Limetree Music & Arts Festival

Ask any fan of dance music who their favourite male vocalist is and nine times out of ten Robert Owens name will come back. Sure, there are other great male house vocalists out there, but with more than twenty years as a gifted singer, songwriter, producer and DJ under his belt, Robert has not so much embellished house music as played a large part in defining it. ‘Tears’, ‘I’ll Be Your Friend’ and ‘Ordinary People’ are just some of the tunes that have borne his black velvet voice and gone on to become truly classic dance records.

In 1985 Robert met pioneering Chicago producer Larry Heard, who invited him into his studio. Together they formed Fingers Inc with Ron Wilson and released a series of excellent singles. This cooperation culminated in one of house music’s first full-length albums ‘Another Side’ in 1988, after which the group amicably disbanded to follow their individual solo careers.

Following the call of Frankie Knuckles, Robert went to New York in 1989 to record a track with the Def Mix posse – consisting of David Morales, Satoshi Tomiie and Frankie himself. Leaving New York behind, Robert relocated to London in 1993 where he founded his own label imprint Musical Directions and started assembling his own studio. He continued composing and singing on a series of dance classics collaborated with a remarkable list of influencial artists.

On the eleven tracks Robert takes you on an agitating and haunting journey inside his highly emotional world, living up to his reputation as man who breathed life and soul into house music. It’s just him expressing different feelings ranging from happiness to being chained: “My work is about being aware of all the different facets and feelings in life. Much of it is driven by pain, but that’s just an emotion too. I can’t stand there and be like a pop star because I need to be real – and a real person gives from their soul and won’t let anyone taint that.” (Robert Owens)

So there you have it. From the gritty but sublime Trax of yesteryear to the forward-looking projects of today, Robert Owens is one of dance music’s true legends, a man who has his roots in the future and his feet planted firmly on the earth – and a man who has never been afraid of sharing himself with others.

Filed under: Acts 2011, Dance Music Therapy Stage, Stages, Sunday by Sean