Bally Sagooਬਾਲੀ ਸਾਗੂ

Early life

Baljit Singh Sagoo was born on 19 May 1964 in Ranjit Nagar, Delhi, and moved to England soon after with his parents, growing up in Balsall Heath, Birmingham. As a child he made mix-tapes on his hi-fi in a bedroom he called 'Curry Wood Studios'. Growing up among Black friends, he absorbed reggae, Motown, disco and soul alongside Indian music — the twin roots of everything he would later produce. By day he worked as an electronics salesman; by night he DJ'd at local events, remixing English tracks.

Career

His break came in 1989 when Oriental Star Agencies, a UK-based Indian record label, asked him to remix the Punjabi track 'Hey Jamalo' (sung by Malkit Singh). The single was a monster hit, and Sagoo joined OSA as their full-time in-house producer, releasing Wham Bam and its sequel, plus the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan collaboration Magic Touch (1991).

In 1994 he signed with Sony Records to produce Bollywood Flashback, reworking Asha Bhosle classics with hip-hop and dance beats. The track 'Chura Liya' was played on BBC Radio 1 — making him the first Indian artist to reach national mainstream radio in the UK. His 1996 album Rising from the East, his first all-original work, included 'Dil Cheez' (a UK Singles Chart hit) and 'Tum Bin Jiya'. The remix video 'Mera Laung Gawacha' put him on Top of the Pops.

He toured India with Michael Jackson on the HIStory World Tour, produced the Aby Baby album with Amitabh Bachchan — a musical setting of Harivansh Rai Bachchan's poetry — and was invited to New Delhi to meet President Shankar Dayal Sharma. In 1999 he launched his own label, Ishq Records, and in 2002 his music featured prominently in Gurinder Chadha's film Bend It Like Beckham. He heads Fresh Dope Industries and continues to produce and DJ worldwide.

Music style

Sagoo's signature is fusion: raggamuffin reggae and bhangra — 'Bhangramuffin' — plus R&B, disco and Bollywood melody. He is widely credited as one of the original pioneers of modern Indian music and for triggering the explosion of modern bhangra pop.

Personal life

Sagoo has three children and remains based in the UK, where he runs his production company and mentors younger artists.

Legacy

Before 'fusion' was a buzzword, Bally Sagoo was doing it — taking his parents' Bollywood records and his neighbors' reggae and making something the world had never heard. The 'Godfather of Bhangra' opened the door through which every British-Asian artist since has walked.