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MJ Cole

The word ‘quality’ and MJ Cole have run hand in hand right from the start of his diverse and inspirational career. To the casual observer and mainstream music fan MJ Cole is the producer behind five UK top 40 singles (including the top ten hit ‘Crazy Love’), the albums ‘Sincere’ (his groundbreaking debut) and ‘Cut To The Chase’, plus a Mercury nomination and MOBO Best Producer award. His profile and talents as a producer, remixer and arranger have lead him to work with some of the world’s biggest artists such as Tom Jones and Mariah Carey. To the dedicated clubber and dance music follower, MJ Cole is a true pioneer of the UK Garage scene - an urban legend no less, who retains a deep respect on the ever-discerning underground.

Never one to be pigeonholed, Matt has ploughed an unusually wide and all-encompassing professional path. His student days studying classical music at LCU and the Royal College contrasted with his nights raving to hardcore and jungle at Telepathy and Raindance. In that same sprit he has gone on to draw together skills as a studio engineer with string arranging; song writing with DJing; and the sophistication of classical composition with the raw energy of bass-powered sound systems. He is a definitive sound artist, who is just as at home honing beats with hip hop head Rodney P as he is collaborating with renowned percussionist Evelyn Glennie. It’s this open minded love of multifaceted music that underpins Prolific Recordings.

When Matt first set up the label in early ‘98, releases such as ‘Flava Fever’ / ‘Guilty’ and ‘You’re Mine’ became instant anthems on the underground garage scene. Matt’s plans to revamp and re-launch Prolific materialised fully when Andy Lewis - who had lead the Locked On label into glory - happily agreed to become label manager. Whether it’s making cool downtempo grooves with Grant Nelson & Matt Shwartz or killer uptempo dubs with Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown, MJ Cole is no one trick pony, and naturally the same applies to his label. Prolific Recordings and its self-explanatory offshoot Prolific Dubs sets out to be a fertile musical ground and filter that’s a reflection of MJ Cole the artist, A&R ear, and all round sound-addict.