Steve "Silk" Hurley


Steve W. "Silk" Hurley, also known as J.M. Silk, is an American club DJ, pioneering house music producer, songwriter, and four-time Grammy Award nominee. Two times as Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical, respectively twice for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.
From 1985 to 1988, he scored four top-10 singles on the US Dance chart, including the number-one hit "I Can't Turn Around", all released in collaboration with Keith Nunnally as J.M. Silk. With "Jack Your Body", he topped the UK Singles Chart in January 1987 as a solo artist, while one of his later compositions, "Work it Out" from 1989, brought him his fifth top-10 record on US Dance. To date, Hurley's last charting single "The Word Is Love ", also known as "Silk's Anthem of Life" by The Voices of Life, peaked in 1997 at number 26 in the UK.

Early life

Hurley studied engineering at Robert Lindblom Math & Science Academy in Chicago, Illinois, and later at junior college but dropped out by 1981 to concentrate on his music career full-time.

Career

Hurley gained worldwide fame as a DJ on the Saturday Night Live Ain't No Jive Dance Party on WBMX in Chicago in the mid 1980s. Hurley's mixing style is different than the usual radio or nightclub house DJ, since his style of mixing incorporates not only beatmatching, but advanced techniques only done by hip hop DJs or turntablists such as scratching, beat juggling, cutting, needle dropping, and back spinning. He released songs under the stage name of Steve "Silk" Hurley and, with vocalist Keith Nunnally, had many hits on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart as J.M. Silk, including "I Can't Turn Around," which hit Number one in 1986.
His song "Jack Your Body" was also a hit on the UK Singles Chart, reaching number one for two weeks in January and February 1987. This was the UK's first house-music chart topper, achieving the number one spot with the distinction of never having been played on BBC Radio 1 other than on chart shows - club exposure alone was enough to guarantee success. However, the track broke the chart rules, since the 12-inch format exceeded the then-current twenty-five-minute time limit. In spite of "Jack Your Body"'s success, Hurley has had no further singles reach the UK Chart, thus condemning him to one-hit wonder status. In 1988, he released an album titled Work it out Compilation on Atlantic Records.
Hurley also worked as a prominent remixer, re-working tracks for the likes of Madonna ; Michael Jackson ; Debbie Gibson ; Jennifer Lopez ; The Pointer Sisters ; Bananarama ; Brandy ; En Vogue ; CeCe Peniston ; Dannii Minogue ; New Order ; Taylor Dayne ; Diana Ross ; Crystal Waters ; Kym Mazelle Prince ; Black Box ; Lisa Stansfield ; and the Party, which was a band composed of five Mickey Mouse Club cast members ; Simply Red's Something Got Me Started. One of Hurley's notable early remixes was a transformation of Roberta Flack's 1989 song "Uh-Uh, Ooh-Ooh, Look Out " that took the soft ballad into the house-music realm by removing all but the vocal from the track and substituting a minimalist set of house-styled percussion tracks.
In addition to remixing songs, Steve "Silk" Hurley has also worked as a record producer. Among the noteworthy dance/pop crossover hits for which Hurley is credited as the producer are Jomanda's "Got a Love for You", Kym Sims' "Too blind To See It", Ce Ce Peniston's "We Got a Love Thang", "Keep On Walkin', "I'm in the Mood", ""I'm Not Over You" and "He Loves Me 2", and Clubland featuring Zemya Hamilton's "Hold on Tighter to Love".
Hurley was nominated for a Grammy Award as Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical in 1998 and 1999, and for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical in 2002 and 2003.
Steve "Silk" Hurley's remixes can be heard on The Tom Joyner Morning Show every Tuesday and Thursday morning during the last half of the second hour of the nationally syndicated morning show which originates from Dallas, Texas.

Controversies

Steve Hurley vs Farley Keith

In 1986, WBMX DJ and house music producer Farley Keith had stunned the Chicago community when he hit the top-10 of the UK Singles Chart with "Love Can't Turn Around," released under the alias Farley "Jackmaster" Funk. Hurley claimed the track was a blatant theft of one of his own productions, and the two stopped speaking to each other. At that time, Farley Keith shared an apartment with Hurley, who came up with a cover of an Isaac Hayes' disco record, called "I Can't Turn Around", from 1975. Before Hurley could arrange to have the record licensed for overseas distribution, Keith produced his own version of the song, keeping much of Hurley's instrumental arrangement, dropping the rest of Hayes' original lyric, while Vince Lawrence supplied new words. The final result officially became the first ever Chicago house record to reach the music charts. Ironically, Hurley's version topped the US Dance chart, and the producer later got his satisfaction by trumping Keith's success with the number one hit "Jack Your Body".
According to one source, Hurley also originally planned to name himself "Jackmaster Silk", until one week before he was able to release a radio promo tape under that alias, Farley Keith named himself "Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk".

Discography

Albums

Singles

;Notes:
;ASCAP Award
;Grammy Award
YearNominated workAwardResult
1999"If You Could Read My Mind " by Stars on 54
"If You Could Read My Mind " by Stars on 54
"Nobody Else " by CeCe Peniston
"Special Love " by Jestofunk feat. Jocelyn Brown
"Where You Are " by Rashaan Patterson
"The Word Is Love " by The Voices of Life		Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical
2000"Go Down Moses " by Kelly G feat. Sharon Pass
"He Loves Me 2 " by CeCe Peniston
"Higher " by Vernessa Mitchell
"Jack Your Body 2000 " by Steve "Silk" Hurley
"Rollercoaster " by B*Witched
"Yeah Get Down " by Maurice Joshua presents The Reunion Project		Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical
2002"Soul Shakedown " by Bob MarleyBest Remixed Recording, Non-Classical
2003"What About Us? " by BrandyBest Remixed Recording, Non-Classical

;Other Awards