William Orbit

Orbit (Wainwright) was raised in Palmers Green, a suburb of London.[1] His parents were both schoolteachers; he was the older of two sons.[1] He left school at the age of 16, and subsisted for a number of years in various low-paying jobs, while seeking an outlet for his creativity.[1] Around this time, while rooming with a friend who was trying to start a recording studio, Orbit found his musical calling.[1]

In 1980 Orbit teamed up with electronic musician Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert to form the electronic/synth group Torch Song. They initially self-released recordings in an audio cassette series, generated from their home-built studio in a disused school in Notting Hill Gate, in London, alongside the Grand Union Canal. Richard Law, who was the A&R for IRS Records, was a follower of their music and aesthetic, and took it to industry mogul Miles Copeland, who had discovered and managed the Police and the Bangles in 1981. When Copeland signed them to the label the deal enabled them to build their ideal studio. There they recorded two albums and four singles,[2] the most successful being the dance chart hit "Prepare to Energize",[3] which was featured in the film Bachelor Party.[4] Orbit and Mayer also composed the soundtrack to the ice hockey movie Youngblood,[5] starring Rob Lowe and Keanu Reeves, and recorded "White Night", written by colleague Rico Conning, which was used in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.[6]

This first incarnation of Guerilla Studios had a Trident 80B mixing desk and Otari MTR90 MKII 24 track (2 inch tape) multitrack housed in a back garden on the canals of Little Venice[7] in Paddington, and they also ran it as a commercial enterprise.

Bassomatic was another of Orbit's group projects. The band recorded house music in the 1990s. The band included vocalist Sharon Musgrave and rapper Steve Roberts, also known as MC Inna Onestep amongst others.[8] For the second album, singer Sindy Finn replaced Musgrave on vocals.[8] Both albums were released by Guerilla Studios, founded by Orbit with Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert.

Bassomatic's first album was 1990's Set the Controls for the Heart of the Bass, the title track derived from Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun".[8] This album was re-released in 1997. A subsequent album, Science and Melody, was released in 1991.[8]

Bassomatic's biggest hit single was "Fascinating Rhythm" in 1990, which reached No. 9 in the UK Singles Chart,[9] and performed well on the UK Dance Chart.

Around this time, Orbit's studio chiefly consisted of a pair of Akai S1000 samplers and a Roland Juno-106 synthesiser.[10][11]

Collaborations and productions included Prince, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mel C, Pink, U2, Katie Melua, Ricky Martin, Beth Orton, Sarah McLachlan, Queen, The Joy Formidable, Robbie Williams, All Saints, Kraftwerk, Harry Enfield and Sugababes. When working with Beck, the two of them wrote a song for Pink, "Feel Good Time," which Orbit then produced for the soundtrack for the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

He produced the album 13 by Britpop group Blur, in London and Reykjavík, Iceland.

Orbit had created remixes for Madonna previously such as "Justify My Love" and "Erotica" but he didn't meet her personally until 1997. That summer and autumn they worked together and produced her multi-Grammy/award-winning seventh album Ray of Light. The album took four months to record and it was the longest she ever spent recording an album. It was released on 22 February 1998.

In 2000, Orbit continued working for Madonna on her album Music, recorded at The Hit Factory in New York .

At this time he also co-wrote and performed with her, the song "Beautiful Stranger". William's contribution and portion of the track had been influenced by "She Comes in Colors" by Arthur Lee. In 2017 the publishing splits were adjusted, and Lee's name was finally added to the track as a co-writer.

In 2011 he worked with a team of writers including Jean-Baptiste Kouame, Julie Frost, Klas Ahlund, and Laurie Mayer, and brought their compositions and his production work to contribute to the twelfth studio album by Madonna, MDNA, released on March 23, 2012, by Interscope Records. He co-produced 6 tracks on the album, including "Masterpiece" which won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song in the Miramax movie W.E., at the 69th Golden Globe Awards.

In 2018 he worked on "After All", a song by English-Canadian girl group All Saints from their fifth studio album, Testament (2018). Written by group member Shaznay Lewis along with Peter Hutchings and William Orbit, whilst produced by the latter, it was released as the album's second single on 26 July 2018, by AS Recordings.

In the early '90s, Orbit briefly developed a new label which he called N'Gram. During the N'Gram period, he co-directed a showcase of the label at Queen Elizabeth Hall[16] on London's Southbank. The acts included Caroline Lavelle, The Electric Chamber (which performed the Pieces album), Strange Cargo, and Torch Song.

In 2001 he took part in the Stockhausen Electronic Festival[17] at the Barbican Theatre.

In 2013 he took part in the London Electronic Arts Festival.[18]

He participated in the Liberatum International Cultural Festival[19] in Russia, during which he performed a DJ set in Moscow and Novosibirsk, Siberia.

More recently Orbit has deejayed at various clubs in London and Ibiza and at Buckingham Palace[20] for Her Majesty The Queen’s annual staff and family Christmas party.

In 2013 William worked with Britney Spears and Will.i.am on her album Britney Jean, with fellow songwriters Ana Diaz and Dan Traynor with whom he wrote and produced the track "Alien". He was one of the writers and one of the producers on the Chris Brown song "Don't Wake Me Up" which was recorded at Record Plant in LA and for which he received an ASCAP[21] award in 2013. The song has had 180 Million views on YouTube.[22] This was followed by a production of the Queen track "There Must Be More to Life Than This", which featured archive vocals by Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson. Orbit went on to produce another Queen song, "Let Me in Your Heart Again". In 2015 his composition "The Name of the Wave" was used in the Oscar winning documentary Amy directed by Asif Kapadia.[23]

He performed in 2015 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and at a gala at Banqueting House in London's Whitehall for the charity Together For Short Lives, a group that sponsors and supports children with terminal illness and their families.[24]

• William Orbit at IMDb
• Official website