Stereo MC's

Nottingham to Gee Street

Rob Birch, born in Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, and Nick Hallam, born in Nottingham, grew up as next-door neighbors, meeting at six; Hallam moved to London at 18 and Birch followed to study photography. They had an early rock band, Dogman and Head, and Birch and his brother Dave made two A&M synth-pop singles with Hallam in 1983 as Birch and Hallam. In 1985 they co-founded the Gee Street studio and label with Jon Baker and DJ Richie Rich, part-funded by 14,000 pounds paid by a property developer for vacating their flats. The first single, "Move It", is dated 1987 or 1988; 33-45-78 (1989) was recorded for 21,000 dollars. Supernatural (1990, Island) included "Elevate My Mind", the first British hip-hop single on the US Billboard R&B chart, and they toured the US that year supporting the Happy Mondays. Drummer Owen If, born Ian Frederick Rossiter, joined in 1990 and died on July 10, 2022, aged 63.

Connected (October 5, 1992) reached 2 in the UK and is platinum. The group won two Brit Awards in 1994, Best Group and Best Album, were shortlisted for the 1993 Mercury Prize and opened for U2 on Zooropa. After about 18 months of touring there was a break. Later records are Deep Down and Dirty (2001), Paradise (2005), Double Bubble (2008) and Emperor's Nightingale (2011), with DJ-Kicks (2000) and Live at the BBC (2008), and remixes for Madonna, Tricky and the Jungle Brothers in 1998. Birch launched an afro-house and techno label, Connected, around 2015 or 2016. They toured the UK with the Happy Mondays in 2024 and played their first US shows since 2001 in January to May 2025, including The Sinclair in Cambridge, Massachusetts on January 25. Setlist.fm lists about 472 setlists.