biography
K-Klass are responsible for some of the biggest dance tracks ever made. For over quarter of a century they have rocked dance floors and live gigs without fail, racking up no fewer than 5 UK top 40 hits and a GRAMMY Nomination along the way. That combined with a remix Hit List to die for, including Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Lisa Stansfield, New Order, Bobby Brown, Rihanna, M-People and many, many more all adding up to millions of sales/Internet views world wide.
Meeting in 1988, in the Legendary Manchester club, the Hacienda, K-Klass soon teamed up with vocalist Bobbi Depasois (who they work with to this day). Hits such as ‘Rhythm is a Mystery’ and ‘Let Me Show You’ soon followed. In the early days the group were best known for their live performances, notching up over 300 full live shows. They cut their teeth playing live at huge raves as well as iconic clubs such as The Hacienda, Cream, Ministry of Sound and many others. Offers of remix and production work followed the hit records. In 1995 K-Klass won the International Dance Awards Remixer Of The Year Award, then followed that in 2002 with a GRAMMY Nomination. The 44th annual Grammy’s saw K-Klass nominated as the first UK artist ever in the best remix category.
To this day K-Klass continue to rock dance floors across the UK and world wide, showcasing both upfront and classic house music in their DJ sets. Alongside DJing, K-Klass have a long tradition of live performance. From the very early days of the Acid House movement K-Klass’ live sets where renowned as one of the best on the circuit.
In 2013 as part of their 25th anniversary celebration, K-Klass revived their live act after a hiatus of 18 years performing as a band. The new 5 piece line up has gone from strength to strength since 2013 and saw bookings at many festivals including Beatherder, Streetrave/Colours, Hacienda, Moovin, Highest Point and many others. K-Klass’ 25 year anniversary also saw them release the hugely successful K-Klass 25 album and tour, showcasing 25 years of the band’s work. The album went top 10 on iTunes Dance and reached No. 8 in the HMV Physical sales chart.
Klass Action, K-Klass’ record label was set up in 2012 alongside former Stealth records label manager Bas Jansen. So far the label has scored successful top 10 releases on both major dance music download stores Beatport & Traxsource working alongside artists such as Todd Terry, Benny Royal, Martijn Ten Velden and Sonny Wharton. In 2021 after a break of a couple of years K-Klass are about to start releasing new material on Klass Action, kicking things off with their own Wildlife EP Vol.2. Delayed due to Covid-19 restrictions the EP was originally due for release in 2020 as part of the 30 year celebration of K-Klass’ original debut release in 1990.
2019 saw the bands busiest performance schedule in their 30 year history with DJ, Live band & PA performances playing to sell out shows up and down the country and worldwide. 2020 was set to be even busier with the diary almost completely full by the end of February, but due to Covid-19 restrictions things took a very different course. However, the time hasn’t been wasted as K-Klass took part in a number of high profile ‘live streaming” events during the period of enforced lockdown, reaching millions of people worldwide in conjunction with brands such as United We Stream, Hacienda, Streetrave/Colours, Madchester & GioGoi/Size? These broadcasts helped raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for charitable causes linked to the pandemic and beyond.
2020 has also seen a upsurge in online streaming with the bands back catalogue receiving over 35 million plays via Spotify alone.
Whist Covid-19 lockdown prevented K-Klass performing it helped give more time to studio productions with a collaboration alongside saxophonist Mike Smith titled ‘Lose Control’ which was released to great acclaim via Low Steppa’s label Simma Black. Also in the final stages of production is a track titled ‘Love & Understanding’ that was recorded and produced 100% remotely featuring the Kaleidoscoscope Orchestra and 12 piece Sense Of Sound Choir which is set for a release in summer 2021.
As K-Klass continue to evolve and move forward, 2016 saw Liverpool superclub Cream approach Paul & Russ to curate and perform the Cream Classical show alongside the Royal Liverpool Philamonic Orchestra at the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool which included K-Klass vocalist Bobbi Depasois performing some of Cream’s biggest dancefloor tracks. After the huge success of the critically acclaimed, award winning show, K-Klass again curated and performed brand new Cream Classical shows alongside the Kaleidoscope Orchestra at The Anglican Cathedral, Liverpool for 2017 & 2018, which saw the latter sell out 2 nights in just 3 hours breaking the record as Cream’s fastest ever selling event. They have since toured with the show to huge crowds at Brixton Academy, London, Belsonic Festival, Belfast & Creamfields massive Steelyard and in 2019 Cream Classical In The Park played to over 32,000 people at Sefton Park, Liverpool.
A post lockdown show planned for September 2021 on Liverpool’s iconic waterfront already sold out on Pre-Sale alone. A further date has been added due to demand as Cream Classical looks set to take things to the next level for K-Klass. With government restrictions on mass events due to be lifted in late June 2021, the K- Klass diary has picked up where it left off, leaving K-Klass as one of the most in demand acts on the circuit. The success story will continue.
music
Ultimate DJ Moments:
With over a 3 decade’s of memories to choose from, our top 3 highlights that spring to mind would have to be seeing the crowd reaction when Graeme Park first dropped ‘Rhythm Is A Mystery’ at the world famous Hacienda nightclub back in 1991, also when we where very honored to play the final set in the main room at Cream’s last weekly night in Liverpool which was the 10th birthday. The last record we played was ‘Let Me Show You’, the Cream self made anthem” and more recently seeing those 2 tracks plus many more brought to life by a orchestra under our DJ guidance for Cream Classical events at the breathtaking Anglican Cathedral Liverpool.