UK garage-house pioneer and ‘universal disco master’ Dave Lee has over 200 releases to his credit as an artist and as a producer. In ’87 he sets up Republic Records, the first soulful house-label in England, and immediately scores an underground-hit with ‘Forever together’ under the name Raven Maize. ‘Do it, believe it’ (’91) on American cult-label Nu Groove entails the birth of his alter ego Joey Negro. The next single ‘Do what you feel’ (Ten) is a big chart success and is followed by debut-album ‘Universe of Love’ (Virgin). Some time later he pushes through to the UK Top 20 with ‘Girls and Boys’ from The Hed Boys. It’s disco-house well over the top, but still Dave Lee succeeds in upholding an underground status, even after remix and production work for M-People, Diana Ross, Sister Sledge, Lisa Stansfield, Crystal Waters, Pet Shop Boys and boys bands Take That (‘Relight my Fire’) and 911 (‘More than a Woman’). In ’92 he was acclaimed ‘Best UK Remixer’ by Mixmag as well as by DJ-magazine.
Dave Lee is also the man behind the Z-label: hard to find quality disco-house and soulful club-garage, music you can buy without having to listen to it first. Definitely worth the search: ‘Get your own EP’ as Dough Willis and debut-album ‘Here comes The Sunburst Band’ by The Sunburst Band, Joey Negro’s breathtaking live project, combining the best of garage, disco-house, funk, r&b and old skool electro. Last months saw the release of the special compilation ‘Can’t get high without U’ (Azuli) and the garage and disco compilations ‘Joey Negro presents the Voyage’ (X:Treme Records) and ‘Disco Spectrum 2’ (BBE), selected by Joey. Quite recently he had an international hit with ‘Must be the Music’ (Incentive), featuring disco diva Taka Boom. -- http://5voor12.com
April 2000: Joey Negro/Dave Lee also has another comp just out called 'The Voyage' - Excursions Into Early House Music. Here's the low down.
CD1/1Biography
Dave Lee started his musical life as an avid record collector in the late 1970s and early 80s working in a variety of record shops. He moved to London in 1986 where he began working for DEMIX in conjunction with Rough Trade Records. In 1988 he established the record label Republic and began releasing both his earlier productions and also a selection of American garage tunes including Turntable Orchestra "You're Gonna Miss Me" and the ever popular Phase II "Reaching". The compilation "Garage Sounds of Deepest New York" was also released on the Republic label and for the first time introduced Londoners to the rising garage scene.
In 1990 Dave produced his first track under the name of Joey Negro on the New York label Nu Groove. The following year saw the end of Republic and Dave turned his full attention to making records. With the success of "Do What You Feel" he was signed to Virgin. From this time onwards Dave has been constantly in the studio producing records for both his own label Z Records and other major labels. He has been responsible for over 100 remixes of a diverse number of artists including Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, Lisa Stansfield and M People (to name but a few) as well as several top 20 hits under a variety of names. In the yearly hype charts for DJ Magazine Dave has been voted 2nd most popular producer / remixer.
Today, Dave Lee is primarily a record collector and producer but he can still be found DJing on occasions at clubs in and around London such as Ministry of Sound, Bar Rumba, The Clinic and the Notting Hill Arts Club as well as across the country and internationally. He is often found working with other labels, in the past compiling a disco album for Mastercuts, two Jumpin' compilations for Harmless Records and most recently Disco Spectrum for Barely Breaking Even Records.
To celebrate the launch of Disco Spectrum Dave Lee AKA Joey Negro played alongside Roger Sanchez at Bar Rumba on Friday March 5th 1999……
BBE's Disco Spectrum, compiled by Dave Lee (Joey Negro). 'Together Forever''s vocalist turns out to be none less than Neville "Tinga" Stewart of 'Cover Me' and other dancehall reggae fame
Here is the complete listing of Disco Spectrum :
REAL DISCO FOR REAL PEOPLE - COMPILED BY JOEY NEGRODISCO 01
DISCO 02