Positiva Records
Encyclopedia
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
Records and is one of the biggest dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
labels
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The record label was set up in 1993
1993 in music
This is a summary of significant events in music in 1993.-January–February:*January 8 – The U.S. Postal Service issues an Elvis Presley stamp. The design was voted on in February 1992....
, by Nick Halkes
Nick Halkes
Nick Halkes is a U.K. based music industry executive known for signing and breaking multi-million selling dance act The Prodigy. He is also a part time lecturer on the music industry to BA and MA students at University of Westminster in London.-Career:...
, who previously ran XL Recordings
XL Recordings
XL Recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records.Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with The Prodigy, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire...
(home of artists such as The Prodigy
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
). Its headquarters are at the EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
offices in Brook Green in West London, where it is currently the only large dance music label under the EMI banner. Positiva has always claimed that it is simply a record label which takes underground hits and pushes them to the forefront, and its influence on dance music is hard to ignore.
In its early days, Positiva released records from many names who were previously relatively unknown in the UK. One of the label's first releases was "I Like To Move It" by Reel 2 Real
Reel 2 Real
Reel 2 Real is a house music and reggae-influenced duo which had seven Top 10 hits on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in the 1990s.-Biography:...
, an alias of dance DJ Erick Morillo
Erick Morillo
Erick Morillo is a Colombian-American DJ, music producer and record label owner. Having produced under a number of pseudonyms, including Ministers De la Funk, The Dronez, RAW, Smooth Touch, RBM, Deep Soul, Club Ultimate and Li'l Mo Ying Yang, Morillo is best known for his international work in...
, who has gone on to international fame largely though his work with Subliminal Records. Later, the label signed US vocalist Barbara Tucker
Barbara Tucker
Barbara Tucker , is an African American house, R&B and soul singer, songwriter and choreographer. Her impact on the mainstream music scene has been felt more in Europe, than in her home country....
, who went on to release tracks including "Beautiful People" and "Stay Together" (both 1995) and "Stop Playing With My Mind" (2000). Other house releases in this period came from Umboza
Umboza
Umboza were a house duo from Germany composed of Stuart Crichton and Michael Kilkie. They recorded for Positiva Records.Umboza released a single entitled "Cry India" in 1995 which was a hit both in the U.S. and the UK which was based around a sample of Lionel Richie's hit All Night Long. The song...
, The Bucketheads and Judy Cheeks. During the late 1990s, Positiva released several tracks from the emerging trance scene such as Alice Deejay
Alice DeeJay
Alice DeeJay was an electronic music group, who achieved success from 1999 to 2002.-Members:The group consisted of record producers Pronti , Kalmani and DJ Jurgen with Marc Lee-Smith remixing and the DJ's From Mars lead singer Judith Anna Pronk...
's Better Off Alone, which became a huge hit in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the U.S., as well as DJ Quicksilver
DJ Quicksilver
Orhan Terzi , better known by his stage name DJ Quicksilver is a Turkish DJ and music producer.-Biography:Terzi moved to Germany with his family in the late 1960s...
's "Belissima", Ayla's eponymously-titled "Ayla", Binary Finary
Binary Finary
Binary Finary are a British trance act originally comprising Matt Laws and Stuart Matheson, who were later joined by Sasha Vatoff who acts as DJ and live performer. They are best known for the dance hit single "1998", especially for the Paul Van Dyk and Gouryella remixes, which charted in many...
's "1998" and BBE
BBE (band)
B.B.E. is an italian-french trance music act, consisting of record producers Bruno Sanchioni and Bruno Quartier, and "Mister 303", Emmanuel Top...
's "Seven Days And One Week".
Successful releases in the 2000s have included the number 1 hits "Toca's Miracle
Toca's Miracle
"Toca's Miracle" is a dance music single by German Eurohouse producers Fragma. It peaked at #1 in the UK charts in April 2000. The song was created by mixing the vocals of Sue Brice's "I Need a Miracle" to the instrumental track of Fragma's "Toca Me".-Original 2000 version:The original version of...
" by Fragma
Fragma
Fragma, also known as the Fragma Project, are a German dance project, originally comprising three producers. Their most successful collaboration to date is "Toca's Miracle", which has sold over 500,000 copies and debuted #1 in the UK....
, "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)
Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)
"Groovejet " is a single by Spiller, featuring vocals by British singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor. The single was released in August 2000 by Positiva Records. It peaked at #1 in the UK, New Zealand, Ireland and Australia, as well as charting at number three on the American Hot Dance Chart...
" by Spiller
Spiller
Cristiano Spiller is an Italian DJ.He had a #1 hit in the UK, Italy, Australia and other countries with the hit single, "Groovejet ", featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor, released in 2000...
featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor is an English singer, songwriter, model and occasional DJ. She first came to prominence in the late 1990s, as the lead singer of the indie rock band Theaudience. After the group disbanded, Ellis-Bextor went solo, achieving widespread success in the early 2000s...
, and "Lola's Theme
Lola's Theme
Lola's Theme is a disco house song, released by the UK based production duo Shapeshifters in 2004.- Background :The name "Lola's Theme" was originally a working title for this record; Lola is Simon Marlin's wife and it was while listening to her record collection that the initial idea for the track...
" by the Shapeshifters
Shapeshifters (band)
The Shapeshifters are Simon Marlin and Max Reich, a house music production duo based in London, England. They have a recording contract with Defected Records, and were previously signed to Positiva...
. Other top 10 hits in the same decade include Watergate's "Heart Of Asia", "Flashdance" by Deep Dish
Deep Dish
Deep Dish is a duo of DJs and house-music producers consisting of Iranian-American members Ali "Dubfire" Shirazinia and Sharam Tayebi. Based in Washington, D.C., Shirazinia and Tayebi are well known for providing house or dance remixes of tracks of famous stars such as Madonna, Cher and Gabrielle,...
, remixes of The Source
The Source (musician)
The Source originally started out as an alias of unknown origin for Source Records's 1986 single release "You Got the Love" which featured Candi Staton. In 1989, DJ Eren, put Candi Staton's vocals over a track by Jamie Principle called "Your Love" which became a club hit. This was also released on...
feat. Candi Staton
Candi Staton
Candi Staton is an American soul and gospel singer, best known for her 1970 remake of Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man" and her 1976 disco hit "Young Hearts Run Free". In 2007, Staton was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame.-Early years:...
's "You Got The Love" and "Watch The Sunrise" by Swedish DJ and producer Axwell
Axwell
Axwell is a DJ, remixer, record producer and record label owner from Sweden. He is part of a three person group dubbed the Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello...
.
The label has fostered a certain degree of artist loyalty with artists like Axwell
Axwell
Axwell is a DJ, remixer, record producer and record label owner from Sweden. He is part of a three person group dubbed the Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello...
, who has released two records so far through the label, "Watch The Sunrise" (2006) and "I Found U" (2007), as well as joining together with Defected Records
Defected Records
- History :Established in 1999 by former AM:PM and Cooltempo A&R man Simon Dunmore, Defected's first release was Soulsearcher's "I Can't Get Enough" which reached No.5 in the UK singles chart. This early success was followed up with Roger Sanchez's "Another Chance", which hit No.1 in the UK singles...
to release Axwell's co-production with Bob Sinclar "What A Wonderful World", featuring the vocals of Ron Carroll and licensed for a digital download re-release from Sinclar's own Yellow Productions label. Other artists who have been with the label for many years include Paul Van Dyk and The Shapeshifters, although the latter have since left to release tracks via Defected Records
Defected Records
- History :Established in 1999 by former AM:PM and Cooltempo A&R man Simon Dunmore, Defected's first release was Soulsearcher's "I Can't Get Enough" which reached No.5 in the UK singles chart. This early success was followed up with Roger Sanchez's "Another Chance", which hit No.1 in the UK singles...
and concentrate on running their own Nocturnal Grooves label.