Fireside Chat

Mark Ronson

Allido Records, New York

We love and hate Mark Ronson. We love him because he's the guy with the great taste, and the smarts to employ young tastemaker types on his East Village Radio Show who hip him to the likes of New York raw-soul revivalists The Dap Kings, who he then single handedly drags out of obscurity and instills as the backing band behind Amy Winehouse's greatest moment(s), the Back to Black album (for which our boy won a few well-deserved Grammys). We hate him because he is the DJ that every non-DJ to have ever trainwrecked a mix or three at a club night looks to for inspiration. But Mark Ronson is much more than just a pretty face below well-tousled hair and above a slim-fitting, shawl-collared, one-button suit. He's a man with a hip hop pedigree, a DJ since the early 90s, a British ex-pat living in New York who worked his way up to an album deal with then-cutting edge Elektra Records, for the underrated Here Comes The Fuzz. He's the kind of guy who signs rappers Saigon and Rhymefest to his own label, Allido, a Sony subsidiary, while producing for the likes of Lily Allen and Robbie Williams. He's also the first person (that we know of) to officially remix Bob Dylan (we heard even the Rambling Man himself gave praise). And he still finds time to drop chart topping albums like 2007's The Version while working on a forthcoming album that he's said is his best yet, The Business. Yet, it is probably as a club-rocking DJ, a friend to the famous, and, as GQ voted him, "the most stylish man in the UK" that folks know him best. And that, to our boy, is probably just fine. Just think about it - you'd return his call, yeah?