Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a music producer from London, England. Ronson has released two albums. His first, released in 2003, was mainly hip hop music. His second, in 2007, featured British singers and musicians performing many different genres and styles.

Early life

Ronson's mother, Ann Dexter-Jones , is a writer, and his father used to work in the music industry. He has two twin sisters, Charlotte and Samantha. Samantha is also a musical artist, and a well known LA DJ. Charlotte is a well known clothing designer and owns several clothing stores.^[1]

Ronson's family are ethnically Jewish.

Ronson became interested in hip hop when he moved to New York City, aged 8. He went New York University, and became a popular DJ in New York during the 1990s.^{[needs proof]}

Albums

Ronson's first album was called Here Comes the Fuzz, a hip hop album featuring artists such as Ghostface Killah. It was released in 2003. It reached #70 in the music charts.

His second album, Version, was more successful. It sold more, and was nominated for a number of awards. It featured lead vocals by the likes of Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Robbie Williams, and others famous British singers too. Jordan Galland, an American musican also contributed to it. The artists performed cover songs, (which means the songs were new 'versions' of old songs - the word "version" was originally used in this context by the Reggae scene) but what made this second album stand out was the return to the use of professional arrangers and a full brass section. At a time when other producers such as Timbaland had made a name for themselves by producing simple stripped down backing beats, the sound was a complete change of direction. The brass section that Ronson used was the Dap-Kings who usually performed with Sharon Jones. It reached #2 in the British charts.

Other websites

• MarkRonson.co.uk Official home page
• MySpace.com/MarkRonson Ronson's MySpace page

References