ArtistInfo

Keb Darge

*1961 GB
Producer of R&B/Soul

The legendary out-spoken Scotsman has been around the northern soul & funk scene since the start and began his career as a dancer at the Wigan Casino. Soon he started collecting and buying Northern Soul in UK and from regular trips to the US and was starting to play around and in Wigan (including the casino). After the casino closed in 1981 he had gained a respectful reputation as a DJ. He moved to London at the age of 22 and decided to start living a normal life and quit DJ'ing, but was quickly playing Northern-soul again due to heavy demand by old wigan promoters. He brought the scene to London and drew the northern punters that had moved to London after the wigan scene dissolved. After a few years, the nothern scene faded, Keb sold his music collection but he still had a loft filled with 'junk' music (according to himself) that he had picked up in the states that was to-be classified as "Deep Funk" later on. So in 1989 house music arrived in the UK, and Keb decided to play the funk grooves after a trip to Japan. He managed to get a regular night at a acid-jazz club called 'The Wagclub' and he finished there after a period. And around 1992/93 he met fellow collector Snowboy on the first funk-only night in London called 'Deep Funk', named by Keb (that he later used as a name to describe the sound) but arranged by the owners of the club (Club Ormones). After a time, Snowboy and Keb wanted to push the funk sound further and they decided to start their own night in an old restaurant. The nights failed due to the domination of house and shut down after a few months. Not so long after, they got a tip for a new location that was a strip-club in Soho called Madame Jo-Jo's. The location was perfect and they manage to arrange a weekly night to start with. The nights took off fast and are today the leading funk nights in London. Later on the strip nights closed and the venue became a full time music club. Today he holds a weekly spot at the club (Legendary Deep Funk nights), traveling around the world DJ'ing, and running the label Kay-Dee Records with Kenny Dope. He has achieved legendary status by far with a 60's & 70's musical knowledge second to none that is perfectly reflected on his BBE compilations. By the late 2000's Keb diversified yet again - this time into '50s rockabilly, rockin' blues, original RnB and surf music. Along with his partner Little Edith he compiled a series of albums for BBE: 'Keb Darge & Little Edith's Legendary Wild Rockers', 'Keb Darge & Little Edith's Legendary Rockin' R&B' and, perhaps surprisingly, 'Keb Darge & Cut Chemist Present Lost & Found - Rockabilly & Jump Blues'. The sleevenotes to these albums contain vitriolic attacks on some of the music he once held dear and, indeed, on much modern electronic dance music in general.

Genres

• R&B/Soul
• Blues
• Rock

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