Пол Окенфолд (Paul Oakenfold) - продюсер и один из самых высокооплачиваемых транс-дджеев в мире (выступление Пола стоит 25 000 фунтов), родился 30 августа 1963 года в Гринхайте, Кент, Англия.

Увлечение Пола Окенфолда началось в 1987 году после лета, проведенного на Ибице. В том же году спродюсировал альбом группы Happy Mondays Pills n Thrills and Bellyaches, после чего с другом Стивом Осборном под общим названием работал над музыкой для U2, Massive Attack, Arrested Development, The Cure, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Simply Red, New Order и The Shamen.

В начале 90х имя Пол Окенфолд вошло в элиту мировых
дджеев благодаря увлечению новым стилем танцевальнйо музыки - трансом. Окенфолд сделал свой стиль частью мейнстрима, когда в 1994 создал двухчасовой сет для Essential Mix BBC Radio 1. Этот сет известен как и даже сегодня это - наиболее востребовання передача в радио сети BBC.

После непродолжительного участия в группе Grace, Окенфолд был резидентом клуба Cream с 1997 по 1999.

В 2001 Paul Oakenfold принял участие в Area Festival вместе с такими звездами, как Incubus, Carl Cox, Orb, OutKast и Roots, организованом Moby.

С тех пор Полом было выпущено множество сольных и совместных работ, посетил клубы и фестивали по всему миру, выпускает шоу , которое звучит на множестве радиостанций по всему миру. Музыкант также занимается благотворительностью, помагая детям, больным дислексией.

Paul Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963 in Greenhithe, Kent, UK) is a record producer and a popular trance DJ worldwide.

Paul Oakenfolds career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band, he describes his early life as a "bedroom deejay" on an interview in a podcast for Vancouvers 24 Hours stating he grew listening to The Beatles. Later 21-year-old Paul Oakenfold and Ian Paul grew in 254 West 54th Street, Studio 54s Steve Rubell ran the place and only allowed popular people inside, they used fake passes to sneak into places in New York where they met Maze, Bobby Womak and Bob Marley who they even interviewed as they said to be NME and Melody Maker journalists. Other people were Brooke Shields, Cher, Donald Trump and Bianca Jagger, Warhol, Dali and Yves Saint Laurent.

Paul Oakenfolds musical career began in the late 70s, he started playing soul in a Covent Garden wine bar when he met Trevor Fung as well as Rumours in London where he played Earth, Wind and Fire and popular British bands. In 1984 he spent several months in New York Citys West Harlem. During this time hip-hop was the most popular sound in the area (see 1984 in music). Larry Levan, one of the early deejays during this period performed at the Paradise Garage weekly with the hypnotic mixing style that would become the acid house that has evolved into and whose influence was absorbed by Paul. As he returned to his home country in the UK, Paul began utilizing the foreign sounds he once met and became one of the leading authorities of hip-hop in the United Kingdom. He began breaking into the mainstream as he was working as an A&R man for Champion Records, he signed at that time the unknown DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, as well as Salt-n-Pepa. He also appeared on the Blue Peter tv show from BBC programme for children with a breakdancing crew, he also became promoter and British agent for the Beastie Boys and Run-D.M.C.; Since then, he began his presentations at The Project in Streatham playing soul and jazz music.

A year later in 1985 Paul traveled to the island of Ibiza for a week to celebrate his birthday. Trevor Fung, Nicky Holloway, Ian Saint Paul, Danny Rampling and Johnny Walker accompanied him and it was during this time when playing at Amnesia that Paul demonstrated the balearic trance sound that he would later become known for. The event marked his career as a producer as he convinced his owner to display an "Ibiza Reunion" party after-hours, he had previously made an attempt but it failed as the crowd was not prepared for the acid house style until 1987 when the party was successful, since then the night grew as a classic and was one of the UKs major acid house nights which became known as "Spectrum at Heaven in Charing Cross". Spectrum became popular in The Sanctuary as a bigger space was required, it became into the Heaven club which was ran by Paul and his friend Ian. The party was known for the "Theatre of Madness" as more than 1,500 people were present on Monday nights, until it went down; with the financial issues it changed its name to the "Land of Oz". Artists like Alex Paterson DJd in the VIP
chillout area known as the "White Room", which gave Paul more free time, and then he began producing music under the alias "Electra" in 1988 with his friend Steve Osborne. In 1988 he decided to create a place where new artists could develop their careers, at that moment Perfecto Records was born.

In 1990, he worked with Terry Farley, Andrew Weatherall and Osborne on two remixes for The Happy Mondays, the
remixes of "Rave On" and "Hallelujah" were released on the Madchester Rave On EP as well as "Step On" which is a covered version adapted from
John Kongos 1971 hit "Hes Gonna Step On You", the song reached the Top 5 position in the UK. He was invited as a guest DJ to Spike Island, a
gig from The Stone Roses and pleased with the last single, the Happy Mondays later gave Paul and Osborne the opportunity to produce their
third studio album, Pills n Thrills and Bellyaches. The album entered the UK charts at #1 with pre-sales of 150,000, the album became NMEs
"1990 Album of The Year" and both Paul and Osborne won the 1991 Brit Award for "Best Producer".

As they continued releasing only four singles as Electra, in Full Frequency Range Recordings (FFRR) founded and run by Radio 1s Pete Tong, the duo created a new alias under the
name Perfecto, they remixed Massive Attacks "Safe From Harm" single as well as many others. Grace was formed in the late 1990s, consisting of
Oakenfold and Osborne and various singers, including jazz singer Dominique Atkins, and Patti Low.

It was not until 1992 when U2
released their song "Even Better Than the Real Thing", the Perfecto remix reached a higher charted position than the original song. In 1993
with the success of his last remix as Perfecto, he was hired by U2 to provide the warm-up sonics to their Zoo TV world tour, and as a result
he became known as a superstar deejay as he replaced BP Fallon on the 1993 legs in Europe and Australia, New Zealand, and Japan with more
than fifty shows in Zooropa 93 and Zoomerang from May 7 to December 10 of the same year.

"Theres no chance whatsoever. Seb Fontaine is our resident and is contracted until the end of the year. Paul will be doing some dates and playing Creamfields but thats it. I think his
reason to leave (Home) had more to do with increased demands on his time in the US."

He later began producing his own tracks as well
as continuing remixing songs from popular artists which became successful hits. The reason for this rise in public admiration was his adoption of a new breed of dance music called Goa, something he discovered on the beaches of Goa in India and fused with similar sounding European tracks to create his own distinct sound. He took this to the mainstream when in 1994 he created a two-hour set for BBC Radio 1s Essential Mix. This set became known as the Goa Mix which is still broadcast on the BBC radio network. In 1995, he became the first DJ to play on the main stage at the Glastonbury Festival for 90,000 people which he considers his favorite gig. His album Perfecto Fluoro became an instant masterpiece in every major club and college campus in Boston, and the #1 essential dance collection of Boston Beat during 1996 with Jamiroquais Travelling Without Moving. The group Grace dissolved in 1997 as Oakenfold was touring as a performance DJ more frequently and could not commit to recording.

On June 9, 1997 Paul created Global Underground 004: Paul Oakenfold, Live in Oslo (GU004) which is a double mix CD in the Global Underground series, compiled and mixed by Paul, it is the first work he created for GU. The mix was recorded live at Cosmopolite Club in Oslo, Norway, as part of the official launch of the Quart Festival. It showcases Paul Oakenfolds eclectic taste in music at the time, as the mix combines drum and bass, progressive house & progressive trance, and goa trance. In 1997, Paul mixed one disc of the double album Fantazia House Collection 6, a UK house music compilation series that had been massively successful at the time. After a short spell as a member of the band Grace, Paul became Creams resident DJ from 1997 - 1999. During this time, he began to concentrate on the release of Tranceport in 1998.