Lil Louis
Lil Louis is the stage name used by Chicago-born house-music producer and DJ Marvin Burns.[1] He scored a number of hits on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in the 1980s and 1990s, three of which hit #1.[2]
His best known song, "French Kiss," featured vocals by Shawn Christopher and spent two weeks at #1 on the dance chart in 1989. The track features a several-minutes-long breakdown in which the music gradually slowed down in tempo to a stop. Even with its sensual sound, it crossed over to some pop radio stations and climbed to #50 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a big success throughout Europe reaching #2 in the UK Singles Chart[1] and in Germany, and number one in the Netherlands. The video was directed by Marek Budzynski. British Drum 'n' Bass producers Ed Rush & Optical later produced a remix.
Laurent Garnier's 1997 12" single "Flashback" contained a remix made by Lil Louis called "Lil Louis Civilized Instrumental Painting."
In 2000, fellow producer Josh Wink released "How's Your Evening So Far?"—credited to Wink vs. Lil Louis—a track that heavily sampled "French Kiss." The song peaked at #3 on the dance chart. The song was also sampled in 2000 by female hip hop emcee Lil' Kim on the track "Custom Made (Give It To You)," which was featured on The Notorious KIM.
Louis also released albums under the names Li'l Louis & the World and Li'l Louis & the Party.
In the track "Teachers" from the Homework album by Daft Punk, Lil' Louis is one of the many musicians mentioned. In November 2012, accusations against Louis from Australian promoters in regards to his tour where he did not make it to Australia and perform and he kept the performance fee . The blog/site became viral in the electronic music scene with coverage from all major newspapers and online magazines. In 2013, John Legend released the song "Made to Love", which features a prominent sample of the Lil' Louis song "Video Clash",[3] on Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music label.
On January 24, 2015, Louis suffered permanent sound-induced hearing loss in his left ear during a soundcheck in Manchester, UK when a compressed air horn was let off in close proximity to him.[4][5]
Selected discography
1989 : "French Kiss" (12"), (FFRR), (Diamond Records), (Epic/SME Records, US)
1989 : "New York" (Diamond Records)
1989 : "War Games" (Remix) (Diamond Records)
1989 : "Jupiter" (Diamond Records)
1989 : "Frequency" (Remix) (Diamond Records)
1989 : Li'l Louis & The World – "I Called U," "Blackout" (FFRR/PolyGram), (Epic/SME Records, U.S.)
1989 : From The Mind of Li'l Louis (FFRR/PolyGram UK (Epic/SME Records US), album
- "I Called U" (Original Mix)
- "Blackout" (Original Mix)
- "Tuch Me" (Written with Larry Heard)
- "French Kiss"
- "War Games"
- "6 AM" (Larry Heard)
- "Nyce & Slow"
- "Insecure"
- "The Luv U Wanted" (Written/Co-Produced By Ferrante Eric(Hickerson)-Vocals By Sherel Riley)
- "Brittany" (featuring Joi Cardwell)
- "Li'l Tanya"
1992 : Li'l Louis & the World – "Club Lonely" (Epic/SME Records) (single)
1992 : Li'l Louis & the World – Journey with the Lonely (Epic/SME Records US), album
- "Club Lonely" (featuring Joi Cardwell)
- "New Dance Beat" (Masters at Work remix)
- "Saved My Life"
- "Aahhhh!"
- "Do U Love Me"
- "You're My Reason"
- "Dancing in My Sleep"
- "Funny How U Luv" (feat. Barbara Tucker)
- "Thief"
- "Share"
1997 : Li'l Louis – "Clap Your Hands" (Go! Beat)
2000 : Josh Wink & Li'l Louis – "How's Your Evening So Far?"
Singles in charts
Year | Single | Peak positions | Album | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [6] |
US Dance [7] |
AUS [8] |
NED | BEL (FLA) |
FRA | GER [9] |
AUT | SWI | SWE | IRE | UK [10] | |||
1987 | "Frequency / How I Feel" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | singles only |
1988 | "The Original Video Clash / Music Takes U Away" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | |
"7 Days of Peace / War Games" (as Lil' Louis and the Diamond Corp.) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | ||
1989 | "French Kiss" | 50 | 1 | 35 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 6 | 2 | French Kisses – The Complete Mix Collection EP |
1990 | "I Called U (But You Weren't There)" | – | – | – | 66 | 48 | – | – | – | – | – | 23 | 16 | From The Mind of Lil' Louis (as Lil' Louis & The World) |
"Nyce & Slo" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 89 | ||
1992 | "Club Lonely" (featuring Joi Cardwell) | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | Journey with the Lonely (as Lil' Louis & The World) |
"Saved My Life" (featuring Joi Cardwell) | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 74 | ||
1997 | "Clap Your Hands" (as Lil' Louis & The Party) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 77 | singles only |
2000 | "How's Your Evening So Far?" (Josh Wink vs. Li'l Louis) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 23 | |
2001 | "Blackout" (Li'l Louis vs. Hydrogen Rockers) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | — | |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. |
See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
References
- 1 2 Larkin, Colin (1999) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0252-6, p. 198
- ↑ IMO Records. http://www.imorecords.co.uk/house-2/house-artists/lil-louis-biography/ "Lil Louis Biography"], IMO Records' Retrieved on March 8, 2011.
- ↑ "John Legend's Made to Love sample of Lil' Louis's The Original Video Clash". Whosampled. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
- ↑ "DJ suffers 'career-threatening' ear injury". BBC News. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
- ↑ "Hi Appreciate all of your love.... - Lil Louis Official Fan Page | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2015-10-27. line feed character in
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at position 4 (help) - ↑ "Lil' Louis – US Hot 100 Chart". billboard.com. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
- ↑ "Lil' Louis – US Dance Club Songs Chart". billboard.com. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
- ↑ "australian-charts.com > Lil Louis (singles)". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
- ↑ "Lil' Louis – German Chart". charts.de. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
- ↑ "Official Charts Company: Lil' Louis". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2014-04-10.