IanLevine profile

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Books: Dancer From The Dance Number One With A Bullet

Movies: Doctor Who Babylon 5 I Claudius

Music: Northern Soul Classic Soul Philly Disco Motown

Hobbies: Northern Soul Doctor Who Samoyed Dogs Disney Films Science Fiction

For thirty four years I have been producing records. I have had my name on over eighty UK hits, over forty produced by me and forty mixed by me. I started out as a Northern Soul DJ and was starring at Blackpool Mecca's legendary Highland Room at the tender age of seventeen, and I made my first record, "Reaching For The Best" by The Exciters (although in the end, it was the second to be released, as "Love You Baby" ended up being released first) because I was frustrated at the lack of new releases containing the sound I loved, and the lack of Northern Soul in the pop charts. I have always been controversial, and, to my sorrow, have attracted as much venom as I have praise. I like to think that I mean well, but have little patience for people with whom I have nothing in common. If I ever appear rude it's simply because time is so precious and I never seem to have enough to achieve all I want to achieve. I often feel frustration that, despite so many hits and winning a BRIT award, that old friends and work colleagues, like Simon Cowell, Robbie Williams, Take That, Boyzone, Hans Zimmer, John Reid, and my protege and cousin, Daniel Glatman, have all gone on to be far richer than I have. I put it down to my unbridled passion about what I do, and an unwillingness to be as flexible as some people might have liked. I started collecting every British Motown release at fourteen years old, I started collecting every D.C. Comic at ten years old, and was hooked on Doctor Who from the first episode, and was even recording the audio and transcribing the plots within the first year of the show. I think it fair to say I have always been a collector and had a collector's mentality. The pop hits that I have enjoyed, including Take That, The Pasadenas, Boyzone, Blue, etc etc, have all still been influenced by my own personal musical tastes. It is my belief that great music never goes away, it merely cycles around. The magic of Motown and Philly and Northern Soul, those spectacular rich jazz chords laid out across a sledgehammer beat, bring a wistfulness and poignancy to a life that wouldn't be worth living without music. As the words of my all time favourite song that I ever wrote, "Without The Music" - "I won't last a day without the music, Nothing left to say without the music, how can I ever go on". I like to write songs and create music that make you feel good. That make you smile. Music that reminds you of a summer day and a trip down to the beach, with the sun roof down, and suddenly everything feels great in the world, and for a temporary moment in time, all your worries are forgotten ALL I ASK IS FOR THE CHANCE TO MAKE THE MUSIC I LOVE. And I am thrilled that so many fans of the music that I have produced over thirty four years have finally found a way to reach me on here. My number one fan in Australia, Simon Lloyd, now writes many of the sleevenotes on my new albums.