i remember

Description

The mysterious Richard Grey is a colourful character. Look on the internet for information about Richard Grey, a Frenchman, who lives in Ibiza, Spain and produces for US label Subliminal Records, and you may feel you are searching for some kind of international man of mystery. There are entries for an English knight from the 15th century with the same name. There are pictures, there are extensive discographies detailing over 100 bumping big room releases, using over 30 pseudonyms, spanning thirteen years of prolific activity, including ten years' worth of work for the massive Subliminal, But there is almost information about the man himself. Richard Grey, born Richard Christian Rene Jacquin, grew up in Cannes, a small, sparkling, sunny town on the French Riviera with a big reputation as a Summer destination for the rich and fabulous, famous for it's film festival and well known in the music biz for the annual Midem event, a coming together of label bosses and artists from all over the world. The twelve year old Richard, already hooked on the club music he was hearing on late night radio, would sneak in to the Midem trade show through one of the back doors of the conference centre, and blag vinyl promos from the unsuspecting label bosses. "I remember Kevin from Nervous Records to be amazed to see a little boy like me asking for promos, I remember him especially as he was the coolest guy over there to share promos to a person who will not promote his brand. Every year I was there to get those gold records, and the funny thing is that when I entered the business years later, the people recognised me from the old days and were like - You still here? Yes and now I'm doing records under the name Richard Grey and here is my promo... hehehe!" His first clubbing experience was, appropriately, a rave on a beach in Cannes in 1993. And the tune of the night - I Like To Move it by Reel 2 Real, a project put together by his mentor-to-be Erick Morillo. Three years later, after practising DJing and working on his production skills using the cutting edge technology of the time - an Atari computer and an Akai sampler - Richard had his first record released. De Trini by Elacosa on Basic Trax was a start. But it was another two years before the first tune using the Richard Grey Name appeared. He made a tune called The Beginning on the Air French Label, but the beginning was also nearly the end for Mr Grey. Thanks to his early influences he had developed an American sounding style of production that was just not hitting with the French labels and he was close to jacking it all in and getting a proper job. Then came the fairy tale break that turned it all around. "I created a quite American disco sound and received always the same answer - you sound American but you are in France. it started to get critical for me money wise (and) one day I decided to make a last record in the studio and to send it to Subliminal which was in my opinion at that time the world's best dance label. To be honest I never expected feedback from them on my record and I was already looking for regular jobs. Three weeks later I received a message from Subliminal. At first moment I thought this was a joke, but who could do that kind of joke ? I hadn't toldanybody about that. So I phoned Subliminal and Erick took the line. He asked me if the record was still free. The answer was of course - yes. Bam, I was back in the music business. I delivered them a lot of stuff that I produced with my Akai sampler and my Atari only, no mixer, no nada. With my first cheque from the advance I took a flight to New York city to see them." Richard moved to New York and continued the fruitful relationship with Morillo and the label, developing his 'American' sound, influenced by heroes, Danny Tenaglia, Todd Terry, Deep Dish and David Morales. And his sound suddenly made sense to critics, labels and DJs in France after fellow countrymen Daft Punk had made his birth place the coolest nation o...