved back home to Maidstone where the perfect opportunity presented itself - he got the chance to work for the biggest record store in the South East -"Plastic Surgery". During his time at Plastic Surgery Owens job included booking DJ's for clubs in Ibiza, allowing him to travel frequently to the island and meet many people in the industry socially who would become strong friends & allies. As well as the shop work, Owen was Tour Manager with dance band "Carpe Diem" throughout Europe on tour with Capella, 2 Unlimited, Eternal and even New Kids on the Block! Owens hard work paid off back home too as he was promoted to manager of Plastic Surgery, a job which brought him into contact with all the major DJ's & labels in the UK & beyond.

But the desire to make his own tracks was not far away so under the guise "Sir Gerry", Owen recorded his first track using a sample from Olives "You're Not Alone". The track quickly blew up with the seal of approval from Pete Tong's Essential Selection on Radio 1 as well as getting several plays on MTV & being championed by Sonique, Alex P & Boy George (who made it one his top tunes of the year).

In 2000 with regular shop customer & DJ Nic Fanciulli as well as friend Matt Blewett Owen set up "Portent Records" as a way of releasing material they were all making. The label had a massive start: Portent's first release, "Dockside" by Fanciulli & Blewett, had a huge impact stateside & cemented the label's future. The next release aptly by Fanciulli, Blewett & Owen "Blend" hit the Belgium dance chart at number 2. Future mixes together would then be under the guise "Xportent"… In the summer of 2000 Owen recorded "Rain". Eventually a CDR of the track found its way to the US & into the hands of Jondi & Spesh who gave it a limited release on the superb "Looq" record label. Growing interest in the track came from many directions including labels such as Breeders "Rhythm Syndicate", John Digweeds "Bedrock" & Deep Dish's "Yoshitoshi" but after a chance recording of a vocal version with Spandau Ballets Tony Hadley the track was signed to "Lock" and onto Alphabet City in Germany. With the Portent record label taking a distinctly deep & tribal feel when the more funky influences appeared "Portent Plus" was born. Portent Plus' 1st track was signed from the seminal Moody Records in the US, an instrumental entitled "Drifting" by Mojolators. Owen decided to write the vocal topline which immediately meant it was picked up by R1's Danny Rampling, then Pete Tong and was played on Radio 1 for the next 13 weeks!!! After becoming one of the main WMC 2001 tracks a huge bidding war developed and "Drifting" was eventually signed to Multiply & ended up on the majority of compilations that summer. The third release by "Topazz" - New Millenium - had the boys returning with an Xportent mix. Portent Plus next release - "Keep The Feeling", a collaboration between Owen & Dylan Burns from "Coloursound" as Disco Poppers climbed into the "Buzz Chart" & was Radio 1 Nemone's choice of the chart. The track then went to "Kings Of Tomorrow" label… "Deep Vision". Owen & Dylans next production "Centrale" -Fantasy- leapt into the Coolcuts chart & was a huge hit across the globe on the cooler dance floors! Busy as always, Owen signed the massive "High & Low" to Dj Disciple's Nympho Soundz label and the track, recorded with Andy Chatterley from Yum Yum, was released in autumn 2003.

After more than 10 years success at Plastic Surgery, a chance meeting had Owen jumping at the chance to work with Stuart & Mark Knight at Toolroom Records as Label Manager, working together to bring quality house music to the dance world. Today, Owen continues to release white labels under various guises, runs the ever growing Portent Records, is working full time at Toolroom Towers and can be found propping up the bar at Maidstones finest drinking establishments … still ! 

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  Owen