Star Image and Power:
Calvin Harris’s birth name is Adam Richard Wiles; he was born on the 17th of January 1984 in Dumfries, Scotland. Calvin Harris is a singer/songwriter, record producer and DJ. The genres of music he is commonly associated with by his work are ‘Electro-pop’, ‘Electro-House, Dance and Disco. He started his career in music in 1999 and is still making music now in 2011.
Harris’s childhood hero was the football star Steve McManaman, but because he could not play, music was his next career option. He began recording demos in his bedroom in 1999.
Harris’s released his first album “I Created Disco” in June 2007; the album contained u p-tempo songs, with the influence being the 1980’s era. The first release from his album was “Vegas”, available on limited edition vinyl. However, his first charted song was “Acceptable in the 80’s” which was a tribute to the culture and fashion of the era – In the music video there is use of bright neon colours, big hairdo’s and statement fashion which all portray the 80’s emphasising that the tribute was successfully done in the planned style.
The song reached the top ten on the determined as he was he started becoming an antisocial person, which affected his personality and confidence. His earliest success was in 2002 when he was 21: the songs "Da Bongos/Brighter Days" which was an instrumental, it was released by the Prima Facie label in early under the name Stouffer. Harris signed contracts with EMI (publishing) and Sony BMG (recording) in 2006, after his music had been discovered on MySpace (social networking site). From then till now his character has blossomed and he is globally famous and on music charts, he built his name and started working with the likes of Kylie Minogue, Example, Dizzee Rascal, Rihanna, Kelis and Sophie Elis-Bexter.
UK singles charts. His second single from the album was “The Girls” this song reached the top five in the UK single charts, increasing in his success and popularity and moving him up in star power as his domination in the chart betters. At the end of 2007 ‘Dragonette’ released a cover of Calvin Harris’s song “The Girls”, this shows his move up in stardom as artists now covering his songs, widening his audience and popularity, increasing the public’s awareness of him.
In 2009 he produced Dizzee Rascal's next single entitled "Holiday". It is said that ‘he was supposed to make an appearance
On 2 April 2011, Harris confirmed via Twitter that he was recording a video for his single "Bounce", in Las Vegas and that it would feature Kelis, the single debuted in the UK Singles Chart on 19 June 2011 and was second. Harris having Twitter and YouTube account (icreateddisco), shows his relation in order to keep up appearances by socially networking with his fans, it is also another way for him to inform the public about new songs, or shows potentially increasing his publicity and getting into the public eye. This shows the enormous power he has by using such social networking sites to keep up the communication between himself and his fans. Calvin Harris does have a website ‘http://www.calvinharris.co.uk/’ it informs the public about his tours and updates them with pictures and tweets. He also has an apparel and music shop on his website; similarly to other artists this increases profit margins and star image.
Overall Calvin Harris has grown from a self conscious boy in his room recording mixes to a well known artist who sells out performances and is constantly out with new song performing with other artists and on the radio charts. His filming style seems to be a mixture of abstract “Acceptable in the 80s” and narratives “Bounce”, however he seems to make more abstract music videos that make his audience more engage in the music video.
UK singles charts. His second single from the album was “The Girls” this song reached the top five in the UK single charts, increasing in his success and popularity and moving him up in star power as his domination in the chart betters. At the end of 2007 ‘Dragonette’ released a cover of Calvin Harris’s song “The Girls”, this shows his move up in stardom as artists now covering his songs, widening his audience and popularity, increasing the public’s awareness of him.
Also in 2007 Harris reordered with a highly well-known artist ‘Kylie Minogue’ and in 2008 collaborated with the rapper ‘Dizzie Rascal’ broadening his genre spectrum and capabilities as well as gaining some of the fellow artists audience, improving Calvin Harris’s image. His song with ‘Dizzie Rascal’ was called “Dance Wiv Me”, after the song was digitally released on the 30th of June 2008 the song shot straight up to number one on the UK charts in October 2008. This increased this star image as his song was on most UK radio stations, expanding his audience to nationwide.
Harris also
turned down a chance to sing with Lady Gaga because he didn't like the song he was shown. This shows his self belief; he didn't take the chance to sing with the most controversial and arguably the artist with the most popularity universally. However, it also shows that he thinks he is too good for someone that extravagant losing him a chance to receive a huge amount of credit to his star image.
turned down a chance to sing with Lady Gaga because he didn't like the song he was shown. This shows his self belief; he didn't take the chance to sing with the most controversial and arguably the artist with the most popularity universally. However, it also shows that he thinks he is too good for someone that extravagant losing him a chance to receive a huge amount of credit to his star image.In 2009 he produced Dizzee Rascal's next single entitled "Holiday". It is said that ‘he was supposed to make an appearance
in its music video, but objected to dancing along in some scenes, wearing a certain shirt for the video and not wearing his "fly eye" glasses’. This shows the arrogance and power he received over the years as he turned down a job he wouldn't if he was just staring out, de-notating his growth as an artist and celebrity. In 2009 he also was one of the line-up’s for the ‘Summer time Ball’ concert and he released a second album in August, Some of the songs of the album such as “Ready for the Weekend" went to number 3 in the UK Singles Chart and “Yeah Yeah Yeah La La La" was used in a Coca-Cola advertisement. This increased his publicity as people started associating the famous Coca-Cola brand with him.
In January 2010, Harris played at the 2010 Big Day Out, a music festival which takes place in several major cities in Australia and Auckland, New Zealand. In 2011, he toured with Rihanna – one of the most well know artists worldwide – in Australia, and released collaboration with her, "We Found Love". Harris also headlined the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2011 party. This shows his diverse audiences and gain in popularity from different sexual groups.
On 2 April 2011, Harris confirmed via Twitter that he was recording a video for his single "Bounce", in Las Vegas and that it would feature Kelis, the single debuted in the UK Singles Chart on 19 June 2011 and was second. Harris having Twitter and YouTube account (icreateddisco), shows his relation in order to keep up appearances by socially networking with his fans, it is also another way for him to inform the public about new songs, or shows potentially increasing his publicity and getting into the public eye. This shows the enormous power he has by using such social networking sites to keep up the communication between himself and his fans. Calvin Harris does have a website ‘http://www.calvinharris.co.uk/’ it informs the public about his tours and updates them with pictures and tweets. He also has an apparel and music shop on his website; similarly to other artists this increases profit margins and star image.Overall Calvin Harris has grown from a self conscious boy in his room recording mixes to a well known artist who sells out performances and is constantly out with new song performing with other artists and on the radio charts. His filming style seems to be a mixture of abstract “Acceptable in the 80s” and narratives “Bounce”, however he seems to make more abstract music videos that make his audience more engage in the music video.
