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YOU KNOW THE NAME, BUT WHO EXACTLY IS MARK RONSON? DJ... PRODUCER... ARTIST? GREG CARTWRIGHT PICKS APART THE HITS OF ONE OF THE CENTURY’S HARDEST-WORKING AND MOST IN-DEMAND MUSIC MOGULS.
Mark Ronson is a weird guy. Slightly gawky, a bit nerdy (in a cool way), and from a wealthy background (he’s the stepson of Foreigner’s Mick Jones), yet he somehow made a name for himself as a DJ in the hip-hop scene during his student days at New York University. And it’s contradictions like this which have made him a unique figure in modern music; straddling the line between producer and pop star while creating some of the most unconventional and iconic pop songs of our time. But how much do you really know about Mark Ronson? We all know the name and his big hit with Bruno Mars. Most of us also know his connections with Amy Winehouse. But how influential has this elusive producer actually been?
This summer I was watching BBC Breakfast, poised to down my coffee and rush out the door for work, when I realised Mark Ronson was about to be interviewed as a musical guest. I stuck around, listened with interest, and observed how worn out and hollow-eyed he looked (that’s the DJ lifestyle for you, I guess). Then the presenter said something that astonished me, suggesting to Ronson that he must still be able to “take the subway” because, as a producer rather than an artist, he isn’t famous enough to be spotted in the street. I cringed and waited for his reaction, which was polite and down-to-earth, but I could tell he was perplexed by these comments. After all, his most recent smash hit, ‘Nothing Breaks Like A Heart’, is credited to Mark Ronson ft. Miley Cyrus and he appears alongside Cyrus in the video. The story is the same with ‘Uptown Funk’, which ‘features’ Bruno Mars, ‘Valerie’ with Amy Winehouse... the list goes on.
But, in fairness to the BBC, there is a different side to Mark Ronson the artist; that of the producer diligently working in the background to coax the best out of our greatest stars, elevating their performances through the art of production. Such acts include Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lily Allen, Queens of the Stone Age, Duran Duran, Kaiser Chiefs, Nas and A$AP Rocky – a small selection that nonetheless encompasses multiple genres, from chart pop to hard-rock to hip-hop to indie.
As this is Pro Mobile and those of you reading are most likely DJs, I’m just going to throw this out there: surely the reason Mark Ronson is so deft at genre-hopping, seemingly just at home with heavy rock as he is with synth pop, is because of his background as a DJ. It’s an experience that would no doubt have exposed him to music of all kinds, but also, perhaps most crucially, taught him how these disparate sounds and genres could work together. Ronson’s love of iconic ‘60s pop, the loose, funky beats of hip-hop, and contemporary R&B production has remained a constant throughout his career, and elements of each were showcased on his ground-breaking work with Amy Winehouse. The combination provided the ideal canvas; a musical marriage that suited the singer’s expressive vocal style and bad girl image in equal measure, laying the ground for future acts like Lana Del Rey and Estelle.
Throughout a career that’s so far spanned over two decades, Ronson has touched on just about every genre going, whether it be hip-hop, indie, piano house, funk, grime, R&B, or the eccentric pop of his Business International project.
He’s an important producer. One who I don’t feel always gets his dues. So, without further ado, here’s a selection of Mark Ronson’s career-defining tracks…
MARK RONSON FT. GHOSTFACE KILLAH, NATE DOGG, TRIFE & SAIGON
OOH WEE
[2003]
A light and breezy hip-hop track whose cowbell percussion and larger-than-life horns bring to mind the Chi-Lites sample used in Beyonce’s ‘Crazy In Love’ that same year, ‘Ohh Wee’ was Mark Ronson’s first single under his own name and a Top 20 hit on the UK chart, where it reached #15. The producer’s love of hip-hop is clear this early on in his career and the guest rappers bring plenty of swagger. The hooks are abundant, but ultimately the track is a far-cry from Ronson’s best work later on in the decade.
AMY WINEHOUSE
REHAB
[2006]
Fast forward three years and Ronson was holed up in a New York studio working on a series of tracks with ill-fated jazz singer, Amy Winehouse, who he has since called his “musical soulmate”. Some of the finest cuts from Winehouse’s iconic second album, Back to Black, were co-written by her and Ronson (who shared production rights with Salaam Remi), including lead single ‘Rehab’. The song’s chorus was allegedly spoken to Ronson by Winehouse in a genuine conversation, which the producer immediately identified as a hook. In the studio, the pair took classic soul vibes and Winehouse’s heart-on-sleeve lyrics and amplified them with modern production techniques. It’s this retro sound that took the track to UK #7, made Amy Winehouse a household name, and kick-started a neo-soul movement that spawned Duffy, Adele, Emeli Sandé, Estelle and more.
MARK RONSON FT. DANIEL MERRIWEATHER STOP ME
[2007]
In full stride following his work with Amy Winehouse, 2007-2008 was a fruitful time for the producer, whose remixes and guitar-music covers gained him fans in the booming indie scene. This cover of a Smiths track was a stroke of genius, reinventing the jangly original with disco guitars and epic strings, underpinned by a solid breakbeat rhythm. Soulful, silky-smooth vocals from the hugely talented Daniel Merriweather provided the cherry on top - and everybody wanted a bite. The track peaked at #2 on the UK chart in 2007 and, testament to Ronson’s production, it sounds just as fresh today.
MARK RONSON FT. AMY WINEHOUSE
VALERIE
[2007]
Also taken from Ronson’s album of contemporary indie covers, Version, this reworked Zutons track, sung by Amy Winehouse, proved one of the 21st century’s most unlikely hits when it stormed the UK charts (#2). Mark Ronson had invited Winehouse to record something for the album, but the singer was stumped, admitting to rarely listening to anything post-1967 at that time. Eventually, she settled on ‘Valerie’, a choice that initially surprised Ronson, though he soon changed his mind upon hearing her vocal take. Using the rhythm from The Jam’s ‘A Town Called Malice’ as a base, the producer utilised a similar instrumental arrangement as he had for ‘Rehab’, with Winehouse’s expressive vocals laid over punchy brass and a swinging beat. The Zutons have never had to work again.
WILEY FT. DANIEL MERRIWEATHER
CASH IN MY POCKET
[2008]
A decade before Stormzy headlined Glastonbury, confirming the mainstream appeal of grime music, artists like Wiley and Lethal Bizzle were bothering the top 20 thanks to their collaborations with pop and indie acts, in what could be called The First Coming of Grime. Ronson was also riding on the coat-tails of the indie scene, so in 2008 it made perfect sense that he would collaborate with Wiley on ‘Cash In My Pocket’, a catchy, fun tune that married Wiley’s razor-sharp bars with sparse beats, Mellotron stabs, playful backing vocals, and a guest turn from frequent Ronson collaborator, Daniel Merriweather. But grime artists have always felt uneasy about the genre’s place in modern music, often valuing integrity over mainstream success. Sadly, Wiley later disowned the Top 20 track as poppy garbage, returning to a purer grime sound.
Mark Ronson is a weird guy. Slightly gawky, a bit nerdy (in a cool way), and from a wealthy background (he’s the stepson of Foreigner’s Mick Jones), yet he somehow made a name for himself as a DJ in the hip-hop scene during his student days at New York University. And it’s contradictions like this which have made him a unique figure in modern music; straddling the line between producer and pop star while creating some of the most unconventional and iconic pop songs of our time. But how much do you really know about Mark Ronson? We all know the name and his big hit with Bruno Mars. Most of us also know his connections with Amy Winehouse. But how influential has this elusive producer actually been?
This summer I was watching BBC Breakfast, poised to down my coffee and rush out the door for work, when I realised Mark Ronson was about to be interviewed as a musical guest. I stuck around, listened with interest, and observed how worn out and hollow-eyed he looked (that’s the DJ lifestyle for you, I guess). Then the presenter said something that astonished me, suggesting to Ronson that he must still be able to “take the subway” because, as a producer rather than an artist, he isn’t famous enough to be spotted in the street. I cringed and waited for his reaction, which was polite and down-to-earth, but I could tell he was perplexed by these comments. After all, his most recent smash hit, ‘Nothing Breaks Like A Heart’, is credited to Mark Ronson ft. Miley Cyrus and he appears alongside Cyrus in the video. The story is the same with ‘Uptown Funk’, which ‘features’ Bruno Mars, ‘Valerie’ with Amy Winehouse... the list goes on.
But, in fairness to the BBC, there is a different side to Mark Ronson the artist; that of the producer diligently working in the background to coax the best out of our greatest stars, elevating their performances through the art of production. Such acts include Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lily Allen, Queens of the Stone Age, Duran Duran, Kaiser Chiefs, Nas and A$AP Rocky – a small selection that nonetheless encompasses multiple genres, from chart pop to hard-rock to hip-hop to indie.
As this is Pro Mobile and those of you reading are most likely DJs, I’m just going to throw this out there: surely the reason Mark Ronson is so deft at genre-hopping, seemingly just at home with heavy rock as he is with synth pop, is because of his background as a DJ. It’s an experience that would no doubt have exposed him to music of all kinds, but also, perhaps most crucially, taught him how these disparate sounds and genres could work together. Ronson’s love of iconic ‘60s pop, the loose, funky beats of hip-hop, and contemporary R&B production has remained a constant throughout his career, and elements of each were showcased on his ground-breaking work with Amy Winehouse. The combination provided the ideal canvas; a musical marriage that suited the singer’s expressive vocal style and bad girl image in equal measure, laying the ground for future acts like Lana Del Rey and Estelle.
Throughout a career that’s so far spanned over two decades, Ronson has touched on just about every genre going, whether it be hip-hop, indie, piano house, funk, grime, R&B, or the eccentric pop of his Business International project.
He’s an important producer. One who I don’t feel always gets his dues. So, without further ado, here’s a selection of Mark Ronson’s career-defining tracks…
MARK RONSON FT. GHOSTFACE KILLAH, NATE DOGG, TRIFE & SAIGON
OOH WEE
[2003]
A light and breezy hip-hop track whose cowbell percussion and larger-than-life horns bring to mind the Chi-Lites sample used in Beyonce’s ‘Crazy In Love’ that same year, ‘Ohh Wee’ was Mark Ronson’s first single under his own name and a Top 20 hit on the UK chart, where it reached #15. The producer’s love of hip-hop is clear this early on in his career and the guest rappers bring plenty of swagger. The hooks are abundant, but ultimately the track is a far-cry from Ronson’s best work later on in the decade.
AMY WINEHOUSE
REHAB
[2006]
Fast forward three years and Ronson was holed up in a New York studio working on a series of tracks with ill-fated jazz singer, Amy Winehouse, who he has since called his “musical soulmate”. Some of the finest cuts from Winehouse’s iconic second album, Back to Black, were co-written by her and Ronson (who shared production rights with Salaam Remi), including lead single ‘Rehab’. The song’s chorus was allegedly spoken to Ronson by Winehouse in a genuine conversation, which the producer immediately identified as a hook. In the studio, the pair took classic soul vibes and Winehouse’s heart-on-sleeve lyrics and amplified them with modern production techniques. It’s this retro sound that took the track to UK #7, made Amy Winehouse a household name, and kick-started a neo-soul movement that spawned Duffy, Adele, Emeli Sandé, Estelle and more.
MARK RONSON FT. DANIEL MERRIWEATHER STOP ME
[2007]
In full stride following his work with Amy Winehouse, 2007-2008 was a fruitful time for the producer, whose remixes and guitar-music covers gained him fans in the booming indie scene. This cover of a Smiths track was a stroke of genius, reinventing the jangly original with disco guitars and epic strings, underpinned by a solid breakbeat rhythm. Soulful, silky-smooth vocals from the hugely talented Daniel Merriweather provided the cherry on top - and everybody wanted a bite. The track peaked at #2 on the UK chart in 2007 and, testament to Ronson’s production, it sounds just as fresh today.
MARK RONSON FT. AMY WINEHOUSE
VALERIE
[2007]
Also taken from Ronson’s album of contemporary indie covers, Version, this reworked Zutons track, sung by Amy Winehouse, proved one of the 21st century’s most unlikely hits when it stormed the UK charts (#2). Mark Ronson had invited Winehouse to record something for the album, but the singer was stumped, admitting to rarely listening to anything post-1967 at that time. Eventually, she settled on ‘Valerie’, a choice that initially surprised Ronson, though he soon changed his mind upon hearing her vocal take. Using the rhythm from The Jam’s ‘A Town Called Malice’ as a base, the producer utilised a similar instrumental arrangement as he had for ‘Rehab’, with Winehouse’s expressive vocals laid over punchy brass and a swinging beat. The Zutons have never had to work again.
WILEY FT. DANIEL MERRIWEATHER
CASH IN MY POCKET
[2008]
A decade before Stormzy headlined Glastonbury, confirming the mainstream appeal of grime music, artists like Wiley and Lethal Bizzle were bothering the top 20 thanks to their collaborations with pop and indie acts, in what could be called The First Coming of Grime. Ronson was also riding on the coat-tails of the indie scene, so in 2008 it made perfect sense that he would collaborate with Wiley on ‘Cash In My Pocket’, a catchy, fun tune that married Wiley’s razor-sharp bars with sparse beats, Mellotron stabs, playful backing vocals, and a guest turn from frequent Ronson collaborator, Daniel Merriweather. But grime artists have always felt uneasy about the genre’s place in modern music, often valuing integrity over mainstream success. Sadly, Wiley later disowned the Top 20 track as poppy garbage, returning to a purer grime sound.
The full review can be found in Pro Mobile Issue 98, Pages 50-54.
