Mark Summers

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This article is about the record producer. For the American television personality, see Marc Summers. For the Australian rules footballer, see Mark Summers (footballer). For the British casting director, see Mark Summers (casting director).

Mark Summers
Mark Summers of SCORCCiO, performing his DJ set of House/Electro/Nu-Disco for KISS FM, Taras Shevchenko Park, KYIV, Ukraine, 12 October 2018
Born
London, England
Occupations
  • Music producer
  • sound designer/engineer/mixer
  • DJ
  • singer
  • musician
  • songwriter
Years active1989–present
AwardsMTV VMA Winner 2005: Best Video Game Soundtrack (Sony Playstation)
Websitescorccio.com

Mark Summers is the English

T-Rex, Elton John
).

First recordings

Starting his musical career as a London club

rave
track "Meltdown" by Quartz. Following a dispute over ownership and royalties of "Meltdown" between Summers and the other two Quartz members, Summers decided to release his own first solo work "Melt Your Body" - which was moderately based upon "Meltdown", made in retaliation by Summers after the dispute. By January 1990, "Melt Your Body" had outsold "Meltdown" by 3:1, it entered the UK top 100 sales chart, and in recognition of this, Summers was firmly established as a promising new UK dance music producer.

Due to big responses from playing his own tracks whilst DJing, Summers signed a two-single deal with

4th & Broadway, in May 1990. The first single "Party Children" just missed the UK top 75,[1] whereas the second single "Summers Magic" climbed up the UK chart to peak at number 27, in January 1991.[1] "Summers Magic" gained instant recognition as the first ever dance track to heavily feature a sample of music from a children's TV theme tune, in this case the BBC's The Magic Roundabout
.

The hardcore/breakbeat/techno-driven kids' TV sampling phenomenon of "Summers Magic" seemingly provided inspiration for many other artists, including the Prodigy (also from East London/Essex), with their first single "Charly". Before entering the UK national charts, some rave followers believed "Charly" was possibly the work of Mark Summers and his follow-up to "Summers Magic". The Prodigy's track eventually charted in July 1991, almost 7 months following the ground-breaking "Summers Magic". This style of breakbeat hardcore came to be known as "toytown techno". "Summers Magic" was later to appear in the opening of the 2013 comedy film The World's End (starring Simon Pegg), although it does not appear on the soundtrack album. During 1991–93, Summers produced and remixed tracks mainly in the musical styles first labelled as "hardcore" and "jungle", which later morphed itself into the breakbeat-driven music genre now commonly known as "drum and bass".

Artist productions

Moving on from "rave" and revisiting his preferred style of house music, Summers released six singles on the Hoochie Coochie label (1993–96) with fellow DJs Ben Howard and Dave Malone. During this time, he was hired as a sound engineer to work in the studios of Air Lyndhurst/Chrysalis Music (now

Sir George Martin. Summers became the head studio producer within less than 3 months. He went on to produce and remix Chrysalis Music artists, and also for the offshoot dance label Tuch Wood/Tuchwood Records, co-owned by DJ-producer Dave Lee (a.k.a. Joey Negro). By the end of 1995, Summers had gained an immense sound production status to add to his post-DJ and dance artist qualifications, including recording and production work with notable artists such as Malcolm McLaren, Mica Paris, Jocelyn Brown, Aphex Twin, Ashley Beedle, X-Press 2, Gabrielle and Kylie Minogue, amongst many others. Summers worked within various (mainly dance) music styles and genres, from R&B to house, trance
to drum and bass and even pop and rock, using his extensive DJ experience as the basis for his knowledge and technical skills acquired from Air Studios in different types of music production.

Scorccio Records

Fully inspired by 1970s disco, '80s hip hop and '90s house music, in 1996 Mark Summers launched his own label, Scorccio Records (pronounced "scor-chee-oh"), with releases that combined elements of those three music genres from the past three decades. The first release was the disco rapped "Inferno" - under Mark's pseudonym

Video Music Awards in 2005 on MTV for * Best Video Game Soundtrack.[2]

Scorccio Sample Replay Productions

The Scorccio release of "Inferno" in July 1996 originally featured a sample of Dan Hartman's "Relight My Fire", which Summers was told by PolyGram (prior to their release) that the sample either had to be replayed, or that he should pay for the master sample clearance (US$15,000). Avoiding financial loss, Summers decided to replay the sample, the first time he had ever undertaken such a challenge. Summers was determined to make the sample replay as close sounding as possible, and upon first hearing the replayed version PolyGram/Wonderboy believed Summers had simply re-EQ'd the original sample, until he played them all the separate stem parts to prove it had been fully recreated (including a 4 piece string section overdubbed numerous times). Since then, every Scorccio-related release has had replayed and/or revocalled samples.

Quickly establishing the world's first ever 'sample replay' service, in 1996 Mark Summers took his venture into the next stage by working for a large number of major and independent music labels, DJs, producers and recording artists.

Sony-BMG (amongst others), soon became regular clients of Scorccio sample replays. In 2004, Positiva released "Lola's Theme" by the Shapeshifters, which featured a Scorccio replay of Johnnie Taylor's "What About My Love". The song went from being hugely popular in clubs to gaining a No. 1 national chart position in the UK, Italy and Germany, followed by a No. 1 spot on the U.S. Hot Airplay Charts. The following year (2005) saw Michael Gray's "The Weekend
" reach No. 7 in the UK and No. 1 in Italy, featuring distinctive keyboard riffs played by Summers (initially based upon a re-edited 1980s electro track). Other notable replays have included: "People Hold On", "Blue Monday", "Love to Love You Baby", "Love Sensation", and "One More Time".

In 2009, Summers replayed "Street Player" (originally by

Gotta Go Home
". The song reached No. 1 in dance charts worldwide.

Summers replayed four samples on the album

Warner Bros. Records
in the United States.

"One Last Song" from the album

Sam Smith features Mark Summers' recreation of "Be a Lion" on the intro and throughout "One Last Song". The original recording is a track from The Wiz (1978), produced by Quincy Jones and featuring the vocals of both Diana Ross and Michael Jackson
.

Summers was guest speaker on panel discussions at the New Music Seminar in New York, June 2015.

By October 2022, Summers had produced over 4,000 sample replays for Scorccio. During the previous years, 4 tracks featuring his production works had reached number 1 on Beatport's Top 100 chart; Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" (Purple Disco Machine Remix), Roberto Surace's "Joys", Matt Sassari's "Put a Record On" and Martin Ikin's "Hooked".

His replay production of vocals and instrumentation from Rick James's 1981 single "Super Freak" featured on Nicki Minaj's "Super Freaky Girl" debuted at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, number 1 on US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and number 1 on UK Hip Hop/R&B (OCC) during August/September, 2022.

Due to his vast number of successful productions spanning over 25 years, Mark Summers is now widely recognised by the music industry as one of the most prolific and most important contributors to dance music throughout the world.[3][4]

Discography

Albums

  • 2000: Number One - Billie Godfrey (JVC, Japan)
  • 2001: Scorccio Super Hit Mix (Toshiba-EMI, Japan)
  • 2003: Exotica - Chill-Out Paradise Vol. 1 (Scorccio)
  • 2008: Dreamy - Dreemtime (Dreemtime)

Singles

  • 1989: "Melt Your Body" - Mark Summers : (SMR / Hillbilly House, U.S.)
  • 1990: "Party Children / Wicked in Mombassa" - Mark Summers : (4th & Broadway)
  • 1990: "Bass / Confused About?" - Next Century : (Next Century)
  • 1990: "The Force" - 50K : (white label)
  • 1991: "Summers Magic" / "5p Like A Micro" - Mark Summers : (4th & Broadway)
  • 1991: "Don't Cha Know" - Niteflyte : (Desire)
  • 1993: Overdubb EP - Unit-E : (Contagious)
  • 1993: "Eruption / Ruffplate" - Overdubb : (Impact)
  • 1993: "Take Control" - Interface : (Tuch Wood Records TUCW008)
    • A Wood Side 1. Take Control (Summers/Kris)
    • A Wood Side 2. Take Control (Of the Radio) (Summers/Kris)
    • B Tuch Side 1. Keep It Comin' (Summers/Flippa)
    • B Tuch Side 2. Questions (Summers)
      • B2 features soundbyte samples from Blade Runner's Roy: "Yes... Questions"
    • Published by Chrysalis Music, produced by Mark Summers[5]
  • 1994: "Keep It Coming" - Interface : (Tuch Wood)
  • 1994: "CityBeats (Bassline Kickin')" - Hoochie Coochie : (Hoochie Coochie)
  • 1995: "Make It Right" - Interface : (Slamm)
  • 1995: "CityBeats (Bassline Kickin') Remixes" - Hoochie Coochie : (Hoochie Coochie)
  • 1995: "Gonna Get Over" - Hoochie Coochie : (Hoochie Coochie)
  • 1996: "Make You Move" - Eastbase Boogie Boys : (Hoochie Coochie)
  • 1996: "The Business of Booginess" - Disco FX 1 : (Hoochie Coochie)
  • 1996: "Inferno" - Souvlaki : (Polygram/Wonderboy)
  • 1996: "Just Playin" - JT Playaz : (Telstar)
  • 1997: "Friction" - Kornholio : (Scorccio)
  • 1997: "Let's Get Down" - JT Playaz : (Telstar)
  • 1997: "ADP Groove / Ultra Vibe" - Cappuccino / Kornholio : (Scorccio)
  • 1998: "Disco High" - Ultimate Heights : (Scorccio)
  • 1998: "My Time" - Souvlaki : (Polygram/Wonderboy)
  • 1998: "Sunshine Day" - Freakkout : (Scorccio)
  • 1998: "Total Recall" - Ultimate Heights : (Scorccio)
  • 1998: "Go Round Again" - Starbeat 2000 : (Scorccio)
  • 1998: "Fired Up Sound" - Ultimate Heights : (Scorccio)
  • 1999: "Retro Fire" - Maxx 'N Cala : (Scorccio)
  • 1999: "The Source" - Scorccio : (Scorccio)
  • 1999: "Alright 2 Nite"- Ultimate Heights : (Scorccio)
  • 1999: "Good Times" - Mighty High : (Rosenburg)
  • 2000: "Highs Off U" - 4 Reeel : (Scorccio)
  • 2000: "Drop the Vibe" - Ultimate Heights : (Scorccio)
  • 2001: "Pump the Rhythm" - Ultimate Heights : (Scorccio)
  • 2002: "Everybody 2 the Sun" - Ultimate Heights : (Scorccio)
  • 2002: "U Feel It" - 4 Reeel : (Scorccio)
  • 2002: "Jibaro" - ENV : (Scorccio)
  • 2003: "What What" - High Five Kings : (Mash Up Recs)
  • 2003: "Tonight" - High Five Kings : (Mash Up Recs)
  • 2004: "On Fire" - 4 Reeel : (Scorccio)
  • 2009: "Hella Good" - Scorccio : (Gallo Recs)

Remixes

  • 1989: "Meltdown" - Quartz : (ITM)
  • 1991: "Feel the Music (x3 Mixes)" - Control : (CM)
  • 1992: "Protein (Hardcore Innovator Remix)" - Sonic Experience 3: (Strictly Underground)
  • 1992: "Classical in Motion" - Excel D : (Brainiak)
  • 1993: "Here Again" - DGP : (Tuch Wood)
  • 1993: "Whenever I Dream" - Twang Dynasty : (Tuch Wood)
  • 1994: "Together We Can Learn" - Awa : (Tuch Wood)
  • 1994: "Hacker / Auraya" - Repo : (Tuch Wood)
  • 1995: "Generation X" - Kooky Ballerina : (Slamm)
  • 1996: "Movin' Up Movin' On" - Mozaic : (Perfecto)
  • 1997: "No Stoppin'" - Big Band Experience  : (Telstar)
  • 1997: "Summerlove" - S-Connection : (Happy One, France)
  • 1998: "Gonna Make Ya Move (Don't Stop)" - Pink : (Activ)
  • 1998: "That's the Way" - X-Treme : (EMI. Italy)
  • 1998: "On the Run" - Known Felons : (Playola)
  • 1998: "We Come to Party" - N-Tyce : (Telstar)
  • 1998: "Lift Me Up" - Jamestown : (Playola)
  • 1999: "Everybody Dance" - X-Rated : (Scorccio)
  • 1999: "I Believe" - Jamestown feat Jocelyn Brown : (Playola)
  • 1999: "Treat Me Right" - TJ Flayerz : (Playola)
  • 2000: "Love Sensation" - Loleatta Holloway : (Toshiba-EMI, Japan)
  • 2000: "The Break" - Skybox : (Rosenburg)
  • 2000: "Transambient" - Galaxy Beyond : (Addictive TV)
  • 2001: "It Only Takes a Minute" - Tavares : (Toshiba-EMI, Japan)
  • 2002: "As Long As I Got U" - Unknown : (Z Records)
  • 2002: "Living on a Love" - WTP : (Scorccio)
  • 2003: "Rhythm Is a Dancer" - Snap : (Ministry of Sound, Germany)

Video games

Scorccio has two songs which appear in the Dance Dance Revolution arcade series. In addition, the song "Total Recall" was to be included in Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix Plus, but the song never appeared in the series. It is available in beatmania 5thMix and newer, and in beatmania III, but not in beatmania IIDX.

Song Arcade game StepManiaX
availability
1st 2nd 3rd 4th MAX MAX2 Ex
X3
 		SMX
"Let's Get Down" Yes Yes Yes Yes Does not appear Does not appear Yes Yes Does not appear Does not appear
"Total Recall" Does not appear Does not appear Maybe Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear
"Highs Off U" Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Yes Yes Yes Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear
"Disco High" Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Yes October 8, 2021
"Pump The Rhythm" Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Yes November 10, 2021
"Everybody 2 The Sun" Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Yes December 30, 2021
"Everybody Dance" Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Does not appear Yes February 6, 2022

References

  1. ^ a b Mark Summers at OfficialCharts.com
  2. ^ "2005 MTV Video Music Awards Nominees". MTV. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015.
  3. ^ https://www.facebook.com/LiftoffRecordings/videos/346466883870141/ [bare URL]
  4. ^ "Mark Summers". IMDb.
  5. ^ "Interface (9) - Keep It Comin'". Discogs. 8 December 1993. Retrieved 28 April 2019.

External links

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