Early life Oakenfold was born on 30 August 1963 at
Mile End Hospital. His father delivered the
London Evening News. He lived in
Highbury,
Greenhithe, then
Croydon, attending
Archbishop Lanfranc School, then studied to be a chef for four years and worked at the
Army and Navy Club.
Early career: 1980–1984 Paul Oakenfold describes his early life as a "bedroom DJ" in a podcasted interview with
Vancouver's
24 Hours, stating he grew up listening to
the Beatles. Oakenfold's musical career began in the late 1970s, when he met Trevor Fung and began helping him DJ
soul music in a
Covent Garden wine bar. Here in London, he also met Rumours where he played
Earth, Wind and Fire and popular British bands. During this time,
hip-hop was overtaking dance music as the most popular sound in the area (see
1984 in music). Oakenfold and Fung used fake identification to sneak into various dance clubs, like Studio 54, where they met members of the band
Maze,
Bobby Womack and
Bob Marley, whom they also interviewed, claiming to be
NME and
Melody Maker journalists.
Perfecto Records and fame: 1985–1991 In 1987, Oakenfold travelled to the island of
Ibiza for a week to celebrate his birthday. Trevor Fung, Nicky Holloway, Ian Saint Paul,
Danny Rampling and Johnny Walker accompanied him. Oakenfold convinced the owner of a venue in England to host an "Ibiza Reunion" party after-hours. He had previously made an attempt, but it failed as the crowd was not prepared for the
acid house style until 1987 when the party was successful. After that, the night became a classic and became one of the UK's major acid house nights, known as
Spectrum at
Heaven in
Charing Cross. The party was best known for the "Theatre of Madness", as more than 1,500 people were present on Monday nights, until it went down; with the financial issues it changed its name to the "Land of Oz". Artists like
Alex Paterson DJ'd in the VIP
chillout area known as the "White Room", which gave Oakenfold more free time, and then he began producing music under the alias "
Electra" in 1988. Members included Nick Divaris,
John "Johnny" Rocca and Micky. As they continued releasing only four singles as the
Balearic beat band
Electra, in Full Frequency Range Recordings (
FFRR Records) founded and run by
Radio 1's
Pete Tong, the duo created a new alias under the name Perfecto. Also in 1988 he decided to create a place where new artists could develop their careers. At that moment,
Perfecto Records was born. He collaborated with his friend
Steve Osborne He was invited as a guest DJ to Spike Island, a gig with
the Stone Roses. Pleased with the last single, the Happy Mondays gave Oakenfold and Osborne the opportunity to produce their third studio album, ''
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches. The album entered the UK charts at number one with pre-sales of 150,000. The album was named NME''s 1990 Album of the Year, and both Oakenfold and Osborne won the 1991
Brit Award for Best Producer. In 1991, they remixed
Massive Attack's "Safe from Harm" as well as many others.
Tours and nightclubs: 1992–2000 In 1992, when
U2 released their song "
Even Better Than the Real Thing", the Perfecto remix reached a higher charted position than the original song. In 1993 with the success of his last remix as Perfecto, he was hired by U2 to provide the warm-up sonics to their
Zoo TV world tour, and replaced
BP Fallon in the 1993 legs of Europe and Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, with more than fifty shows in Zooropa '93 and Zoomerang from 7 May to 10 December of the same year. Also in 1993, Oakenfold and Osborne's project
Grace was formed as State of Grace and featuring vocals by Patti Low, though by the time Grace had charted a number of singles in the UK charts (around 1996), it had become a 'solo fronted project' with jazz singer
Dominique Atkins as the lead vocalist. The project was dissolved in 1997 as Oakenfold was touring as a performance DJ more frequently and could not commit to recording, though a remixed version of "Not Over Yet" was issued under the 'Planet Perfecto featuring Grace' name in 1999. In September 1994 and again in 1998, he teamed up with
Steve Osborne and
Ben Hillier to remix
the Rolling Stones song "
You Got Me Rocking" and
Duran Duran's "
Out of My Mind". He began producing his own tracks as well, continuing to remix songs from popular artists. He began using
Goa music, fusing it with similar-sounding European tracks to create his own distinct sound. He took this to the mainstream in 1994 and created a pair of two-hour sets for
BBC Radio 1's
Essential Mix; the first of these was broadcast in the early hours of Sunday 20 March 1994, with the second being
The Goa Mix broadcast on Sunday 18 December 1994. His album
Perfecto Fluoro became the No. 1 essential dance collection of Boston Beat during 1996 with
Jamiroquai's
Travelling Without Moving. In 1997, Oakenfold mixed one disc of the double album
Fantazia Presents the House Collection 6, a UK
house music compilation series. Oakenfold became Cream's resident DJ from 1997 to 1999. During this time, he began to concentrate on the release of
Tranceport in 1998. In 1998 and 1999, Oakenfold took the first place in
DJ Mags Top 100 DJs. With the two-year contract as a resident in
Liverpool's Cream, it was in 1999 that he released
Resident. Two Years of Oakenfold at Cream. on
Virgin. He became resident DJ for the opening of (short-lived) London superclub
Home, a role he performed until May the following year. Also in 1999, he moved to the United States where he went on tour. In 2000, he created fourteen tracks of jazz, soul, house and Goa based styles with Mitchell Oakenfold. Twenty-four
FX and scratches loops and sounds were included too, each consisting of six seconds; the album cover says "Only for DJs and Producers" and was released on Music of Life. In March 2000, he teamed up with
Steve Osborne,
Andy Gray and
Bruno Ellingham to remix
Moby's song "
Natural Blues". Sometime before July 2000, he teamed up with Andy Gray to write and produce the
theme for the
Channel 4 reality show
Big Brother under the name
Elementfour. The series started airing on 18 July 2000, with the theme later released as a single. The programme and theme moved over to
Channel 5 from 18 August 2011 to 5 November 2018. In September 2000, he opened the new
Digital Radio station
Ministry of Sound Radio with a live mix from the famous London club. Oakenfold appeared in the intro scene of
EA's Euro 2000 video game, which featured him using his turntables to activate the video game and control various players. He also composed the game's soundtrack, which featured 7 tracks including a remix of the official anthem of the tournament.
Pioneer in America: 2000–2001 After his success in Europe, one of Oakenfold's first major events in America was
Fresno, California's
Cyberfest on 22 July 2000. The 500 acre indoor and outdoor central California location had the biggest dance capacity ever in America. An estimated 80,000 dancers and music lovers from
Seattle,
Reno,
Phoenix,
Los Angeles, and
San Diego were welcomed that day. Cyberfest 2000, also known as the "Festival Of The Future" featured other DJs such as
Chemical Brothers,
BT, and
Carl Cox. Cyberfest 2000 paved the way for other major events in the area such as the
Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles in 2010. In 2001, Oakenfold took part in the first
Area Festival tour. This tour featured
Incubus,
Carl Cox,
the Orb,
OutKast, and
the Roots. He later released a new
compilation album,
Perfecto Presents: Ibiza. 2001 also saw the release of the video game
Frequency, for which Oakenfold produced one track, "See It".
Global Underground sold over 150,000 copies of Oakenfold's previous
Global Underground: New York. A spokesperson for the label claimed that in the US, demand for UK dance music had been increasing in the past couple of years, and now made up over two-thirds of the label's sales. The Global Underground New York office opened in on
Ninth Avenue in
Manhattan. The Mekka Electronic Music Festival, otherwise known as the "electronic
Lollapallooza" took place in ten cities in the United States and Canada during August and September, including
New York City,
Los Angeles,
Toronto and
San Francisco. The event featured Paul,
Armand van Helden,
De La Soul,
LTJ Bukem,
Josh Wink,
Derrick Carter,
Roni Size,
Deep Dish,
BT,
The Crystal Method,
Carl Craig and
Überzone. Oakenfold next moved to
Los Angeles to work on film soundtracks and to focus his DJing stateside. In 2001 he created the soundtrack for the film
Swordfish,
Swordfish: The Album contained a transformation of "Planet Rock" into a seven-minute
breakbeat trance anthem. Most of the tracks are collaborations with
Andy Gray, the remix of
N.E.R.D.'s "Lapdance" which gained total notability from other tracks. The soundtrack was produced under
Village Roadshow and
Warner Bros. and distributed through
London-Sire Records. Oakenfold recorded a track with
Crazy Town vocalist
Shifty Shellshock at the end of the year for his new album. In an interview with
Rolling Stone, Shellshock said that the track known as "
Starry Eyed Surprise" was created after the pair met at a Crazy Town show.
Bunkka: 2002–2004 In 2002,
Bunkka became his first official studio album when he signed to
Maverick. The name
Bunkka came from
Peter Gabriel's studio in the UK, where the album was recorded. An extended play was released featuring live versions of four songs under
Peoplesound Records. It is also Oakenfold's best selling album to date, with sales largely exceeding 1,000,000 (1 million) copies worldwide. The album features vocals from Jane's Addiction vocalist
Perry Farrell on "Time of Your Life" and
Shifty Shellshock of Los Angeles rock and rap band
Crazy Town on "
Starry Eyed Surprise";
Ice Cube on "Get Em Up"; and
Tricky and
Nelly Furtado on "The Harder They Come". The album contains appearances by
Asher D of
So Solid Crew on "
Ready Steady Go", and
Grant-Lee Philips, founder of the '90s Los Angeles rock band
Grant Lee Buffalo is also included with
Carmen Rizzo's version of his song "Motion".
Bunkka also provided the start to three new artists,
Carla Werner on the single "
Southern Sun",
Tiff Lacey on "Hypnotised" and
Emiliana Torrini on "Hold Your Hand".
Hunter S. Thompson's spoken words are provided on "Nixon's Spirit". Pakistani musician
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's composition was adapted in an electronic version on the tracks "Zoo York". In 2002,
Q magazine named Oakenfold in their list of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die". In 2002, Oakenfold revealed he had struggled with
dyslexia as a child and announced his intention to help dyslexic children. In 2002, Oakenfold remixed
David Arnold's "
James Bond Theme"; the song was released under
Warner Bros. Records and was followed by the album's next two singles after "Starry Eyed Surprise", "
Ready Steady Go" and "
Southern Sun". "Southern Sun" with
Carla Werner was first issued as a B-side of "Ready Steady Go" until it was included on
Tiësto's
In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama compilation with his own remix of the song. "Southern Sun" became a hit as it was then released as the A-side of "Ready Steady Go" in mid-2002. "Ready Steady Go" was featured in
Saab commercials, the 2003
EA Sports game
Tiger Woods PGA Tour, the
THQ game
Juiced, the pilot for the television program
Las Vegas, and as the
NASCAR theme song for 2006. It appears in the video game series
Dance Dance Revolution in
DDR Ultramix for the
Xbox, the
Fastlane episode "Dogtown" and the
Alias episode "Snowman". "Ready Steady Go" was also listed as the number one song that makes you drive faster by
UpVenue. Also in 2003, he remixed another hit soundtrack for 'Elvis Presley' which charted fairly well after his 2003 remix of "Rubberneckin'" made the top three in Australia and top five in the UK. This remix contributed to the
Elvis phenomenon of the 21st century. In an earlier episode of
Radio Free Roscoe, "The Imposter", a 2005 series on
The N, a character Travis Strong DJed to the song, acting as if it were his own. It has also been used in the
film adaptation of
Anthony Horowitz's novel
Stormbreaker,
The Bourne Identity and it was reproduced with
Korean lyrics for the film
Collateral. The song has also been used during the performances of extreme freestyle water ski jumpers, and later became the theme song for the TV show
TRL Italy from 2003 till 2005. The EP
The Harder They Come was released on Perfecto and featured other works from Oakenfold and other artists. At the
Creamfields event in 2002 at Speke Airfield, DJs such as Oakenfold, Seb Fontaine and
Paul van Dyk performed along with
Dave Clarke,
Jon Carter,
Richie Hawtin and
Felix Da Housecat. The event also featured live appearances from
Basement Jaxx,
All Saints,
Death in Vegas and
Moloko. In 2003, Oakenfold released the fourth single of his album, "Hypnotised" which became successful enough to be included on his next compilation from the
Perfecto Presents... series,
Perfecto Presents: Great Wall which also included the
Deepsky remix of the song as well as tracks like
Motorcycle's "
As the Rush Comes",
Björk's "
Pagan Poetry",
UNKLE's remix of
Ian Brown's "
F.E.A.R." and Oakenfold's remix of
Madonna's song "
Hollywood". In 2003, Oakenfold produced a remix of "
Pourvu qu'elles soient douces", a 1988 hit by French singer
Mylène Farmer. With the event of
Creamfields that took place in 2004, Oakenfold released a compilation of songs he played during the event as well as tracks influenced by the environment and the vibe of deejays such as
Paul van Dyk,
Armin van Buuren,
Ferry Corsten,
Judge Jules,
Fergie,
Tall Paul,
Eddie Halliwell,
Chris Lawrence, Adam Sheridan,
Shan, and Alex Kidd at the
Cream/
Goodgreef and
Mixmag Arena.
A Lively Mind, Greatest Hits & Remixes, Vol. 1 and side work: 2005–2007 In 2005, Oakenfold was contacted by the car manufacturer
Toyota to create a free promotional CD available from
aygo.com to promote a new Toyota car. The CD contained only seven songs which he worked on with Ian Green; the album was entitled
Feed Your Mind. During Oakenfold's career he has remixed a variety of songs from
Madonna, like "
What It Feels Like for a Girl", "
Hollywood", "
American Life", "
Sorry" and later in 2008 "
Give It 2 Me" from her album
Hard Candy, Oakenfold went on tour with Madonna for two months opening her presentation in the
Confessions Tour, previously he had supported her in 2004 at
Slane Castle in Ireland. His sets lasted for an hour and a half, followed by Madonna's two-hour show. Oakenfold remixed the
Transformers theme as the theme song for the TV series,
Transformers Cybertron. He also contributed with his single "Beautiful Goal" for the
FIFA Football 2005 video game. His single "Ready Steady Go" was composed for the 2005 video game
Juiced. His second studio album,
A Lively Mind was released on 6 June 2006. Receiving unsuccessful reviews, the first single "
Faster Kill Pussycat", a collaboration with the actress
Brittany Murphy, was released on 2 May 2006; the second single was "
Sex 'n' Money". Both songs stand out from the rest, as most of the album has a more trance-like feel. Gregory Jeffries from
AllMusic stated the album might have been in the nominated albums of dance music in 1997 but not in 2006, as the album has guitars with disco sounds that might be only appealing to trance addicts. In 2007, he played live at the
Boston Pops which created a piece of orchestral music with electronic music. The event took place in Miami for 10,000 people with a 75-piece orchestra, he wrote a piece of music which he described as "difficult". 2007 saw the publication of the first official biography of Paul Oakenfold, written by
Richard Norris of The Grid and Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve fame.
Paul Oakenfold: The Authorised Biography was published by
Bantam Press on 24 September 2007. Oakenfold is a self-professed supporter of
association football clubs
Chelsea F.C. and
Los Angeles FC. It was thought that he played a zombie in the movie
28 Weeks Later however this is incorrect, he was offered the opportunity but turned it down. He also scored the soundtrack for the 2007 Japanese CGI anime film
Vexille. In October 2007 he released his
Greatest Hits & Remixes, Vol. 1 which features his best performance tracks. Oakenfold was a judge for the sixth and seventh annual Independent Music Awards. In October 2007 Oakenfold remixed
Britney Spears' number one hit "
Gimme More", which became the lead remix off the release. Oakenfold has created more than one hundred remixes, and has sold over 5,000,000 (5 million)
long plays.
Pop Killer and film scores: 2008–2014 In 2008, he released the last single from his last studio album,
Not Over. This was a new version "
Not Over Yet" which he produced while working with Osborne as
Grace and in collaboration with
Ryan Tedder from
OneRepublic. The song was covered by
Klaxons as "
It's Not Over Yet". In 2008, Oakenfold worked on
film scores for various films and television programs such as
Californication,
The Heavy,
Fever,
The Bourne Identity, and
Speed Racer. In mid-July Oakenfold ended his world tour promoting his greatest hits album. He also joined
Madonna again in her
Sticky & Sweet Tour in
London,
Santiago,
Buenos Aires,
Rio de Janeiro and
São Paulo. After touring, he began his residency in
Las Vegas on 30 August. In the fall of 2008, he started his first Resident DJ position in the United States. "Paul Oakenfold Presents: Perfecto Las Vegas" was conceptualized specifically for
Rain Nightclub, the legendary nightclub and concert venue at the
Palms Casino Resort known for its special effects and international headliner acts. From July to August 2009, he again opened Madonna's concerts for the Sticky & Sweet Tour in Europe. In 2009 Paul's third studio album was announced to be actually named
Pop Killer, and not
Decade of Dance as the article from
The Sun stated. He also worked with Madonna on her third greatest hits collection,
Celebration, and her final release with
Warner Bros. Records. The first single was released on 3 August 2009, it is also titled "
Celebration" and was produced by Oakenfold. He also remixed a past demo "It's So Cool" from
American Life, and it is included as a bonus track on iTunes. Oakenfold remixed a song called "Firefly" from the
Matt Goss album
Gossy. In 2010, Oakenfold returned to the US as a DJ at
Rain Nightclub. , in 2012 In February 2012 Oakenfold headlined a huge one-off event for club brand Goodgreef at the famous Tall Trees venue in the UK. Later in the year, he performed alongside Californian band
Train at the
Google I/O June 2012 After Party at Moscone Center in
San Francisco. In 2014, Oakenfold remixed A3's single "Come with Me". Oakenfold co-wrote a song for
Cher's twenty-fifth studio album
Closer to the Truth: "
Woman's World". It was released on 18 June 2013 as the album's lead-single. Oakenfold remixed a song by British pop singer
Sophie Ellis-Bextor and up-and-coming new electronic project DedRekoning on their single "Only Child", released on 8 September 2014 through Oakenfold's label
Perfecto Records.
2015–present Since May 2015, Paul is heading the department of DJs and EDM vocalists at Isina, a worldwide talent search and development mentorship program. On September 25, 2020, Oakenfold launched the English-language electronic single, "The Perfect Song" featuring Mexican pop icon
Fey, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her career. His album
Shine On is set to be released in 2022. Oakenfold was the opening act for the
Pet Shop Boys and
New Order Unity Tour in September and October 2022. ==Legal issues==