Robert Owens (musician)
| Robert Owens | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Robert Owens |
| Born | August 17, 1961 |
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| Years active | 1985–present |
| Associated acts | |
Robert Owens (born August 16, 1961) is an American songwriter, record producer, DJ and singer, best known for his work with the Chicago house group Fingers Inc. in the mid-1980s. As a solo artist, he has placed several songs on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, two of which hit number-one: "I'll Be Your Friend" (1992), and "Mine to Give" (2000, a collaboration with Photek).
Though electronica has typically been a producer's medium (and the few vocalists who succeed are usually women), Robert Owens became one of the people associated with the late-'80s golden era of Chicago house. Born in Ohio in 1961, Robert Owens grew up singing in church, but years later, he was working as a DJ in 1985, when he met Chicago producer Larry Heard. The pair formed Fingers Inc., along with Ron Wilson, and they released a few singles ("You're Mine"/"It's Over") plus the 1988 full-length "Another Side". The group disbanded quickly, as Heard's burgeoning solo-production career (as Mr. Fingers) took priority.
Robert Owens had already released recordings on his own - "Bring Down the Walls" and "I'm Strong" made for Alleviated (with production from Heard), and he signed a solo contract with 4th & B'way Records. His 1990 album Rhythms in Me lost visibility soon after within the quickly disintegrating Chicago house scene. (One of his best-known features of the late 1980s, the epic house moment "Tears" appeared with the names of Frankie Knuckles and producer Satoshi Tomiie.)
By 1996, he had returned to dance music with "Ordinary People": a two-part EP recording for Musical Directions. He joined up with Tomiie (again) and Cevin Fisher in 1999, to make a track from Tomiie's Full Lick LP. One year later, in 2000, Robert Owens appeared on the Photek hit "Mine to Give".
In 2003, he joined with drum and bass act London Elektricity to provide the vocals for their album Billion Dollar Gravy.
He collaborated with Coldcut on their album Sound Mirrors, on the track "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" in 2006.
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