Ironik

Ironik’s admirers include Tom Cruise, Sir Elton John and even Prince Charles. He has mentored and produced some of the biggest, new names in British pop, his debut album spawned hits everywhere from India to Sweden squeezing in over 370 performances in to his hectic schedule last year alone. His self-titled, second album, due out in November, is a pop gem sprinkled with surprising special guests.

That Ironik has achieved so much by the age of 22 seems staggering. At least it does until you discover the passion for music that drives him.

“Music has meant everything to me for as long as I can remember,” says the Highgate-born MC and producer. “When I was five, I used to watch my mum dancing round the house to jungle and feel the energy she got from the songs. Even in primary school, I knew I’d end up making music. Then one night when I was 13, I went to a friend of my stepdad’s and saw his record decks. I fell in love. I didn’t know what they did, but I saw them spinning and knew I had to have some.”

He got the decks and, within a year, Ironik was a club dj, thanks to a combination of his talent and determination and the fact that his uncle, Steve Gordon, owns the Twice As Nice brand.

“My uncle didn’t push me, but when I was ready, he helped get me a few guest spots at clubs,” recalls Ironik. “By 15, I was dj’ing all over the country, playing mostly R&B and grime. People knew me as the cute, little kid behind the decks. Some of the nights were Under 18s. At others, I had to be snuck in a back entrance because of my age.”

Ironik was still 15 when he discovered how to produce, courtesy of his PlayStation and a bad bike accident that saw him hospitalised, then stuck at home for five weeks.

“I got a new PlayStation game called Music 2000 that you could make tracks on,” he says. “I started messing around with it and was hooked. From there, I began producing on a computer in my bedroom. When I was 17, I got a mic and started producing other people.”

Among those who passed through Ironik’s bedroom door were Lethal B, Wiley, Tinie Tempah and Chipmunk, who came up to the producer at a party and handed him a demo. It was only when he turned 19, however, that Ironik took to the mic himself.

“I was happy being in the background,” he says. “But from writing with other people, I realised I could express my emotions through music. I’m extremely stubborn, a typical Capricorn. I never show my feelings, not to girls or to my mates. Instead, I’d get depressed and angry. Putting pen to paper became an outlet for my emotions.”

Ironik recorded his first song, So Nice, and put it on his MySpace site. He wasn’t chasing a deal – he didn’t send out any demos or try to contact record labels. He was making music purely for the love of it. Within weeks, a buzz started. Within months, his page had several million hits. He was one of the ten most popular unsigned acts on MySpace. The resourceful teenager then got together £1000 and shot a simple video for So Nice. For 20 consecutive weeks, it was the top-rated video on Channel U.

Ironik paid another grand for the original video for what would become his first Top 5 hit, Stay With Me, starring his little sister. When its YouTube views topped three million, record labels came calling. One meeting with Warners saw him signed the next day. The success of Stay With Me lead to Ironik rush recording his debut album, No Point In Wasting Tears.

The album’s centrepiece, Tiny Dancer (Hold Me Closer), a collaboration with his old friend Chipmunk and Elton John, secured Ironik another signature hit and continued to make him a star across Europe – Ironik’s previous singles had charted in Belgium and Sweden – as well as in India, where VH-1 offered to take him on tour. MTV viewers, meanwhile, had voted him their favourite male artist of 2008. It was Elton’s approval, however, that made Ironik’s year. The veteran singer, who rarely allows his music to be sampled said “Tupac and Kanye West are two artists I’ve let sample my records - that says everything about how much I rate Ironik. It’s good to be able to help young talent I believe in.”

For his follow-up album, a confident Ironik wanted complete control. That required quitting the label that had rushed out his debut and spending the last 8 months recording 40 songs at a studio in North London, funded entirely by himself. Only after he had reduced the 40 to his favourite dozen, did he agree to sign another deal, this time with new label BPM Entertainment, founded by former Sony Worldwide CEO Tim Bowen and Record Producer and former Warners A&R director Mike Peden.

“BPM gave me the freedom I wanted to do as I liked,” explains Ironik. “They loved the album I had made and wanted to help, not interfere.”

The new album is more than a step on, it’s a fresh start. The samples that dominated the MC’s debut have gone. The sound is bigger and bolder and while the beats are bang up to date, the songs are built for long life. Ironik describes his new sound as ‘suave’.

“It’s classier, more mature and my lyrics have a lot more emotion,” he explains. “Basically, I’ve grown up. There are clubby, uptempo tracks like In Your Eyes and Falling In Love. The emotional songs such as Killed Me are more musically complex, to make you really listen to the lyrics. Gotta Get In To Something I wrote about a former best friend, who I drifted apart from as we got older. When he hears it, he’ll know it’s about him, but it’s an experience I imagine everyone can relate to.”

Half of the album features guests – “Well, I’m no good at singing and I didn’t want to use samples so I needed quite a few,” laughs Ironik. “We are in the process of finalizing them as I was really picky who recorded on my tracks”.
First single Falling In Love features 90210 actress Jessica Lowndes, making her recorded debut before the release of her own album.

“My management took a track to my publisher called Bullet Love to ask if they had any ideas for a singer for the chorus as I wanted it to be someone unpredictable. By chance, Jessica was over from LA and in the studio upstairs recording her album. When she was suggested to me, I had reservations. I didn’t want a celebrity just for the sake of it. The record label suggested Jessica for the first single instead and she turned out to be perfect - incredibly cool and a proper singer. We’ve just been out to L.A. together to shoot the video and she’s a really fun girl, not to mention beautiful.”

This summer has been spent completing the album, performing all over the UK and Europe and remixing pop sensation Justin Bieber. In May, Ironik performed at the National Music Awards, where he picked up some famous, new fans, including Tom Cruise.

“He and Katie Holmes came to my dressing room to say how much they enjoyed my performance,” says Ironik. “I also got to meet Chris Rock. That was an amazing night.”

In the near future, Ironik will launch his own label 3 Starz Entertainment to help new artists get a foot in the industry door and he continues his work as an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust, although Charles has yet to make it down to one of his shows, as previously promised.

“When I met him at the Prince’s Trust Awards, I was told to take off my glasses,” laughs Ironik. “He’s probably the only bloke I’d do that for. But he turned out to be so nice and humble. He asked where he could catch me performing and said he’d come down to a show. I suppose I should send him an invite.”