Bally Sagoo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bally Sagoo
Born
Baljit Singh Sagoo

Delhi, India
Occupations
  • Record producer
  • DJ
Years active1989–present
Labels
  • Oriental Star
  • Sony Music
  • Ishq Records
  • Fresh Dope Records
ParentSaminder Singh Sagoo (father)[1]

Baljit Singh "Bally" Sagoo (Punjabi: ਬਲਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਸੱਗੂ,) is a British-Indian record producer and DJ.[2] Born in Delhi, India, Sagoo was raised in Birmingham, England. He entered the recording and entertainment industries in 1989. He is the figurehead of the UK/Belgium-based entertainment company, Fresh Dope Industries.[3][4]

Early life[edit]

Sagoo grew up in the Balsall Heath area of Birmingham. His father Saminder Sagoo ran his own retail music outlet in the 1970s, after playing in the Musafirs in the late 1960s.

In his teens, Sagoo developed a taste for reggae, soul and disco. He spent his college years producing mixtapes for friends and DJing at local events. These home-made creations fused Western dance and hip hop with Indian music.[citation needed]

Career[edit]

In 1989, Oriental Star Agencies, a UK based record label, asked him to remix a Punjabi track called "Hey Jamalo".[5] The single became a hit and Sagoo joined OSA as their full-time in-house producer. Through this relationship, he released his first album, Wham Bam which spawned a sequel, Wham Bam 2. Other material during this period included Star Crazy and Sagoo's 1991 collaboration with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on Magic Touch.Over 50,000 copies of Star Crazy were sold in UK and overseas market.

1990s[edit]

In 1994, Sagoo signed with Sony Records to produce Bollywood Flashback. He became the first Indian artist to reach national mainstream radio when the album track "Chura Liya" (a re-working of Asha Bhosle's song) was played on BBC Radio 1.[citation needed] This was followed in 1996 by his first, all-original work Rising from the East, which included "Dil Cheez" and "Tum Bin Jiya". Subsequently, he featured on the album Dance Attack and composed another remix music video, Mera Laung Gawacha. Starring Deepti Bhatnagar and Jas Arora, the video was directed by Polygram Multimedia, and became a hit in the UK. Sagoo made it onto Top of the Pops. He toured India with Michael Jackson on the HIStory World Tour, produced the Aby Baby album with Amitabh Bachchan and was invited to New Delhi to meet then Indian president, Shankar Dayal Sharma.[citation needed]

2000s[edit]

In 1999, Sagoo launched his own UK music label, Ishq Records. Its first output was his album, Dub of Asia. Ishq followed this with the release of other Sagoo titles including Anything But Silent, Hanji and the technical Sag Loops series. The label also managed and showcased other new talents and delivered tracks such as "Noorie" on Sagoo's 2000 release, Bollywood Flashback 2.

In 2003 at the UK Asian Awards, the Spice Girls presented him with the inaugural trophy for Outstanding Achievement.

That decade, Sagoo's music supported Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham,[6] Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding (2001), the Aishwarya Rai and Dylan McDermott drama The Mistress of Spices and It's a Wonderful Afterlife. Sagoo also starred in and composed the music for the 2006 Punjabi film, Sajna ve Sajna.[6] He appeared in television programmes during the 2010s, including the UK Lottery show, the Asian reality show Bollywood Star and celebrity magazine formats such as Tinseltown TV.

2010s[edit]

In 2012, Sagoo opened a studio in Mumbai, and splits his time between the UK and India. He merged the business assets of Ishq Records into Fresh Dope Records,[7] the music division of Fresh Dope Industries. It has a head office in Brussels and an operational satellite in Mumbai. It is engaged in feature film production, television, artist promotion and management, corporate participation, online and traditional publishing, live performances, lifestyle products, fashion trends and technology developments.[citation needed]

Discography[edit]

Albums
Title Year Distribution
Wham Bam 1990 Oriental Star Agencies
Star Crazy 1991 Oriental Star Agencies
Essential Ragga 1991 Oriental Star Agencies
Magic Touch feat. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan 1992 Oriental Star Agencies
Wham Bam 2 1993 Oriental Star Agencies
Bollywood Flashback 1994 Sony/Columbia Records
On the Mix (compilation) 1995 Oriental Star Agencies
Rising from the East 1996 Sony/Columbia Records
Aby Baby feat. Amitabh Bachchan 1996 Big B Records
Star Crazy 2 1997 Oriental Star Agencies
Sagloops 1 to 4 1999 Ishq Records
Dub of Asia 1999 Ishq Records
Bollywood Flashback 2 2000 Ishq Records
Hera Pheri 2000 Movie soundtrack
Monsoon Wedding 2001 Movie soundtrack
Anything But Silent feat. Jared Bashir & Gunjan 2001 Ishq Records
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani 2001 Movie soundtrack
Gunjan feat Gunjan 2001 Ishq Records
Bend It Like Beckham 2002 Movie soundtrack
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai - The Remixes 2002 Movie soundtrack
Hanji 2003 Ishq Records
Botllan Sharab Diyan 2004 Nupur Audio
Bollywood Buzz 2004 Nupur Audio
Aap Ki Nazaron Ne Samjha feat. Gunjan 2002 Ishq Records
The Mistress of Spices 2005 Movie soundtrack
Sajna Ve Sajna 2006 Movie soundtrack
It's a Wonderful Afterlife 2010 Movie soundtrack
Future Shock 2014 Fresh Dope Records
Cafe Punjab 2015 Fresh Dope Records
Next Level 2021 Fresh Dope Records
Title Year Distribution
Singles
"Hey Jamalo" 1989 Oriental Star Agencies
"Ragga Muffin Mix" 1991 Oriental Star Agencies
"Jewel" feat. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan 1991 Oriental Star Agencies
"Chura Liya" 1994 Sony/Columbia Records
"Choli Ke Peeche" 1995 Sony/Columbia Records
"Dil Cheez" feat. Shabnam Majeed 1996 Sony/Columbia Records
"Tum Bin Jiya" feat. Shabnam Majeed 1996 Sony/Columbia Records
"Noorie" feat. Gunjan 2000 Ishq Records
"Pesa nasha pyar.Bohemia" 2006 Ishq Records
"Thori Ji Kori" feat. Harry Mirza 2013 Fresh Dope Records
"Kinna Chauna" feat. Vicky Marley 2021 Fresh Dope Records

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Funeral for 60s Asian 'boy band' star". BBC. 16 December 2015.
  2. ^ "Smack in the face". The Hindu. 22 March 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  3. ^ "It's a Wham Bam Future Shock Bally Sagoo is back". Chakdey.com. 22 February 2013. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  4. ^ "Changing tunes". The Hindu. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  5. ^ "Discogs". discogs. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Bally Sagoo". IMDb. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  7. ^ "Bally Sagoo Music". Freshdoperecords.com. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2013.

External links[edit]