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Darren Styles
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Darren Styles, born Darren James Mew (1975 in Colchester, Essex) is a British Hardcore DJ, Record Producer, song writer and occasional singer who achieved success touring at events such as Hardcore Heaven and Hardcore Paradise. He forms half of the hardcore duo Breeze & Styles (with Mark Breeze). Styles has worked and featured on many Hardcore albums throughout his career as a DJ. His first solo album, Skydivin', peaked at #4 in the UK charts.
en was encouraged to play music from an early age by his father, a blues fan, and always had a passion for music.
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Encyclopedia
Darren Styles, born Darren James Mew (1975 in Colchester, Essex) is a British Hardcore DJ, Record Producer, song writer and occasional singer who achieved success touring at events such as Hardcore Heaven and Hardcore Paradise. He forms half of the hardcore duo Breeze & Styles (with Mark Breeze). Styles has worked and featured on many Hardcore albums throughout his career as a DJ. His first solo album, Skydivin', peaked at #4 in the UK charts.
Early life
Darren was encouraged to play music from an early age by his father, a blues fan, and always had a passion for music. He spent many nights mastering his ability on the keyboard and developing his own style, inspired by dance music.
In February 1992, in Clacton-On-Sea, Essex, Darren had his first "hands on" experience of the underground rave scene in "Oscar's Nightclub" on Clacton Pier. This event lead to Darren wanting to be a part of the dance music community..
Career
Early Career (1992-1995)
Darren's first records were in a group called "The Evolution" (with James Broomfield and Paul Hughes).
The following year, Paul Hobbs joined the group, which became "DJ Force & The Evolution" and the four signed for hardcore record label, 'Kniteforce'. Many of their tracks were played by Carl Cox. The group also produced tracks using the alias "A Sense of Summer" for another hardcore label, 'Universal'.
Force & Styles (1995-2001)
In 1995, together with Paul Hobbs (aka DJ Force), he set up his own label, 'UK Dance', and they began producing using the name "Force & Styles", so they could quickly release more material and have complete artistic license over their records.
Force & Styles released many 12" records on UK Dance and by 1996 their popularity had grew so that they were DJ'ing every weekend up and down the UK, as well as touring Australia, North America and Ibiza on a regular basis. The two also held residencies at 'Slammin Vinyl', 'Helter Skelter', and 'United Dance', to name just a few.
By 1997 they had produced some of the biggest hardcore tracks of the time, such as their two singles "Heart of Gold" and "Paradise & Dreams", as well as "Pretty Green Eyes", "Pacific Sun", and "Field of Dreams" and many of which went on to be covered by commercial dance artists. Force & Styles picked up a lot of award at this time and they were the first ever hardcore DJ's to do a guest mix for Pete Tong's 'Essential Mix' radio show on BBC Radio 1.
In this period Force & Styles released three albums: their first being "All Over The UK" which was released in 1996; "Simply Electric", from 1998, was the second, containing mainly tracks by Force & The Evolution; and their greatest hits album, "Heart of Gold" was released in 2000.
Styles & Breeze (2001-present)
Following Force & Styles, Darren began adopting a more trance influenced sound and also started producing with Mark Breeze using the name of "Styles & Breeze". Many of these productions were released on the dance label 'Nukleuz', including the single "Let Me Fly" released as 'Infextious'. Styles & Breeze also started making hardcore based tracks which were released as 12" records for Hixxy's label 'Raver Baby'.
Styles & Breeze have also released two top 20 singles "You're Shining" and "Heatbeatz" featuring Karen Danzig on the major dance label All Around The World.
Solo career and album (2002-present)
Darren's first solo record was "Feelin' Fine" which was released as "Unique" in 1998. His solo career as Darren Styles started in 2002 after releasing a record for 'Nukleuz' and other labels. Darren has also released many records on Raver Baby and his first solo single was "Save Me" released on All Around The World.
Since "Save Me", Darren has released singles collaborating with other artists, i.e. "Sure Feels Good" and "Discolights" with Ultrabeat and "Right By Your Side" with N-Force. In 2008, Darren released Skydivin'. The album was a collection of old and new hardcore and commercial songs by Darren Styles. This album reached #4 in the UK, it reached # 41 in Ireland and has since been certified Gold in the UK. His follow up single from to "Discolights" with Ultrabeat is the song "Girls like you" which was released 2nd Febuary 2009.
Awards| Year | Award | Awardee | Award Show | | 1997 | Best Producers | Force & Styles | Hardcore Heaven Awards | | Best Live PA | | Rookie DJ's of the Year | | Best Record Label | UK Dance | | Best Visiting DJ | Darren Styles | | Best Hardcore Record | Heart of Gold by Force & Styles | Kiss FM Awards | | 1998 | Best Producers | Force & Styles | Hardcore Heaven Awards | | 2003 | Best Producers | Styles & Breeze | | Best Hardcore Record | You're Shining by Styles & Breeze | Kiss FM Awards | | 2004 | Best Producers | Styles & Breeze | Hardcore Heaven Awards | | Best Hardcore Record | Heartbeatz by Styles & Breeze | Kiss FM Awards | | 2005 | Best Hardcore Record | Slide Away by Styles & Breeze | | 2006 | Best Producer | Darren Styles | Hardcore Heaven Awards | | Best DJ | | Track of the Year | Save Me by Darren Styles | | 2007 | Best DJ | Darren Styles | | 2008 | Best Producer | | Track of the Year | Flashlight by Darren Styles |
Junkbox Records
Darren owns , which has released a number of . Junkbox records is described as "Brand new for 2008, Darren Styles brings you Junkbox Records. A fresh and exciting Hardcore label which will release some of the biggest tracks the world of Hardcore has to offer.".
Discography
Albums| Year | Title | Artist | Charts | | UK | IRE |
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| 1996 | "All Over The UK" | Force & Styles | — | — | | 1998 | "Simply Electric" | — | — | | 2000 | "Heart of Gold" | — | — | | 2008 | "Skydivin'" | Darren Styles | 4 | 41 |
See also
External links
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