Artful Dodger

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Artful Dodger was a British UK garage duo, initially consisting of the songwriters and producers Mark Hill and Pete Devereux. In the 1990s and early 2000s they scored seven consecutive singles in the British top twenty. What began as an alias for underground bootlegs grew into a project with its own songs. In 2000 Hill and Devereux were named British Producers of the Year, and they received recognition from the Ivor Novello Awards for their songwriting.

Music and breakthrough

Mark Hill came to the music school of the University of Southampton as a percussionist. He had played with the Welsh Philharmonic Orchestra, in jazz bands and as a session musician. In his second year he joined a jazz-funk band and, with a fellow student, Neil Kerr, started a recording studio. There the first releases on their own label, Centric Records, came into being, including Something, What Ya Gonna Do and above all Re-Rewind. The track first appeared as a white label and was then licensed to other labels. The album It's All About the Stragglers came out in 2000.

Influence

UK garage is dance music with a fast, syncopated rhythm, a bouncing bass and soulful vocals, a British successor to house and jungle. Artful Dodger showed how musically trained studio musicians could bring that sound into the charts, with catchy vocal lines and clever production.

Listening

• 
  Re-Rewind the Crowd Say Bo Selecta · Artful Dodger feat. Craig David, 1999
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 2000It’s All About the Stragglers

Mentioned in other articles

• UK garage GenrePirate radio and clubs played it, and Craig David scored with Artful Dodger with Re-Rewind (1999).