Aaron Ross is a name synonymous with quality House music around the globe. The A&R manager for Defected Records and Strictly Rhythm, juggles selecting the hottest tracks for the label with an impressive list of production projects, tour dates and also hosting Defected’s radio show. From roots in pirate radio, launching Soul Heaven Records, to playing alongside and remixing dance music’s biggest names.
He is renound for his inimitable take on House music, drawing inspiration from the old skool and fusing it with contemporary, innovative sounds to make his DJing style unique and fresh. Describing his music style as ‘House- and everything in between’, Aaron toys with a diverse range of sounds and draws inspiration from artists such as Harry Choo Choo Romero, DJ Spen, Jesse Rose and Julian Jabre.
Aaron Ross has come a long way since early beginnings in pirate radio. His passion for house music in the 90’s quickly took him to a long term residency at institutional London club night, Missdemeanours, playing alongside the likes of house music heroes Lottie, Danny Rampling, David Morales and Erick Morillo.
His early label initiation at Virgin Records at the tender age of 16 gave him an ear for good tracks and saw him go onto head up the promotions for Todd Terry’s Sound Design and In-House Record labels. Crediting Gilles Peterson and sessions in the studio with long term friend, Phil Asher, as hugely influential in his musical progression, he pushed the electronic envelope, mastered his studio credentials and began producing music of his own.
His first track under the guise of Rain People and featuring Marcus Begg, was released on Osiris music in 2003 and was quickly followed with a string of solid productions under the alias Fanatix alongside Neil Pierce.
His passion and understanding of quality house music lead to regular bookings at club nights such as Shindig, Defected in the House, Soul Heaven and Masters At Work events. Aaron joined the Soul Heaven House dynasty as a resident and found himself doing A&R for Soul Heaven and launching the Soul Heaven record label.
It was in 2002 that he was invited to host his own radio show on BBC1 Xtra, which became an institution for the global house music community. Aaron was the only DJ on digital and UK National Radio pushing a soulful house show at the time. Its popularity gave it room to run for 5 years- a more than impressive lifespan in the dance music industry.
Early 2008 saw Aaron return to the airwaves with Defected’s In The House radio show. Each week Aaron presents a two hour House music radio show that is syndicated globally. Produced by Wise Budda, who put Pete Tong and Roger Sanchez on the global radio map, the show is syndicated around the world, and often features an elite line-up of guest DJs, such as Todd Terry, Bob Sinclar and Kenny Dope.
Aaron’s current residencies see him regularly rocking The Southport Weekender, Soul Heaven and Defected In The House events. Global gig bookings take him to the US West Coast where he plays at the legendary Sunday night party 'Deep' at the Vanguard. Aaron recently made his debut at Club Air in Japan, embarked on tours of Brazil and Asia, and frequently appears at arguably the world’s most glamorous club; Pacha, Ibiza at which he cites the best gig of his DJ career to date.
Aaron’s position behind the decks, both live and on-air allows him to road test many of the ground breaking tracks he sources by day. This has provided him with much inspiration for his own productions. To date he holds an extensive list of successful self produced tracks and has acquired the reputation of a sought-after remixer for artists such as Jamiroquai, Blaze, Ultra Nate, Kings of Tomorrow, Dennis Ferrer and Estelle.
His production style is instantly recognisable with a strong mix sound, good lyrics and solid drums, and in 2008 released, to critical acclaim, a full length LP on BBE Records under the Fanatix alias. Other recent projects include working on an EP with Matt Bandy for Seasons. He has just released his single ‘Time To Shine’ to legendary NY label Nervous Records and has also just had a release on DJ Spen’s Code Red label in the form of Planet Sax.
There is no doubting Aaron has the world as his fingertips. Whether making music, signing a future anthem or working the crowd into a hedonistic frenzy, he does it all with an uncompromisingly Aaron-edged style- one that is sure to leave an aural imprint on the electronic dance music industry for years to come.
