Rishi Rich
Music producer Rishi Rich needs no introduction nationally or internationally; he is arguably the most popular Asian music producer of our time. Born and brought up in London, his real name is Rishpal Singh Rekhi. He is internationally known for his Bhangra tracks and Hindi remixes. He is a pioneer of Indian-R&B fusion music.
He signed his first album at the age of fifteen under the production of 2Kool. He co-produced several popular albums like Warm It Up and Klassic Kut before he worked on his first solo album entitled 'Simply Rich'. The album was a monster hit and one of its most popular songs was Nahin Jeena featuring Don D and Juggy D. The landmark album propelled his name in the mainstream music scene. Combining his influences from his Punjabi background and his love for urban music and pop, he’s been able to appeal to a wider audience through remixes with international artists. He has worked with mainstream artists such as Madonna, Britney Spears, Mis-Teeq, Craig David, Mary J Blige, Ricky Martin, Westlife, Estelle and Liberty X. Rishi Rich has always had a talent for spotting young fresh talent. He is responsible for discovering British Asian talents who later gained mainstream success, such as Juggy D, Veronica Mehta, Mumzy Stranger and Jay Sean; who is considered the most successful British urban artist of all time. Juggy D, Jay Sean and Rishi Rich have worked together extensively and brought a new sound to the millennium and achieved revolutionary mainstream success with their Bhangra and RnB concoction. The songs Dance With You, Eyes On You and Stolen all were chart buster hits.
Rishi Rich has worked in Bollywood too. He produced the title-track for the Bollywood flick Hum Tum and also worked on the movies Kyaa Kool Hai Hum and Boom.
Punjabi Rocker Hard Kaur
Taran Kaur Dhillon aka Hard Kaur is India’s first female rapper. This Punjabi girl is no novice to the music industry; she has been around for the past ten years. She has been rapping in UK and it was not until songs like Ek Glassy and Move your Body from Johnny Gaddaar that she became noticed and popular in India.
After spending most of her life in England, she came back to India to rock the place with the song Ek Glassy with her music group; The Sona Family. She didn’t realize when she did Ek Glassy, that it would be such a big hit. The scene in the video where the auntie drags a girl out of the club was Kuar’s idea; she had actually witnessed such an incident in Leicester, UK. Hard Kaur later split up with the Sona Family due to the restrictions of her starting a solo career simultaneously. She started playback singing in Bollywood and some of the movies that she khas sung in many Hindi films like Ugly Aur Pagli, Singh Is Kinng, Kismat Konnection, Dil Bole Hadippa and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani.
Kaur wants to see more female rappers in India and she advises them to be thick skinned, as the industry is currently male dominated. She admits that in India she had to work that much harder to get recognized and have people like her music as people here are usually not into a particular artist or song until they hear it in the clubs or on music channels all day. Often called the Desi Missy Elliott, Hard Kaur has the hip-hop confidence because of her street swagger and talent. She believes that as long as a person has talent and passion, nothing should stop them from chasing their dreams.
Punjabi Hip Hopper Dr. Zeus
Baljit Singh Paddam aka Dr. Zeus is a Punjabi Music Producer. He gained stardom in India in late 2003 with his hit song "Kangna". His is popular throughout the world where ever Punjabi music is adored. His popularity increased when he collaborated with South-Asian female trio, Rouge.
Zeus’s career began when he signed with Envy music label based in Birmingham, UK in 1999. He produced Pure Garage - Sue My Ass by the Punjabi singer, Balwinder Singh Safri. "Sahiba bani prawa di" and "Par langa de veh" were his two popular songs from the album. He later produced Deathjamm 4.5, which was part of a series Deathjamm Collections from the early 90's. In 2001, he finally released his solo album The High Life. The album was a huge hit but something was still missing, as it didn’t put him on the international scale. It was not until his album Unda Da Influence that came out in 2003 that he found the recognition that he truly deserved. It became the best album of 2003 in the genre and the song "Kangna" was the best song. The album featured the vocal talents of Amar Arshi. He released The Street Remix in 2006, which contained all his greatest hits. The album won him more confidence and recognition. Zeus took a very different approach on his recent album Back Unda Da Influence by using many unknown artists. The song “Sat Sri Akaal” hit No.1 on the BBC Asian Network Charts. The album was recorded exclusively at his own studio; the BFK Studio.
With songs like “Kangana” and “Don’t be Shy”, he gave legendry singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's sufiana verses a hip-hop twang. There’s no doubt about expecting more from Zeus; he’s already working on his new album, which will certainly blow us away.
Godfather of Bhangra
His music is a fusion of contemporary influences with bhangra. Bally Sagoo is a well-known British Asian musician and DJ. He grew up in Birmingham, England and though his father owned an Indian record shop, he was more into soul, dance and reggae music that he often heard on the radio. As a kid he used to mix tapes and be the DJ at his friends’ parties.
hough music was very much a part of him, after graduation, he went on to become a salesman and concentrated on his music during his spare time in his bedroom, which he called “Currywood Studios”. Eventually he sent one of his tapes; a remixed a track called “Hey Jamalo” to the Indian record label Oriental Star in 1989. The record label was highly impressed with his skills and offered him time in the studio to remix some of their artists. His love for Dj-ing and music forced him to follow his dream and he became a full time music producer. The album Wham Bam was released in 1990, which was a collection of his remixes of the label’s bhangra material. The album was a huge hit. He gained recognition and success as a DJ and he soon started revamping old Bollywood hits with hip-hop. The groundbreaking album Magic Touch happened in 1992 featuring Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. This resulted in Nusrat’s acceptance with the younger generation. He signed with Sony Music in 1994 and he took the mainstream music industry by storm.
Bally Sagoo is one of the original pioneers of what is now modern Indian music. His style of music triggered the explosion of modern Bhangra pop music. He established his own production company named Ishq Records. He has also starred in the Punjabi movie Sajna ve Sajna.