Dave Lee (ZR)

In a flash in the pan industry like music, Dave Lee is one of its notable survivors. As a record producer and remixer, DJ and curator, he’s now clocked up well over 30 years. If such things existed, he would be nailed on for a carriage clock for long service to add to the numerous hits and landmarks he’s enjoyed over a storied career.

Lee’s first role in the industry was working for Rough Trade, eventually setting up the label Republic, one of the first in the UK to champion the house sound of New Jersey. They released tunes like Phase II’s timeless ‘Reachin’’ and also featured some of Lee’s earliest productions and remixes, including early Brit-house gem Raven Maize’s ‘Together Forever’, one of Dave’s first pseudonyms.

His breakthrough came through with 1990’s ‘Do It Believe It’ on cool NY indie Nu Groove under his most well-known moniker Joey Negro. The follow-up ‘Do What You Feel’ on the newly minted Z Records, eventually went Top 40 pop and landed him a deal with Virgin Records. It was the start of a purple patch that saw him become one of the most in-demand remixers on the nascent UK house scene, several of which – ‘Direct Me’ by Reese Project and Brand New Heavies’ ‘Dream Come True’ – are now regarded as house classics. He was also responsible for handing Take That their second number one when he both suggested and produced ‘Relight My Fire’. Later in the decade he had further crossover successes with ‘Must Be The Music’ and ‘American Dream’ (re-spectively as Joey Negro and Jakatta).

Lee’s passion for disco and vintage dance music has never been more prominently to the fore than with his enduring series, Remixed With Love (now up to volume three). This superannuated fan project has seen Dave working on some of the most iconic songs and singers in the dance music canon, including Ashford & Simpson, Gladys Knight & The Pips and Patti Labelle, his passion shining through in respectful remixes. His other life outside the studio, Over the years he’s built a stellar reputation as an entertainer, playing parties like Percolate, sell-out all-nighters at Oval Space, his residency with Glitterbox in Ibiza and numerous notable spots around the world. In 2020, he was #3 in Traxsource’s Top House Artists, a recognition of his skills both in and out of the studio.

Lee’s also a noted record collector and he’s spun his passion for vinyl into a landmark series of compilations, initially for labels like BBE and Strut, but over the past decade or so has developed Z Records into one of the most respected reissue labels – with series like Under The Influence – while still using the label as an outlet for his current productions, including his cherished live mu-sic side project, Sunburst Band.

Having gone through the industry sausage factory over the years, signing for major labels, enjoying crossover hits, and all the trappings that came with it (much of it a king-sized pain in the arse), these days Lee’s USP is arguably his fierce independence. He has no manager, no A&R man, no boss. Every major decision, whether it’s to replace a hi-hat pattern or release another compilation album, is ultimately down to him. It’s how he likes it. “I don’t have a well connected team of people who get involved in strategic decisions,” he explains. “I approach artists, not because of their marketability, but because I like what they do and hope they’ll want to work with me. I’m pretty critical of my own music, so I like to think I know when it's below par. Also, I don’t think there are many people left producing the same type of material as me, so when I make an album I want to come out with my sound but at its absolute best.”

Last year, Lee decided it was time to retire the Joey Negro moniker. “I was never that mad about it in the first place,” he says. “I was struggling to think of a name for that 1990 Nu Groove release and had a pile of records on my desk, J. Walter Negro’s ‘Shoot The Pump’ and ‘Reach Up To Mars’ by Pal Joey, and put the two together. In my mind, the Negro was the Spanish pronunciation of black and I never envisaged it being used beyond the label of that release. Somehow it stuck.” 2020 was the year of Black Lives Matter and issues of race and cultural appropriation have been hot topics and Dave, whose entire career has been defined by his love of black music, did not want to become embroiled in these issues. “I would like to make it clear, there wasn’t enormous pressure on me to change it, I just felt it was the right thing to do.” Despite a number of notable Afri-can-American artists backing Dave, he decided it was simpler to retire it and move on to pastures new.

Ladies and gentlemen, may we introduce you to Dave Lee.