ArtistInfo

Keith Rodgers

US
of Electronic and Hip-Hop/Rap
A.k.a. Keith W. Rodgers Bon Rock

American Rapper, Songwriter, and occasional Backing Vocalist best known as founding member of Break Machine and as a soloist. One of the the first rappers to be released on Tommy Boy Records. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was transferred to a school for musically gifted children at age seven and later worked as the presenter of a rap radio show called "Bon Rock Live" on the New York station WHBI 105.9. In 1981, he recorded a single, "Searching Rap" produced by Ed Pavia under the name Bon Rock. This brought him to the attention of Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo, the French disco producers who had been successful in the late 70s with the Village People, and who were looking for new styles after the decline of disco. In 1983, together with Musician & Arranger-Producer Fred Zarr, they released their debut single" Street Dance", which was an international hit and one of the earliest mainstream breakthroughs for Hip Hop. Street Dance peaked at # 3 on the UK singles charts in March 1984 and was the 42nd best-selling single of that year. It hit # 1 in Sweden and Norway. In Germany, it was the 78th best-selling si ngle of 1984. Street Dance's strongest chart performance was in France, where it was # 1 for two weeks, selling over a million copies and becoming the 86th best-selling single of all time according to a list released in 2004 by the Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique. The song Street Dance earned Keith a spot in the Guiness book of world records. Street Dance is also credited with starting the Smurf movement which was Europe’s equivalent of Hip Hop.It has been featured in over 35 compilations and numerous Movies & Documentaries chronicling the early years of Hip Hop & Breakdancing. During that time Keith was asked to be a part of a new act that would include Jalil of the Rap Group "Whodini". He was also asked to join "Smack Music" the legendary house producers who went on to produce "Ten City" and "Adeva"; He and then producer Ken Alper eventually landed on " Easy Street" Records. In 2008 Keith's first album" Bon Rock "the B Boy was re-released in Europe on Boogie Times Records. He has also completed scoring the music for the independent film called "Drama". In 2013 he was one of the artists on the "Funkology" album by William Kensington. Recently Keith has recorded with Hip Hop Legends" T. Ski Valley" and" Fastbreak" of the movies "Beat Street" and "Wild Style". Keith also toured in Lyon France as the opening act for the group " Starpoint" while working with David 'Pic" Conley of the R&B group "Surface" . He is presently recording for Tim Jones of "Love Town" Records based in England. Today he lives in Staten Island, NY.

Genres

• Electronic
• Hip-Hop/Rap
• Dance
• R&B/Soul
• Rock

Plays With