* 6 Consecutive UK Hit Singles
*Debut album 'Unmixed' has gone silver
* UK’s most successful (Grammy Nominated) Remixers
* Production career off to an amazing start
* In-demand International Dj’s
New Years Eve 2008 ... Having just come off stage at the Horden Pavilion, Sydney, with the cheers of the near 5,000 capacity crowd still ringing in their ears, the Freemasons took a few moments to take stock of the last 12 months intense work.
“Uninvited” their 4th hit single Featuring the beautiful voice of Bailey Tzuke had been a huge success in the UK, and international releases were piling up. Their remix of Beyonce and Shakira’s “Beautiful liar” had held the song at the UK’s No 1 spot for weeks some 8 months previous. Their most recent Kelly Rowland remix was looking set to be a top 10 UK hit and already becoming a massive radio record. They had travelled the world to play some amazing parties and to top it all off - Their first Co-Production for another artist was receiving rapturous reviews. The cherry on the icing of the cake is the artist in question is in fact Kylie
Freemasons are infamously named after the Brighton pub quite near to the studio where the duo started productions nearly 3 years ago. They first came to clubland’s’ attention with the much loved, Jackie Moore sampling - "Love On My Mind" which quickly made the quantum leap from UK Dancefloors, into the charts and the Freemasons were off to a running start. A second top 20 hit “Watchin” also featuring the extremely talented Amanda Wilson cemented their name with clubbers and industry alike and as the remixes started to flood in, it soon became apparent to everyone that the Freemasons were definitely much more than a one trick pony.
Their third Top twenty hit “Rain Down Love” beautifully punctuated the beginning of 2007 and started a chain of events that has raised their status across all areas of the music industry. “Rain Down Love” was much more than just a club record - Co-written by ex Brand new heavies Members Neil Cowley, it featured the voice and lyrical talent of Siedah Garrett: A Quincy Jones trained vocalist who had not only co-written Michael Jackson’s “Man in the mirror” with Alanis Morrisette’s producer - Glenn Ballard , but duetted with M.J. on “I Just can’t stop loving you”
Ironically (no pun intended) their fourth and most successful single to date was in fact an Alanis cover. “Uninvited” was initially a song from Meg Ryan/Nicholas Cage film City of Angels and after watching the club reactions to a demo they created for Ibiza’s space (and having a cd stolen from the DJ booth that ended up doing the rounds on the internet) , Brighton’s fav. club duo decided to take the plunge and record their own version
Finding a vocalist who could create the kind of atmosphere needed to record a song such as “Uninvited” could have been a never-ending task, but a long term friendship with one of England’s most amazing voices - Judie Tzuke provided the answer. Bailey is Judie’s Daughter and recorded the vocal that still pours out of the nation’s radios in just over 2 hours. With the help of an excellent Simon Hale scored string section played by The world renowned London session orchestra, Uninvited was propelled into the hearts and minds of the UK public and it’s success is now being felt across Europe and the US.
In the summer of 2008 Freemasons released their fifth single from the their debut album 'When You Touch Me' with the irrepressible Katherine Ellis belting out the biggest vocal you ever heard and if you've not seen her performance on the Graham Norton show yet click on the link to have a look now - amazing.
The singles are however, just part of the story. Their massive success as remixers is well documented, and mid 2007 saw their radio version of Beyonce and Shakira’s “Beautiful Liar” replace the Album cut in the UK and kept the single at the top spot for weeks. Their ongoing relationship with US labels and Management continues to bear fruit and their remix of Kelly Rowland’s “Work” not only breaks clublands’ remix formula with its Fast-slow-fast structure, but has stormed radio playlists in the UK on release. This marks an unprecedented 4 major artist remixes that have been used as lead mixes for radio - All of which have gone on to huge chart success. It is a sign of their achievements in this area that the record companies releasing these mixes now use the Freemasons name on the actual artwork these days.
Mid 2007 saw the Freemasons slide quickly and easily into the world of artist production. With the help of hugely respected Songwriter Biff Stannard and the first lady of pop herself, their first co-production made the final tracklist of Kylie’s “X” album. “The One” is wonderful slice of electronic pop. Originally penned by Swedish label-mates Laid it was reworked lyrically by Biff and Kylie whilst the music is pure freemasons. “The One” is sited in several reviews and polls as an album favourite and was released as a single in the summer of 2008.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that it couldn't get any better for the Freemasons but 2009 is already proving that there is so much more to come - Freemasons triumphantly returned to headlining Mardi Gras in Sydney again - this time with a tribute float in the parade with 150 dancers in toe doing a routine to Freemasons greatest hits! Work on their second artist album has started and the first release is an electrifying collaboration with Sophie Ellis-Bextor. 'Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)' was released in June shortly followed by their second mix compilation 'Shakedown 2' which has a tracklist to die for including many exclusive Freemasons mixes never before released, including their re-rubs of Marvin Gaye, Eurythmics, New Order and many more.
All through this though Russell & James are determined to keep their feet on the ground - as they would say....
“Does anyone fancy a pint?”
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