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Jon Carter

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(Redirected from Monkey Mafia)
For the American football player, see Jon Carter (American football).

Jon Carter
Also known asMonkey Mafia
Born1970 (age 53–54)
Essex, England
OriginPortsmouth, Hampshire, England
GenresBig beat, electronic
Instrument(s)Keyboards, turntables
Years active1992–2004
LabelsWall of Sound
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2001; div. 2005)​

Jon Carter (born 1970[1] in Essex, England) is an English electronic musician. He initially rose to prominence in the 1990s as a big beat DJ.[2] However, as his career progressed both his productions and his DJ sets began including a variety of musical styles. From 2004 onwards, he began to scale back his DJing due to tinnitus, but simultaneously launched a second career as a businessman, co-founding a company that runs a chain of live music pubs across London.

DJ and production career

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Carter began his musical career playing in bands when he was at Southampton University. Dropping out of his studies, he moved back to London and started to learn studio engineering, ending up working in the No U-Turn studios which at the time was involved in the nascent jungle scene of the early 1990s. During his spare time, Carter began making his own tracks, which caught the ear of Mark Jones, the founder of the Wall of Sound record label. Carter was eventually signed to Wall of Sound and released his first record "The Dollar" under the name Artery.[3]

At around the same time, Carter was one of the regular DJs at The Heavenly Social, a Sunday evening club in the Albany pub on Great Portland Street in central London. Alongside the other regular DJs the Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim and Richard Fearless of Death in Vegas, the night was instrumental in developing the form of electronic dance music that became known as big beat, with its mix of rock, hip hop and breakbeat, as well as dance.[3][4]

In 1995, Carter left Wall of Sound and signed with Heavenly Records to produce dub and dancehall-influenced dance music under the name of Monkey Mafia. The project developed into a full band playing live shows, and an album, Shoot the Boss, appeared in 1998. By now he was also in demand to produce mix albums and remix songs by bands as diverse as U2, Manic Street Preachers and the Beach Boys. By the end of the 1990s he had secured DJ residencies at several nightclubs in the UK and was regularly playing sets abroad.[4]

In 1999, Carter moved back to Wall of Sound and its new subsidiary Nu Camp to release "Women Beat Their Men", a house record under the new pseudonym of Junior Cartier. In 2003, he and fellow DJ Tim Sheridan formed a short-lived record company, Saville Row, and released a few singles on the label.[citation needed]

A severe bout of tinnitus curtailed his DJing activity and brought a halt to his record productions for a couple of years,[5] but by 2008 Carter had returned, first with another one-off collaboration with Tim Sheridan, and then "The Rabbit" with Stretch Silvester of Stretch & Vern, the first single in a planned series of collaborations with other DJs under the name Gentleman's Agreement.[6] He has also teamed up with Liverpool-born, New York-based DJ Alex Blanco under the name Roosevelt High.[7] In 2009, he became a member of the Rizla Invisible Players, an ever-changing collective of musicians and artists. Alongside Carter, the 2009 line-up included Jazzie B, Micachu, Gruff Rhys and David Shrigley and performed at a number of festivals across the UK that year, including RockNess, Lovebox, The Big Chill and Bestival.[8]

Business ventures

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Carter's first foray into business was in 1998 when he became co-owner of The Lock Tavern pub in Camden, London.[4] In 2004, he co-founded 580 Limited, a company which owned several live music pub venues, initially across the UK but later solely in London. Working with the company, Carter helped to set up The Lock Tavern Tent at the Glastonbury Festival from 2003 until 2010, and a Lock Tavern arena at the Field Day festival in 2010. The company was also involved with the Beacons Festival that takes place annually near Skipton in North Yorkshire. In October 2014, the four pubs in the 580 Limited chain were sold to the brewer Young's.[9]

Personal life

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Carter married model-turned-DJ/presenter Sara Cox in October 2001.[10] Their daughter Lola Anne was born on 13 June 2004.[11] In December 2005, the couple separated[12] and then divorced the following year. He has since married his second wife Nina. Carter also has a son from a previous relationship.[6]

Discography

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(taken from Discogs.com)[13]

Studio albums

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Monkey Mafia:

Singles and EPs

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Artery (with Mark Jones):

  • 1994: "The Dollar" (Wall of Sound)

The Naked All-Stars (with Derek Dahlarge):

  • 1996: "Hot Pursuit" (Wall of Sound)

Monkey Mafia:

  • 1995: "Blow the Whole Joint Up" (Heavenly Records)
  • 1996: "Work Mi' Body" (featuring Patra) (Heavenly Records)
  • 1997: 15 Steps EP (Heavenly Records)
  • 1998: "Long As I Can See the Light" (Heavenly Records)
  • 1998: "Work Mi' Body" (remixes) (Heavenly Records)
  • 2012: "Royal Ascot" (Nice Up!)[14]

Junior Cartier:

  • 1999: "Women Beat Their Men" (Nu Camp)

Jon Carter:

  • 2002: "Everlasting Life" (Bugged Out!)
  • 2002: "Humanism" (Shine)
  • 2003: "Go Down" (Saville Row)
  • 2004: "The Dance" (Saville Row)

Tim Sheridan/Jon Carter:

  • 2003: "Justice Is a Must"/"Need I Say More" (Saville Row)

Tim Sheridan vs. Jon Carter featuring Ferank Manseed:

  • 2008: "Freakshow" (Very Very Wrong Indeed Recordings)

Stretch Carter (with Stretch Silvester):

  • 2008: "The Rabbit" (Pieces of Eight)

Roosevelt High (with Alex Blanco):

  • 2009: "Stevie's Drop"

DJ mix albums

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  • 1996: Essential Mix 4: Pete Tong/Paul Oakenfold/Jon Carter (third CD of a three-CD set) (FFRR)
  • 1996: Live at the Social Volume 2 (Heavenly Records)
  • 2000: 7 Live #1 (DMC Publishing)
  • 2002: Viva Bugged Out! (Virgin)
  • 2003: Acid House Reborn! (Mixmag)
  • 2004: Ministry of Sound Saturday Sessions (with Mark Hughes) (Ministry of Sound)

Notable remixes

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References

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  1. ^ "Duran Duran announce UK tour". BBC News. 10 December 2003. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  2. ^ News. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 19 December 2012.
  3. ^ a b Shapiro, Peter (1999). The Rough Guide to Drum 'n' Bass (1st ed.). London: Rough Guides Limited. p. 317. ISBN 978-1-8582-8433-0.
  4. ^ a b c Jon Carter's MySpace website. Retrieved on 19 December 2012.
  5. ^ "Jon Carter's tinnitus trauma". Inthemix.com.au. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  6. ^ a b Stroud, Ben (17 October 2008). "Jon Carter – on Gentleman's Agreements (and Dodgy Deals) (Interview)". Trackitdown.net. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  7. ^ Roosevelt High MySpace website. Retrieved on 19 December 2012.
  8. ^ Diver, Mike (24 June 2009). "RockNess Rizla Invisible Players Gallery". ClashMusic.com. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  9. ^ Goodway, Nick (17 October 2014). "DJ segues into sale of music pubs to Young's". The Independent. London, England: Independent Print Ltd. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  10. ^ "Caine 'in talks' for Austin Powers 3". BBC News. 5 October 2001. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  11. ^ "Sara Cox gives birth to baby girl". BBC News. 14 June 2004. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  12. ^ "Sara Cox Exclusive – 3am & Mirror Online". Daily Mirror. London, England: Trinity Mirror. 25 July 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  13. ^ Jon Carter Discography at Discogs. Discogs.com. Retrieved on 19 December 2012.
  14. ^ "Monkey Mafia - Royal Ascot". Discogs.com. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
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