b. William Wainwright, 30 July 1956, Shoreditch, Hackney, England. Although he had been recording under various guises since 1983, it was only in the late 90s that William Orbit became a household name because of his Emmy-award winning, internationally acclaimed production and writing work on Madonna's 1998 Ray Of Light. It was Orbit's work that gave the album its distinctive ethereal atmosphere and its breakbeats and drum 'n' bass-influenced sound. He also won Q magazine's 1999 Best Producer award for his production of Blur's 13. Although this work helped raise his profile enormously, Orbit has an impressive track record of remixing and production work. He has worked on tracks by a diverse and prestigious range of artists including: Sting, Belinda Carlisle, OMD, Julian Lennon, Les Négresses Vertes, the Human League, Gary Numan, Prince, Shakespear's Sister, Malcolm McLaren, Erasure, S'Express, Propaganda, the Cure, Seal, the Shamen, Kraftwerk, Scritti Politti, Peter Gabriel, the Christians and All Saints.
Orbit's renowned studio virtuosity took root as a teenager when he would splice tape recordings to make sound collages. In his early twenties he formed Torch Song with Laurie Mayer, Grant Gilbert and Rico Conning, who released Wish Thing, Ecstasy, Exhibit A and Toward The Unknown between 1984 and 1995. For his solo debut, 1987's Orbit, he continued to work with Mayer as his co-writer and brought in Peta Nikolich as vocalist. The album included unusual cover versions of the Psychedelic Furs' "Love My Way" and Jackie Mittoo's "Feel Like Jumping". "Fire And Mercy" became a club hit. Currently perceived as a hip dance producer, Orbit is unsurprisingly keen to play down his production of novelty records during the 80s: Harry Enfield's "Loadsamoney - Doin' Up The House" (a UK Top 5 hit in 1988) and his 1986 production of Stan Ridgway's "Camouflage". As Bassomatic, Orbit enjoyed his first UK Top 10 single in 1990 with the club anthem "Fascinating Rhythm", the follow-up to "In The Realm Of The Senses". The attendant Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Bass (the title alluded to Pink Floyd's "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun") showed Orbit indulging his interest in funky, intelligent house and also demonstrated his skill with percussion and electronics.
Alongside his work as Bassomatic, Orbit had been recording ambient soundscape albums, somewhat similar to the work of Brian Eno and Holger Czukay, beginning with 1987's Strange Cargo. It was this and the subsequent two Strange Cargo albums, alongside those by the KLF, the Orb, Aphex Twin and the Future Sound Of London that gave rise to the term "ambient house". In 1992 and 1993, Orbit worked with Beth Orton as Spill and recorded Superpinkymandy but this was released only in Japan under Orton's name.
In 1992, Orbit remixed Madonna's "Justify My Love" which brought him to the attention of Rob Dickins, chairman of Warner Music at that time. Together they set up N-Gram Recordings in 1995 with the support of Discovery Records in the USA (Orbit's previous own label, Guerrilla Records had folded in 1984.) The first release on N-Gram was a single by cellist Caroline Lavelle, whom Orbit had discovered when she played on Massive Attack's "Home And Way". Orbit also released the second in his Strange Cargo series and worked with the Torch Song members once more. In 1995, as the Electric Chamber, Orbit released an album of reinterpreted modern classical pieces, Pieces In A Modern Style on N-Gram. It was quickly withdrawn when it was discovered that the estates of two of the composers had not given permission for him to record the works. The album, that included pieces by Ravel, Vivaldi, Beethoven and Satie, was effectively re-released in January 2000 by WEA Records with several new tracks and recordings. The album entered the UK album charts at number 2, somewhat assisted by the publicity gained for his work with Madonna and the single, "Adagio For Strings", which entered the charts at number 4 in December 1999. The track was a recording of a mournful piece by Samuel Barber, famously used in the movie Platoon. The single release featured a remix by the Dutch trance DJ, Ferry Corsten and it was this version that received extensive radio airplay and undoubtedly boosted the single's chart position and its popularity in European clubs.
Earlier in 1999, Madonna's single, "Beautiful Stranger', produced by Orbit, was a Top 10 hit in Europe and the US and featured on the soundtrack of the movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The single received a nomination for a Grammy Award (for best soundtrack and song) and a Golden Globe. Orbit also produced All Saints" new single "Pure Shores", which was featured on the soundtrack of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, The Beach. The single was unmistakably a William Orbit production: using filtered and distorted sounds, ambient washes and electronic percussion. Another soundtrack, for the movie The Next Best Thing, co-written and co-produced by Madonna and Orbit, was released on the singer's Maverick label. It featured her new single, a cover version of Don McLean's "American Pie".
After this burst of Madonna-related activity, Orbit maintained a relatively low profile for the next few years. He released his new solo album, Hello Waveforms, at the start of 2006.
