Dave Lee aka Joey Negro

About me:

Dave Lee, successful Artist, Producer, Remixer , Arranger, Songwriter and DJ, is the producer of choice for artists and Record companies the world over.

One of the UK’s first heavyweight dance producers, Dave’s superior productions skills have led him to work with some of the brightest and biggest names in music. Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Artful Dodger, the Sugababes, Take That , the Pet Shop Boys, Mariah Carey, Seal and Royksopp – these are just some of the many diverse Artists worked by Mr Lee.

His extensive and wide-ranging musical background in popular electronic music gives him the unique ability to work across all genres of popular music producing countless hits for others as well as delivering more than a few chart busting international hits of his own under his Jakatta (cf the much synched "American Dream") and Joey Negro monikers.

Dave Lee founded Z Records back in '91, as the natural successor to his highly influential first label, Republic Records which for many people formed the ground stone of UK House music. It was on Republic that Dave first introduced such classics as Phase II's "Reachin'" and Turntable Orchestra's "You're Gonna Miss Me" to the UK market. These tracks nestled snugly alongside his early productions such as the ever popular Raven Maize's "Forever Together". A huge fan of early disco, funk and soul, Mr Lee also quickly gained a reputation for being the UK’s best informed disco connoisseur and has spread the disco gospel across many compilations, magazine articles, radio and tv programmes.

Using Z as an outlet for his own material, Dave has continued to champion all things funky and soulful with a consistently high level of quality underground releases. Indeed, Dave's prolific output on Z is matched only by the innumerable (and silly) aliases he adopts, with Joey Negro, Akabu, Doug Willis, Mistura, Z Factor and the Sunburst Band being some of the more sensible ones. Most of this material is created in the Z Records studio and is manned by his long suffering enginner John O'Donnell, while the office is run by a Mr Simon "bad boy" Purnell

Though Dave initially intended Z as an outlet for his own material, the label has also showcased the remix and production work of others such as Ame, Blaze, Basement Jaxx, Erro, Copyright, Jazz’n’Groove, Bini & Martini & the Blackbyrds, and has become a byword for consistently great music among lovers of soulful electronic music across the World.

Dave’s pioneering work and highly popular style has made him one of the most highly sought after producers and remixers around. Operating out of his own recording facilities in London, Dave established his new company Z PRODUCTIONS with the aim of expanding further his already successful production work with other artists. Whether it be in the role as producer, remixer or songwriter, at the heart of Z's popularity and success is the refreshing combination of a deep understanding and expertise in music production, a compulsive and inspiring style and a deep sense that quality music and commercial success are not mutually exclusive.

Balancing artistic success with commercial success is important to Dave. Over the coming year, he will be developing the considerable talents of several new acts who have recently signed to sister company Z Records as well as tearing himself away from the studio to take to the road with his amazing seven piece cult funk outfit The Sunburst Band, who are currently flying high on the success of the Band’s third album “Moving With The Shakers”. Recently hailed by I-DJ as a legend and named one of the 50 most influential people in the history of dance music, with Dave at the helm, you can only expect great things.