Joey Negro (* 18th June 1964 on the Isle of Wight ; actually: David Russell Lee ) is a British House - DJ and producer . In addition to his main pseudonym Joey Negro , Dave Lee has also released music under a variety of other pseudonyms, including a. Akabu , Doug Willis , Jakatta , Prospect Park , Raven Maize , Sessomatto , The Shy Boys and Z Factor .
Lee discovered his passion for music in the 1970s when he began collecting disco , soul and funk records. In 1986 Lee moved to London, where he worked in a record store, which closed a year later. In 1988 he started his own label Republic Records and released his first production "Get Busy (It's Partytime!)" With Mark Ryder and Emmanuel Cheal under the pseudonym MD-Emm . The single reached number 100 in the British singles charts . The production team released a few more singles in the acid house segment and achieved two more chart positions with “Playing With Fire” and “Get Hip To This!” Before the group split in 1990 and Mark Ryder the Pseudonym only used as a solo artist.
Lee was one of the first to use disco samples for the single "Together Forever", a cover of a song by the disco band Exodus, which he released in 1989 under the name Raven Maize with the support of Blaze . His first production as Joey Negro appeared in 1990 with "Do It, Believe It" on his new label Z Records . Since he didn't play an instrument himself, he got the support of keyboard players Andrew Livingstone and Viv Hope-Scott for his follow-up single "Do What You Feel". This was a great success and came in at number 36 in the UK singles chart.
Since then, Joey Negro has become one of the most wanted producers and remixers, using a variety of pseudonyms. His debut album Universe Of Love was released in 1993 on Virgin Records . In the same year he also produced the cover version of the Dan Hartman song "Relight My Fire", which was sung by the British boy band Take That together with the singer Lulu , and reached number 1 on the British singles charts.
In 1998 he founded the Sunburst Band , with whom he produced a total of three albums. He later had some chart successes under the pseudonym Jakatta . In 2000, “American Dream” reached number 3 on the British charts. The follow-up single "So Lonely" came in 2001 at number 8 and in 2002 he and Seal produced the single "My Vision", which reached number 6.
In 2005 Dave Lee released a single under his real name for the first time with “You're Not Alone”.
