October 2011
Well, the summer may be over but the sun is still shining brightly on Notting Hill Towers!
Hit singles in this period came from Rihanna (“California King Bed” & “Cheers (Drink To That), Loick Essien (“How We Roll”), Pitbull featuring Chris Brown (“International Love”),Keri Hilson featuring Chris Brown (“One Night Stand”) Charlie Simpson (“Down, Down, Down” & “Parachutes”), Chris Brown featuring Ludacris (“Wet The Bed”) & Alex Gaudino featuring Kelly Rowland (“What A Feeling”).
We are particularly delighted by the breakthroughs made by several long-term development signings during the quarter. Producer/writer Patrick Patrikios has smashed the walls down with cuts on the new release albums from JLS, Olly Murs, Pixie Lott and Il Divo all coming out in the next month! Luckily for us, he is a workaholic and it seems like a lifetime ago when he got his very first hit cut in Holland in January this year with Leonie Meijer’s “Lost In Yesterday” after she performed it on The Voice TV show. Sam Gray continues to garner cuts all over the World and his own album “Brighter Day” is due for release on October 24th to coincide with a Channel 4 profile on him and the end of his UK tour as special guest of The Overtones that takes in the world-famous London Palladium on release day. The video for his single can be seen here.
Charlie Simpson’s album “Young Pilgrim” entered the UK charts at number 6 despite most of the physical stock being destroyed in the riot-related fire at Sony’s Enfield warehouse a few days before release. We’d like to thank our friends at PIAS for all their sleepless nights of work to turn a bad situation into a triumph. Charlie’s new single “Cemetery” is currently in its second week on the Radio 1 playlist and the video can be seen here.
On the 1xtra playlist are new singles from Lethal Bizzle featuring Jamal Hadaway and Camo & Krooked featuring Ayah Marar.
We extend our warmest welcome to new signing Henry Saiz, whose work includes some of the coolest ambient dance music you’ll ever hear and a parallel career as the writer of soundtracks for international children’s animation series like Angus & Cheryl and The Secret Life Of Suckers. Belfast talent hotbed Yogen Publishing have signed a long term administration deal with us to further develop their roster of incredible talent. We are also delighted to have extended existing deals with Rex Rideout, producer/writer for artists such as Ledisi, Kem, Lalah Hathaway, Luther Vandross & Boyz II Men and dance producer Rui da Silva whose number one single “Touch Me” remains one of the greatest records in the genre.
Other notable album releases in the period came from Kids In Glass Houses with their UK Top 40 album “In Gold Blood”, Unearth’s “Darkness In The Light” and Deep Purple keyboard player Don Airey’s “All Out”.
Finally we are delighted to say that US-signed writer Soulshock has co-written the new Nicole Scherzinger single “Try With Me” to be released worldwide in November.
June 2011
We know it has been a long while since the last news update but that’s the trouble with being busy – you have no time left to write updates!
Firstly huge congratulations to Dizzee Rascal for his Inspiration Award at the Ivor Novello Awards in May – he now becomes one of a very select few to have been awarded all of the major UK music awards from Best Male at the Brits in 2010 through to his Mercury Music Prize and numerous MOBO awards. He now moves into the next phase with the launch of his amazing protégé Pepper in the summer and the start of his new album campaign shortly thereafter.
We’d also like to congratulate our friends at Vertigo Music Publishing for their Ivor nomination for best Soundtrack for their film “Monsters”. Following on from their outstanding success with the Streetdance 3D soundtrack last year the future looks bright for the music division of the UK’s leading film company which is administered by Notting Hill Music worldwide.
Long-term development signing Sam Gray is also having a stellar year with his song “Two Hearts” featured on the number one album from Voice of Holland winner Ben Saunders as well as other placements in China and with Hollyoaks star Abi Phillips. Sam’s own album, produced by Brendan Lynch, is due for release in September with the first single “ Cartwheel Queen” already garnering support from BBC radio 2 amongst many others.
Also heavily supported at radio are new releases from Charlie Simpson, The King Blues, Lethal Bizzle and The Leisure Society. Charlie’s album “Young Pilgrim” is due for release on August 15th and should follow The King Blues and The Leisure Society into the UK album charts where both bands made their highest ever entries this time around. All 4 artists have radio sessions booked in the coming weeks together with a busy summer of festivals to look forward to encompassing Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, Latitude, Download, Hop Farm, Green Man, 1234 and many more.
Kid Massive joins the Transmission Recordings family with his new album and single “A Little Louder” setting dance floors and airwaves alight and should join label-mates Bodyrox in both the club and national charts in the near future. Bodyrox are applying the finishing touches to their debut album which is due for release later this year.
NEWS UPDATE EXTRA!!!!!
Dizzee Rascal scores his FIFTH UK number one single inside 2 years with the World Cup collaboration with TV star James Corden “Shout For England”. A truly extraordinary achievement.
June 2010
It is becoming a bit of a habit to begin these news updates with the story of Dizzee Rascal reaching number one again but he’s only gone and done it again! The fourth number one arrived in May in the shape of “Dirtee Disco” after an alarmingly near-miss with his Brit Awards collaboration with Florence and the Machine which peaked at a distressingly low chart position of number 2 back in February. Normal service has, thankfully, been resumed! His new special edition album has also blasted back into the charts and now comes with 22 tracks and no fillers. If you have been asleep for the past year now is the time to wake up and go out and find it because after his main stage appearance at Glastonbury this edition will be sold out!
One of the reasons we’ve been incommunicado over the recent past is the huge amount work we have done on the film “StreetDance” Working closely with Lol Hammond and his team at Vertigo Films we’ve helped to produce an amazingly successful soundtrack to match the outstanding success of the first great British 3D movie. Starting its life at number 1 at the UK box office it has only strengthened its grip on the teenagers in this country and is now spreading its joyous message around the world with Top 5 box office status all over Europe & beyond. The lead single from the film, “We Dance On” by Bodyrox featuring NDubz smashed its way into the Top 10 and is still on the Radio One “A-List” as we write.
The other seismic shift has been the establishment of a sister record company division, Transmission Recordings. With the ongoing evaporation of viable record companies we realized that crying in our beer wouldn’t constitute an effective response to the crumbling state of the major players. Building the foundations before installing the roof, we started constructing the edifice last October and released our first tracks in May. With key signings such as established acoustic ska-punk band The King Blues whose first Transmission single “Headbutt” enjoyed 3 weeks on the Radio One B-list, Lil J, and pop-dance act Ezcapade, the brainchild of Grammy nominated producers Love To Infinity, Transmission has surpassed it’s early expectations. Following their top 10 success from the film StreetDance, Bodyrox release their long awaited album on the label later in the year, following a succession of singles aimed variously at club and radio. Transmission is also the new recording home of Rhythms del Mundo who release an album of Cuban flavoured collaborations with such artists as Coldplay, Green Day, Bob Dylan, Groove Armada & Dizzee Rascal in aid of Earthquake victims in Haiti, Chile & Tibet at the end of July. The label has also completed a joint venture deal with Scottish dance pioneers 23rd Precinct & Limbo Records that includes rights to their entire back catalogue of seminal dance music as well as new material.
Meanwhile, back in our publishing homeland we are very proud to have added Dominic King, whose catalogue includes such timeless hits as The Three Degrees’ ‘My Simple Heart’ and Stardust’s ‘Music Sounds Better with You’. Further underlining our ongoing commitment to our core business of music publishing, we are delighted to welcome the awesome welsh rockers Kids in Glass Houses, currently enjoying the benefits of two consecutive Radio 1 A-list records with “Matters At All” & “Undercover Lover” as well as a burgeoning live following. Other recent hits published by Notting Hill Music include JLS “One Shot”, DJ Khaled’s current US smash “All I Do Is Win” & Usher’s “Hey Daddy”.
Finally huge congratulations to Dizzee & Robbie Williams for their triumphs at the Brit Awards, to Nick Cage Detnon for his Manager of The Year Award and to Dizz (again!) for his 2 Ivor Novello nominations and Nick Hemming of The Leisure Society for his second consecutive Ivor nomination.
January 2010
We are very proud to welcome David Austin to the roster. David is best known for his work with George Michael including the Christmas 2009 hit single “December Song (I Dreamed Of Christmas)”. You can find out more from his writer page here.
November 2009 April 2009 September 2008 January 2008 The year saw us receive 5 ASCAP awards and 4 from BMI in the US together with an Ivor Novello nomination in the UK for Bodyrox’s “Yeah Yeah”. Album successes in 2007 came from Funeral For A Friend with a Top 3 placing in the UK, Machine Head’s first Top 20 album (also Kerrang’s Album Of The Year!), Hellogoodbye, Bow Wow, DJ Khaled, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Bow Wow & Omarion, Marques Houston, Fightstar, Carl Thomas and Kelly Rowland. April 2007 Marques also has a new entry for his album in the US at number 5 and we are delighted with such a strong start for this, his third album. This follows a recent run of three consecutive number 1 US albums featuring Notting Hill songs from Nas, Young Jeezy and Omarion. Notting Dale Songs has just concluded a deal with Hellogoodbye including their recent US Top 20 smash “Here (In Your Arms)” and the album “Zombie, Aliens, Vampires, Dinosaurs” as well as future material. We are also thrilled to welcome Layzie Bone & WishBone of Bone Thugs N Harmony to the roster and eagerly anticipate their new album on Interscope in the coming weeks. Also on the immediate horizon is the new album from Funeral For A Friend, “Tales Don’t Tell Themselves” on Atlantic worldwide which is by far their finest work to date and has to be heard to be believed. The first single “Into Oblivion” is already added to the Radio One playlist and should get the album off to a flying start. Congratulations to Bodyrox for their nomination at the upcoming MTV Australia awards and thanks to Frank & all at Royalty Network for delivering three UK Top 20 singles in a row with P. Diddy. Congratulations also to Machine Head who scored their first Top 20 album in the UK (and all over Europe & Australia!) this week with their new release “The Blackening” which has also entered the US chart at 54. Chart albums in the quarter featuring Notting Hill songs : Omarion, Hellogoodbye, Akon, Machine Head, Marques Houston, Nas, Young Jeezy, Paul Wall, The Game, Jim Jones, JoJo, Paul Weller, Robbie Williams, Sugababes, Snoop Dogg, Cherish, Tupac, Luther Vandross, Yung Joc, Ludacris, Simon Webbe, Fat Joe, Tim McGraw, P. Diddy, Notorious B.I.G., Pussycat Dolls, Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera & Destiny’s Child. November 2006 We are delighted to report another simultaneous
double in the US Top 10 singles for the second quarter running. This time
the hits are from Field Mob featuring Ciara with their smash “So
What” taken from the Top 10 US album “Light Poles & Pine
Trees”. The second is “Snap Yo Fingers”
by Lil Jon featuring E-40 & Sean Paul of The Youngbloodz. This comes
to us from new signing Sean Paul Joseph, who also has another US Top 20
single this week with the Cherish record “Do It To It”. Our
deal includes all of Sean’s material which in addition to three
Youngbloodz albums and numerous guest appearances will also encompass
his forthcoming album on Jive Records. The Danish producer Delgado (credits include
Sugababes, Liberty X) joins us via our joint venture with Nu-Song and
we certainly had a lot of fun (and another Top 10 hit single!) from this
year’s UK Eurovision entry “Teenage Life” by Daz Sampson
which came via our joint venture with 23rd Precinct Music. In the US new
writers joining the roster include Lonny Bereal (credits include Jamie
Foxx, Kelly Rowland & Snoop Dogg) and Francci (credits include Keyshia
Cole, JoJo & Patti Labelle). Further big summer hits are expected from Supermode’s
“Tell Me Why” in the UK and Omarion’s “Entourage”
in the USA. Finally, two more ASCAP awards and another BMI
award were collected by the US companies in the quarter – this time
for Pussycat Dolls “Don’t Cha”, Nelly & Tim McGraw’s
“Over & Over” and Destiny’s Child with “Cater
2 U”. The first quarter of 2006 got off to a flying
start with 2 singles simultaneously in the US Top 10 with Pussycat Dolls
“Stickwitu” and Juelz Santana’s “There It Go (The
Whistle Song”). Swiftly followed by a UK number 1 with Notorious
B.I.G., Nelly & Avery Storm’s “Nasty Girl” and further
Top 40 hits from Lee Ryan, Freemasons, Funeral For A Friend and Fightstar
in the UK and 2006 looks like it will top 2005’s record-breaking
year at Notting Hill Music. In March, Music Week named Notting Hill as
the number one independent publisher for singles in the UK for the whole
year of 2005. December brings our third UK number one single of
2005 with the Pussycat Dolls “Stickwitu” which is also a huge
hit around the World and presently Top 5 in the Hot 100 in the US. Further
hits in this period have come from Liberty X with their Top 10 cover of
Shalamar’s “A Night To Remember”, which was the official
single for the BBC’s Children In Need extravaganza, Funeral For
A friend’s “History” and Will Smith’s “Party
Starter”. Notting Hill is yet again the number one independent publisher
for singles in Music Week’s UK market survey for the third quarter
of 2005. Notting Dale Songs Inc. finished May by scooping four
“Most Performed Work” awards at the ASCAP Pop Awards in Beverly
Hills. Three of the awards were for Notting Dale writer Robert EST Waller’s
work on Beyonce’s “Baby Boy”, “Me, Myself &
I” and “Naughty Girl”. The fourth honouree was J-Kwon’s
“Tipsy” on behalf of Notting Dale’s production team
the Trackboyz. A further award was made for the Notting Dale administered
“Roses” recorded by Outkast. This has capped a fantastic start to the year for
all the group companies with international hit singles from Will Smith,
Nelly, Destiny’s Child & Lemar and dozens of cuts on chart albums
with Omarion, Marques Houston, Amerie, Ciara, Mario, T.I., 112, Bobby
Valentino, Snoop Dogg, Trick Daddy, Brandy, Nivea and Usher. New signing Brooke Valentine continues her ascent
of the Hot 100 with her single “Girlfight” reaching number
23 this week. After a successful launch in Japan, Brooke begins her assault
on Europe with a promotional visit in June in support of her album “Chain
Letter” on Virgin Records. Look out also for the debut solo album
from her producer, Deja Johnson, on Virgin later in the year. Funeral For A Friend have their second album “Hours”
released worldwide by Atlantic on June 13th and they follow a sold out
22 date UK tour with a month on the Warped Tour in the USA in July and
August. The first single “Streetcar” looks set for a Top 20
debut in the UK and the second single “Monsters” follows on
August 22nd. Also on the Warped Tour are From First To Last and
three Notting Hill bands are now confirmed for Ozzfest :- Shadows Fall,
Killswitch Engage & As I Lay Dying. New deals with producer Red Spyda (50 Cent, Obie Trice,
D-12, Fabolous) and The Ultimate Group’s publishing division, Lyric
Music, keep the cream of urban music flowing and two new rock acts, 36
Crazyfists and Norma Jean have also joined the roster. Joint Venture deals have been secured with Channelfly
Music Limited, the publishing wing of the venue operator and artist management
firm, and with Factory Records founder Anthony H. Wilson for a publishing
arm of his new F4 record label. Dance music company Hookline & Singer
Music have also entered into a joint venture arrangement with Notting
Hill Music. Finally, IFPI Chairman and CEO John Kennedy
joins the board of the company as a non-executive director. We are delighted
to welcome John to the team. The hottest summer on record at Notting Hill Music
has brought us no fewer than 4 UK number one singles. Eamon’s “F**k
It (I Don’t Want You Back)” and Frankee’s “F.U.R.B.”
answerback led the way to be followed by Britney Spears “Everytime”
and Mario Winans “I Don’t Wanna Know”. Further Top 10’s
have included J-Kwon’s “Tipsy”, Outkast with “Roses”,
V’s cover of The Jackson’s “Can You Feel It” and
The Pirates “You Should Really Know”. Hits from Marques Houston,
Lloyd Banks, Cassius Henry and Mark Morrison have also helped keep the
thermometer rising! In August, Music Week named Notting Hill Music as
the number 1 Independent Publisher for singles and number 2 Independent
overall in its market share survey for the second quarter of 2004. The
company is also well placed at number 6 in the entire market for singles
and number 7 in the overall market standings. The US office has collected 2 more ASCAP Awards and
a BMI Award at their respective hip-hop events and has added new signings
the Burrell Brothers with their 3 cuts on the JoJo album and Producer
Bink (Freeway, Jay-Z, JoJo, Xzibit & Nate Dogg) to its urban roster. It has also begun a real assault on the rock
market with a burst of new signings including Killswitch Engage, Motorhead,
Sepultura, & My Ruin. The Company’s recent run of chart success shows
no sign of slowing down with four singles presently in the US Top 30.
Leading the way is Beyonce’s “Naughty Girl” followed
in the Top 10 by Outkast with Roses. J-Kwon’s “Tipsy”
and Britney Spears “Everytime” complete the quartet. In the
R&B chart, two new entries from Erick Sermon and Universal newcomer
Young Rome take the total of Notting Hill songs on the current R&B
Singles chart to seven. Both artists have albums coming over the summer
on which we publish the bulk of the songs. The guest artist on the Young
Rome single, Omarion of B2K, also has an album full of songs written by
NHM producers Platinum Status due for a summer release on Sony. Back in Europe, Britney’s “Everytime”
single” is Top 10 in most countries and looks set to make an impressive
debut in the UK later in the month. Also eagerly anticipated are the singles
from Outkast, J-Kwon, Flash Brothers & Marques Houston. We are delighted to have signed an exclusive publishing
agreement with Bruce Elliott-Smith, winner of a Grammy this year for Best
Dance Production for his work with Kylie Minogue. Bruce has a multitude
of new releases coming with such artists as ATB, Armin van Buuren, Angel
City, Lee Cabrera and Matt Darey. In the US, recent deals include a worldwide
pact with hard rockers Machine Head and a long-term renewal of our agreement
with production team the Trackboyz. Following the gold album and number
2 US single with their discovery J-Kwon and successes with Nelly, Nappy
Roots & D12 the duo have now secured a label deal with Def Jam to
sign and develop new artists and produce Def Jam artists. Notting Hill Music, Inc. is celebrating an astonishing
chart run in America this month beginning with the company publishing
7 singles in the Hot 100 simultaneously and culminating in THREE singles
landing in the Top 10 in the same week from Beyonce (“Me, Myself
& I”), J-Kwon (“Tipsy”) and Ruben Studdard (“Sorry
2004”). The company has not exactly been slouching in the
albums chart either with cuts on current gold & platinum albums from
Beyonce, Ludacris, Ruben Studdard, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Nelly,
Ginuwine, Sean Paul, Kelis, Youngbloodz, DMX, Missy Elliott, Monica, Mya
& Jennifer Lopez. Notting Hill Music (UK) Limited is also pleased to
announce the signing of long term deals with writer/producers Matt Darey
and Sammy Jay. Matt has enjoyed numerous hit singles, most notably with
the club anthems “Beautiful” and “Liberation”
and is currently preparing material for his debut album on Incentive.
Sammy is best known for her co-writes with Mis-Teeq and Terri Walker and
is working on a range of major label projects. Recent synchronisation activity includes 5 songs
in the US number 1 box office hit “You Got Served” starring
B2K who also perform the songs on the accompanying soundtrack album. The
Oscar nominated film “Lost In Translation” features David
Nichtern’s “Midnight At The Oasis” and Erick Sermon’s
“React” is included in the soundtrack of the film “Honey”.
Writing and production team the Trackboyz are
celebrating a hat-trick of movie synchs with J-Kwon’s “Tipsy”
in “Soul Plane”, The Youngbloodz “Lean Low” in
“Torque” and Nelly’s “Air Force Ones” featured
in “Love Don’t Cost A Thing”.
So much has happened since the last update that it’s hard to know where to start but pride of place must go to Dizzee Rascal who has enjoyed 2 UK number One singles (Bonkers & Holiday) plus a Top 3 UK album since the last update. The album “Tongue N Cheek” is already gold and fast heading for Platinum and the next single “Dirtee Cash” is A-Listed at Radio One and already Top 10 from download sales prior to its official release in November.
We extend a very warm welcome to Nick Hemming & Christian Hardy of The Leisure Society whose new album “The Sleeper” features the Ivor Novello Award-nominated “Last Of The Melting Snow”. The album comes with an EP of extra material including the beautifully orchestrated and produced new single “Save It For Someone Who Cares”. They have also contributed songs to the soundtracks of Shane Meadows films “Dead Man’s Shoes” and “LeDonk & Scor-Zay-Zee”.
The company also welcomes rap star Lethal Bizzle whose “Go Hard” album follows on the success of the single “Going Out Tonight”.
We are also excited to announce a new worldwide publishing arrangement with the wonderful Cr2 Records to include all of their prolific output of high quality dance music. The deal also covers all songs published by their sister internet compilations company, I-comps.
Another new member of the family is Adam Zindani, a member of The Sterephonics, whose own band, Casino, are tipped for big things. The deal includes all his work to date and future material.
Congratulations go to Francci Richards for her great success on the gold certified Peter Andre album “Revelation” and the UK Top 5 single “Behind Closed Doors”. Also to Lonny Bereal on his co-write on Chris Brown’s new single “I Can Transform Ya” which is steaming up the Top 30 on the Hot 100 this week as well as 4 cuts on the album to follow. Lonny also has another hit on his hands with the Pleasure P single “Under” which is Top 10 on the R&B/Hip Hop chart and climbing the Hot 100.
We are thrilled to have renewed our long-standing deal with Fightstar who have spent the summer blowing up festivals including Reading, Leeds, T4 on the Beach, Radio One Big Weekend and Wakestock in support of their Top 20 album “Be Human”. Their sellout show at the London Empire last weekend had to be seen to be believed!
Finally, in a ground breaking deal, we are delighted to announce a deal with Robbie Williams to administer his Farrell Music company which includes all of his shares of the new album “Reality Killed The Video Star” including the European number 1 single “Bodies”.
We are delighted to announce a whole crew of new signings over the past few weeks with producers Soulshock & Karlin leading the way. Famed for their work with Usher, Toni Braxton, Jamelia, Kelly Rowland, Whitney Houston and Alesha Dixon amongst many others we know they will be a fantastic addition to our roster of producer/writers. Victoria Horn a.k.a. Lady V is a young lady in a hurry to establish her credentials as a songwriter of the highest quality. Based in Los Angeles & London she already has single releases with Brandy’s “Right Here (Departed)” and Keyshia Cole’s forthcoming smash “This Is Us”.
Also joining on long-term deals are Dizzee Rascal whose new single “Bonkers” is now on the Radio One B list prior to the summer release of his new album and The King Blues who also have their single “I Got Love” on the B list. Their album “Save The World Get The Girl” will be promoted heavily by Island Records as the band embark on a major tour including most of the big festivals this summer. Other key signings include Bossman (Myspace Music/Universal) and producer Dontae Winslow who has several tracks on the new Avant album (Capitol).
Congratulations to 23rd Precinct Music writer Antony Westgate on his song “Game Over” being featured in the Hannah Montana movie and soundtrack album. 23rd Precinct also have further cause for celebration as their artist Bandito is snapped up by Ministry of Sound’s Hard2Beat label on an albums deal and Shena enjoys a month on the Radio 2 B-list with her single “Can’t Stop The Rain”. Fightstar have received a huge boost in the run up to the release of their new album “Be Human” with the single “Mercury Summer” receiving a fourth week on the Radio 1 A-list.
Recent synchronizations include TV campaigns for T-Mobile, Halfords, Yakult, Rexona, Ford Focus, Frito-Lay & Carphone Warehouse.
Hit singles in the period include “Pop Champagne” by Jim Jones & Ron Browz featuring Juelz Santana, “Arab Money” by Busta Rhymes featuring Ron Browz, DJ Khaled’s “Out Here Grindin” & “Go Hard”, Bow Wow’s “Marco Polo” and The Game’s “Games’ Pain” with chart album cuts including Hannah Montana, Jim Jones, Bow Wow, Funeral For A Friend, Charlie Wilson, Keyshia Cole, Brandy, Dwele, Lalah Hathaway, Ledisi, Danity Kane, Joe, Rick Ross, Jamie Foxx, Keri Hilson, Kylie Minogue, Lil Wayne, Ne-Yo and more.
It has been such a busy time that the website update has had to wait a little while but things have never been better at Notting Hill Music. In the UK huge hits from Dizzee Rascal featuring Chrome, a number 1 single for a month, and Utah Saints “Something Good 08” have been matched in the US with hit singles from Lil Wayne, Ashanti, Danity Kane, The Game and DJ Khaled amongst others. 2 ASCAP Pop Awards and 4 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards were received in the period and many more are anticipated from a release schedule featuring new records from Motorhead, Marques Houston, Funeral For A Friend, Earshot, Bow Wow, DJ Khaled, Bone Thugs N Harmony, DJ Felli Fel and Ashanti.
Watch out also for the new singles “Take It To The Dancefloor” by Peacemakaz featuring Danielle Senior (AATW) and “Belly” by JC Featuring Fake Rapper (Relentless). Further new signings include Stevie V, Cozi Costi, Rex Rideout and Steve B whose “Paddy’s Revenge” single is currently taking over the airwaves and dancefloors of the UK.
It’s been a while since the last update and a great deal has been happening at Notting Hill Music with the company enjoying a raft of hits around the World spearheaded by 2 UK number 1 singles and another number 1 in the US.
In the UK Timbaland’s “The Way I Are” was followed at number one by Kanye West’s “Stronger” with Mims’ “This Is Why I’m Hot” topping the Billboard Hot 100. Further hits on both sides of the Atlantic came from The Game, Fabolous, Tank, Gucci Mane, Funeral For A Friend, Fightstar, Bow Wow & Omarion, Huey, R.Kelly & Bow Wow, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Booty Luv, Groove Amada featuring Stush, Filo & Peri, DJ Khaled, 2Pac & Ashanti, Sunfreakz & DJ Felli Fel.
Other chart albums in the year featuring Notting Hill songs : Omarion, Mims, Timbaland, Kanye West, Booty Luv, Jay-Z, Mario, Gucci Mane, T.I., Beanie Sigel, 2Pac, Ne-Yo, R. Kelly, Akon, Nas, Young Jeezy, Paul Wall, The Game, Jim Jones, JoJo, Paul Weller, Robbie Williams, Sugababes, Snoop Dogg, Cherish, Tank, Keyshia Cole, Luther Vandross, Groove Armada, David Guetta, Yung Joc, Ludacris, Simon Webbe, Fat Joe, Tim McGraw, P. Diddy, Notorious B.I.G., Pussycat Dolls, Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera & Destiny’s Child.
Usually, the most difficult part of writing the website news update is deciding where to start. Not this time. Number one in the US Hot 100 is a pretty good place to begin and that’s where we are for the second week with Akon’s “Don’t Matter” taken from his double platinum album “Konvicted”. This is, in fact, one of 6 Notting Hill singles in the Hot 100 this week with Young Jeezy & R. Kelly’s “Go Getta” and Omarion’s “Icebox” climbing into the Top 20 with Bone Thugs N Harmony featuring Akon, Tank’s “Please Don’t Go” and Marques Houston’s latest hit “Circle” making up the Notting Hill contingent in the US chart.
A number of hugely important signings have been made in this quarter in both the US and the UK. First off, producer Mike City joins us for all of his current and future projects including all releases on his Umbrella label through Universal. The first release under this agreement is Carl Thomas whose single is storming Urban AC radio in the States. Expect to see plenty more success from Mike and his projects in the near future. We are delighted to welcome production team The Runners who have rocketed to prominence through their recent work with Rick Ross (including the smash single “Hustlin”), Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Fat Joe, Lil Wayne, DJ Khaled and Jim Jones to name a few. Further US hits in the quarter came from new signings Kochease (Yung Joc’s “I Know You See It”) and Jason Rome with the Luther Vandross single “Got U Home”. Webstar’s “Chicken Noodle Soup”, Omarion’s “Entourage” and The Game’s “It’s Okay” also delivered Hot 100 singles in the period.
Back in the UK, Jon Pearn & Nick Bridges joined the company on a long-term exclusive deal which includes their smash single “Yeah Yeah” recorded by Bodyrox featuring Luciana. The single peaked at number 2 on the UK singles chart and is now exploding across Europe. Producer Jerry Meehan has also signed a long term deal via our JV agreement with NuSong. The first 4 songs from that deal are featured on Robbie Williams new number 1 album “Rudebox”.
We are also extremely proud to announce our exclusive publishing representation of eighties favourites Altered Images. The deal covers their entire catalogue including their biggest hits “Happy Birthday” and “I Could Be Happy”. Another wonderful addition to the catalogue comes from Phil Gould who has struck a deal for us to administer his shares of the Level 42 catalogue including “Running In The Family”, “Something About You” and “The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)”.
New chart albums in the quarter featuring Notting Hill songs : The Game, Jim Jones, Motorhead, JoJo, Paul Weller, Robbie Williams, Sugababes, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Cherish, Tupac, Norma Jean, Luther Vandross, Yung Joc, Ludacris, Simon Webbe, Lupe Fiasco, Brooke Hogan, Fat Joe, Paris Hilton, Letoya, Tim McGraw, Diddy,
Further new signings during the quarter include an international deal
for Money Mack Music, the publishing arm of Cash Money Records which brings
an extensive catalogue of hugely successful rap music including Juvenile
& Lil Wayne.
We are also extremely proud to announce our exclusive representation of
the catalogue of the late Steve Marriott in the United States which includes
classic Small Faces hits like “Itchycoo Park”, “All
Or Nothing”, “Lazy Sunday” and “Tin Soldier.
Top 30 album debuts in the US for From First to Last and Fightstar in
the UK show there is plenty of life in the rock market and we have also
new albums scheduled for release this year from Motorhead, Unearth, 36
Crazyfists and Norma Jean.
Field Mob have stormed back into the US charts with 2 singles, the first
being “Georgia” with Ludacris and now their own “So
What” which features a guest vocal from Ciara. Their new album is
due for release soon on Disturbing Tha Peace/Geffen and should be well
worth the wait. Georgia is also featured in the smash-hit film “ATL”
starring T.I.
Album cuts during the first quarter appear on US Top 30 albums by Jaheim,
Jamie Foxx, Ne-yo, Tim McGraw, Keyshia Cole, Destiny’s Child, Nelly,
Ludacris & DTP, Anthony Hamilton, Bow Wow, Trey Songz and Ciara.
Mike Hamilton and Deacon Smith are currently enjoying a hit single in
Japan with local star Double’s version of their song “Rock
The Party”. Mike has also co-written the next Lee Ryan single “When
I Think Of You” with fellow Notting Hill writers Leon Sylvers, Aaron
Gowdy and Bernard Biddle. The song is already featured on Lee’s
UK gold album and we are very hopeful of a big hit with the single in
the New Year.
Congratulations to all of our artists nominated in the Grammy’s
this year especially Robert “EST” Waller who picks up nominations
in three categories including Best R&B Song for Destiny’s Child’s
“Cater 2 U”. Our other nominees are Shadows Fall, Norma Jean
and a host of writers featured on 4 out of the 5 nominations for Best
Contemporary R&B Album. They are: LT Hutton, Marques Houston, Platinum
Status, Bryce Wilson, Bink, LaKiesha Miles & the ubiquitous EST.
Thank you to all who helped to make 2005 a landmark year for the Notting
Hill Music Group and we look forward to continuing at a breakneck pace
in 2006!
President Peter Chalcraft said, "We only ever had a small roster
of rock bands at Notting Hill Music but with the continued growth in the
rock music world we thought it was about time we as a company ventured
back into this market. There are a number of great young bands that are
coming up via strong independent labels here in the USA and these bands
have strong international appeal - we want to be part of this." Killswitch
Engage have their song “End Of Heartache” featured in the
current number 1 US box office movie “Resident Evil – Apocalypse”
