Great UK musician and a man of many talents !
[i]The story of Paul Hardcastle is rich with retrospective. While working in fashionable Chelsea as a hi-fi salesman, he decided to swap his beloved video camera for a friend's small synthesizer. After tinkering around for 3 months, he managed to convince a band, which had advertised for a keyboard player, that he was their man.
He first emerged in 1981, when he appeared on "Don't Depend On Me", a single by British soul hopefuls Direct Drive, which is more noted for its b-side, "Time Machine." With vocalist Derek Green, Paul appeared on another Direct Drive single in March 1982, "Time's Running Out"/"I'm The One." The domestic soul cognoscenti gave this pair of releases a knowing nod, but Hardcastle and Green already knew enough to branch away and form their own group.
Teaming up with fellow Londoner, Green, they formed First Light and quickly gained the attention of Oval Records. In an era when British dance music was coming out from under the jazz-funk umbrella, and trying some new grooves, Charlie Gillett of Oval heard the uninhibited and upbeat approach and released their first single. It was a surprising update of America's early 1970's anthem "A Horse With No Name," in June 1982. In November of that year came the "Sixteen Minutes Of First Light" 12-inch single.
The 12-inch single became a substantial club success, but Paul's first scent of pop chart action came in May 1983 when the single "Explain The Reasons" reached #65 nationally. This was followed by "Wish You Were Here" which reached #71 in early 1984.
Paul now decided that it was time to take control of his destiny and formed his own label Total Control Records. He released a medley of "Daybreak" and "A.M.," with a version of James 'D-Train' Williams' seminal dance workout "You're The One For Me." Running his own label bought Paul to street level, literally. "The first 3,000 copies of "You're The One For Me" I took around in my car, saying 'have a listen to this'." Narrowly thwarted by BBC Radio One's refusal to have anything to do with such new-fangled dance music, the single unluckily peaked at #41, but hit the #1 spot on the dance charts.
Hardcastle's name was now a byword for quality among students of British soul. He released the hypnotic instrumental Rainforest for the Bluebird label and despite hitting the #1 spot yet again on the nation's dance floor charts, but Paul's wretched luck saw the single stop at the "graveyard" position of #41 again. Nevertheless, the hard part was almost over.
As the year ended, Paul released his first material for Chrysalis Records' emerging Cooltempo label. Eat Your Heart Out, with vocals by fellow traveller Kevin Henry levelled out at #59, but across the Atlantic something was stirring. Profile Records, who worked the record to urban radio, had snapped up Rainforest. Rainforest reached #1 on the 12" sales chart in the USA by knocking Madonna's "Like A Virgin" from the top spot as well as place half way up the Billboard Hot 100. A further Top 40 R&B single with "King Tut" followed and this was just the beginning of a breathtaking year.
Paul's next release was on Chrysalis and he decided to try a different approach. Staying true to the dance floor genre that had got him this far, he perfected a dramatic, arresting semi-instrumental composition based on something he'd heard about the average age of combat soldiers in the Vietnam War. The production values of the resulting track have given19 a place in the all-time dance music winner
[i]The story of Paul Hardcastle is rich with retrospective. While working in fashionable Chelsea as a hi-fi salesman, he decided to swap his beloved video camera for a friend's small synthesizer. After tinkering around for 3 months, he managed to convince a band, which had advertised for a keyboard player, that he was their man.
He first emerged in 1981, when he appeared on "Don't Depend On Me", a single by British soul hopefuls Direct Drive, which is more noted for its b-side, "Time Machine." With vocalist Derek Green, Paul appeared on another Direct Drive single in March 1982, "Time's Running Out"/"I'm The One." The domestic soul cognoscenti gave this pair of releases a knowing nod, but Hardcastle and Green already knew enough to branch away and form their own group.
Teaming up with fellow Londoner, Green, they formed First Light and quickly gained the attention of Oval Records. In an era when British dance music was coming out from under the jazz-funk umbrella, and trying some new grooves, Charlie Gillett of Oval heard the uninhibited and upbeat approach and released their first single. It was a surprising update of America's early 1970's anthem "A Horse With No Name," in June 1982. In November of that year came the "Sixteen Minutes Of First Light" 12-inch single.
The 12-inch single became a substantial club success, but Paul's first scent of pop chart action came in May 1983 when the single "Explain The Reasons" reached #65 nationally. This was followed by "Wish You Were Here" which reached #71 in early 1984.
Paul now decided that it was time to take control of his destiny and formed his own label Total Control Records. He released a medley of "Daybreak" and "A.M.," with a version of James 'D-Train' Williams' seminal dance workout "You're The One For Me." Running his own label bought Paul to street level, literally. "The first 3,000 copies of "You're The One For Me" I took around in my car, saying 'have a listen to this'." Narrowly thwarted by BBC Radio One's refusal to have anything to do with such new-fangled dance music, the single unluckily peaked at #41, but hit the #1 spot on the dance charts.
Hardcastle's name was now a byword for quality among students of British soul. He released the hypnotic instrumental Rainforest for the Bluebird label and despite hitting the #1 spot yet again on the nation's dance floor charts, but Paul's wretched luck saw the single stop at the "graveyard" position of #41 again. Nevertheless, the hard part was almost over.
As the year ended, Paul released his first material for Chrysalis Records' emerging Cooltempo label. Eat Your Heart Out, with vocals by fellow traveller Kevin Henry levelled out at #59, but across the Atlantic something was stirring. Profile Records, who worked the record to urban radio, had snapped up Rainforest. Rainforest reached #1 on the 12" sales chart in the USA by knocking Madonna's "Like A Virgin" from the top spot as well as place half way up the Billboard Hot 100. A further Top 40 R&B single with "King Tut" followed and this was just the beginning of a breathtaking year.
Paul's next release was on Chrysalis and he decided to try a different approach. Staying true to the dance floor genre that had got him this far, he perfected a dramatic, arresting semi-instrumental composition based on something he'd heard about the average age of combat soldiers in the Vietnam War. The production values of the resulting track have given19 a place in the all-time dance music winner
