Goldie
Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is an English music producer and DJ.
For other uses, see Goldie (disambiguation).
Goldie
- Goldie
- Rufige Kru
- Metalheadz
- Music producer
- DJ
- actor
1991–present
-
Sonjia Ashby(m. 2002; div. 2005)
-
Mika Wassenaar(m. 2010)
- Metalheadz
- FFRR
- Razor's Edge
- Reinforced Records
- Moving Shadow
Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musician in the 1990s UK jungle, drum and bass and breakbeat hardcore scenes. He released a variety of singles under the pseudonym Rufige Kru and co-founded the label Metalheadz. He later released several albums under his own name, including the 1995 album Timeless, which entered the UK charts at number 7.
Goldie's acting credits include the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, Guy Ritchie's Snatch (2000) and the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2001–2002). He has also appeared in a number of celebrity reality television shows, including Celebrity Big Brother 2 (UK), Strictly Come Dancing, Come Dine with Me and Maestro.
Early life[edit]
Born in Walsall, England, but raised in Wolverhampton,[1] Price is of Jamaican and Scottish heritage.[1][2] He was put up for adoption at the age of three, and raised in childcare homes and by several foster parents.[2] According to his 2002 autobiography, he was physically and sexually abused during this time.[3] Price was a member of the breakdance crew Westside, based in the Whitmore Reans and Heath Town areas of Wolverhampton, in the 1980s. He later joined a breakdance crew called the Birmingham Bboys, and made his name as a graffiti artist in the West Midlands.
His artwork around Birmingham and Wolverhampton was featured heavily in Dick Fontaine's documentary Bombin'. He is mentioned for his graffiti in the book Spraycan Art by Henry Chalfant and James Prigoff, which contains several examples of his art.
He moved to the United States owing to graffiti projects, and also started selling grills (gold teeth jewellery) in New York and Miami; he continued this business after his return to the UK in 1988.[2] His nickname stems from "Goldielocks", an earlier nickname given to him during his Bboys days and subsequently shortened when he no longer wore dreadlocks.[2]
Career[edit]
Music[edit]
By 1991, Price had become fascinated by the British breakbeat music scene when his girlfriend, DJ Kemistry, introduced him to the pioneering jungle and drum and bass producers Dennis "Dego" McFarlane and Mark "Marc Mac" Clair, known as 4hero.[2] He went on to execute some design and A&R work for 4hero's Reinforced Records label.
In 1992, Price made his first record appearance by contributing to an EP by Icelandic group Ajax Project that included the track Ruffige.[4] For many years, the track was repeatedly misattributed to Price himself, perhaps because of his subsequent use of "Rufige" as moniker for his own releases.
His releases Killa Muffin b/w Krisp Biscuit and the Dark Rider EP were released under the alias "Rufige Cru"[note 1] His track "Terminator", released under the name "Metalheads" in 1992,[7] was a hit in the jungle scene and is noted for pioneering the use of time stretching.[8] In 1993, he released Angel, another 12" on the Synthetic Hardcore Phonography label. 1994 saw him setting up his own record label, Metalheadz.[6]
Personal life[edit]
In the early 1990s, Price had a relationship with drum and bass artist Kemistry, who died in a car accident in 1999.[31] He was romantically involved with Icelandic singer Björk in 1996.[6] Due to his relationship with Björk, and her previous relationship that year with Massive Attack member Tricky, this upset Ricardo Lopez, an obsessed Björk fan who was angered by the fact that Björk was in a relationship with a black man (in both Price’s and Tricky’s case) and on September 12, 1996, Lopez sent a device disguised as a book to Björk designed to spray sulfuric acid on her face upon her opening it, disfiguring her permanently or killing her. Lopez then went back to his apartment and shaved off all of the hair on his head and painted his face and head red and green, before shooting himself, all of which was filmed by Lopez. The device failed to reach Björk as Lopez’s body, and subsequently his plans, was found before it could reach her and it was defused by Scotland Yard.[32]
In 1998, Price bought a country house in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire.[16][33]
Price married model Sonjia Ashby in 2002.[34] They divorced in 2005.[16] As of 2003, he had five children, including social content creator Danny Price, who has appeared on Channel 4 reality show Make Me Prime Minister.[33][35]
In 2007, Goldie began a relationship with Mika Wassenaar, a Canadian. The couple appeared in the 20 June 2009 episode of ITV's All Star Mr & Mrs with Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton. Mika and Price married in 2010.[36]
On 29 April 2010, Price opened the William Tyndale Primary School Sports Pitch in Islington, London.[37]
In July 2010, Price received an honorary doctorate in Social Sciences from Brunel University, Uxbridge.[38] On 3 September 2010, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Design from the University of Wolverhampton.[39]
On 7 September 2010, Price's 23-year-old son Jamie Price was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum sentence of 21 years, for murder. He was convicted of stabbing a rival gang member to death in Wolverhampton town centre on 24 August 2008.[40]
As of 2017, Price and his wife were living in Thailand, having moved there in 2015.[3]
Price was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours awards, for services to music and young people.[41]
Price was accused of assaulting a security guard at the 2017 Glastonbury festival after the guard had refused to let Price's daughter, Chance, backstage; Price later emailed a response which read, "Yep, guilty as charged", but in March 2018, district judge Lynn Matthews at Bristol Magistrates' Court rejected Price's emailed response and in a video call Price later admitted to assault by beating.[42] On 30 May Bristol Magistrates' Court ordered Goldie to pay almost £2,500 as a fine.[43]
In 2017, Price appeared to reveal the first name of pseudonymous graffiti artist Banksy as "Rob" on Scroobius Pip's weekly Distraction Pieces Podcast (Episode #156). When discussing the rise of commercialism in street art, Price said, "Give me a bubble letter and put it on a T-shirt and write Banksy on it and we're sorted. We can sell it now... No disrespect to Rob, I think he is a brilliant artist. I think he has flipped the world of art over."[44]