Ski Oakenfull
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Ski first made
an impact in 1991 with the K-Creative, one of the initial
singings to the then newly established Talkin' Loud Records.
Co-writing & co-producing their debut album 'QED',
he toured extensively throughout Europe and Japan. After his tenure
with the K-Creative ended, Ski joined UK soul-funk
band Raw Stylus as keys man (touring & recording
with legendary Steely Dan producer Gary Katz)
and regularly performed with the in house band at Gilles Peterson's seminal club nights at Bar Rumba in London alongside
visiting luminaries such as Guru from Gangstarr and
iconic Brazilian superstar Flora Purim.
1994 saw Ski join ex-label mates Galliano as keyboard
player. His relationship with the band grew, culminating in him co-writing
and co-producing their final album '4'. The next few
years saw Ski develop his writing & production skills further including
writing sessions with Incognito and the release of
the club classic 'Justify' on Bob Jones'
short lived yet much missed Black on Black label. Ski
also contributed tracks to a unique global collaborative project called 'Sun Sun'. This featured exclusive material from some
the finest exponents of alternative contemporary dance music including DJ Cam, Bob Sinclair, Kruder
& Dorfmeister and DJ Die. It was Ski's
contribution, a deep & funky rolling number called 'Montreux
a Marseilles' that brought him to the attention of Sony
Columbia. They immediately signed him up and he recorded a
version of the late Joe Henderson's jazz classic 'Tres
Con Deo La' featuring the vocal talents of Valerie
Etienne. This was well received throughout Europe and it caught
the ears of Philly's very own aqua boogie monster, King Britt,
who supplied a beautiful remix.
Ski followed this with the release of his debut album 'Life
Changes'. The album showed Ski as a true musical polymath,
embracing influences and inspiration from house, disco, electro, jazz,
soul and funk. 'Life Changes' is the distillation of
musical experience, innovation, absorption and adventure.
Over the next couple
of years Ski went on to persue his passion for remixing and writing.
High profile reworks of tracks such as 'I can See the Future' by Incognito (Talkin Loud), 'American Dream'
by Jakata (MOS) and 'Freak Like Me'
by The Sugababes (Island) firmly established Ski as
a true Nu-Jazz innovator and lead to countless remix offers.
Not one to stick to studio productions alone, Ski has provided his keyboard
talents for many different bands such as Earl Zinger, 2 Banks Of 4, The Bays and even a
brief spell with Kylie Minogue! ...and of course not
forgetting playing his own gigs all around Europe, most recently at Cargo in London for Gilles Peterson's Glenfiddich Independent Mix. Ski is also not averse to spinning the
odd record or two and has played at clubs across London and Tokyo.
For his second (and most recent) album 'Rising Son' in 2005, Ski teamed up with Bluey and DJ Venom to produce an intoxicating blend of classic Old skool house to Nu skool
soul and uplifting funktronica. It features Amp Fiddler on 2 cuts, Chi Turner on 3 cuts, Tony Momrelle and Earl Zinger and Valerie Etienne.
It was initially released in Japan on Pony Canyon and
later worldwide on BBE.
Most recently Ski has completed a new project under the guise of Ayota.
Initially inspired by a Japanese friend's book of Poetry entitled Helicopter
Flying In A Cloudy Sky, Ski wrote soundtracks to three of the poems.
This quickly developed into an album project continuing a Japanese ambient
theme. The result is 'Helicopter Cuts'. Ski had the
opportunity to showcase the album live at last year's Big Chill festival and the album is due for release on Third Ear Records in 2006.
Biography originally written by Tony Higgins and later
adapted by Ski
Check out Ski's Websites here:
www.skioakenfull.com
www.myspace.com/skioakenfull
www.facebook.com/skioakenfullfanpage
