Most of you who like
Italo-Dance for sure know his
name. IceMC's real name is
Ian
Campbell.
Originally
from
Nottingham
in
the
East
Midlands
of
England
where
he was born on the 22nd March
1965, Ian grew up in the area
of Nottingham called Hyson
Green (sounds like "Ice n"
Green"). His parents had
moved there from Jamaica in
the '50's along with a large
number of their country men.
They lived together and strived
to keep their identity and
maintain their cultural traditions.
They continued to speak their
own dialect "Jamaican Patua"
which is not easy for other
English people to understand
although 30 years of Reggae
Music has helped them. No
better dialect for Raps and
Rhymes just like the ones that
he wrote for hits including
"Easy", "It"s a Rainy Day",
"Think About the Way", "Take
Away The Colour".
Unfortunately he was never
credited for these lyrics.
At school his intials IC soon got
him the nickname ICE. After
leaving school he hung around
Nottingham for a couple of
years until in 1983 he joined a
group of breakdancers and
started touring Europe with
them. One such tour landed him
up in Florence and he decided
to check it out. He"s still
checking. For a while he worked
teaching breakdance then
started doing a bit of DJing. In
his spare time he was soon
rapping and improvising in local
bars and clubs. He also made
two promo records one for a
Club in Rimini and one for a
label in Florence. In 1989 he
met Robyx (Roberto Zanetti)
the writer, producer and singer
for now classic Italo-Disco
group Savage. Exactly in 1989
he released his first hit "Easy".
This first single, was an
immediate success and went
Top 5 throughout Europe, No 3
in Germany and also was very
big in South America. The LP
CINEMA followed shortly
afterwards and was also a big
success. The artist has toured
throughout Europe including
Russia and even Siberia, South
America , and North Africa.
Then came MY WORLD and
then ICE N" GREEN which
was his biggest selling CD with
three big hits.(For full info see
discography.)
His image as you might see
from the above picture was of
"clean, next door guy". Not
anymore. When he released his
mega hits like "Take Away The
Colour" (1993), "Think About
The Way", "It's A Rainy Day"
(both 1994), he got that Bob
Marley Jamaican look that he
keeps also today. Also in his
songs produced from 1989 to
1995 main female vocal was
done by Alexia. Songs from
that time are very rhythmic and
typical Hi-Energy records with
Reggae influence. You are
probably not surprised, since as
I said he is Jamaican, so his hits
have that Caribbean touch. . I
could not identify any of the
lyrics. Why? The reason is quite
simple, most of his text wrtitten
by Ice MC were in "Jamaican
Patua" which is a dialect similar
to Pidgin
Last two years were not very
productive for IceMC. In 1995
ICE MC was in dispute with his
Manager, Label, Producer,
Agent, Publisher and Co-
author. Thats not as bad as it
sounds as they were all one and
the same, Roberto Zanetti. ICE
first got himself a new
Management and then a new
Label (Polydor Germany). The
dispute has still not been
settled and ICE MC is sueing
Zanetti for his songs and a
couple billion Lire which might
not sound a lot
After long period of silence, in
1996 he released his single
called: "Give Me The Light",
that become an immediate hit in
the Euro-dancefloor in the
summer 96. This song was a
join production of IceMC and
MegaDance German group
Masterboy. In August of 1996
IceMC released his newest
album called: "Dreadatour"
with new songs written actually
by several different writers. This
new album has been given
different reviews, from raving to
mediocre or even bad. I will
review the album soon. Anyway,
in this album Ice MC presents
his new image, lyrics has a
polytical content and in many of
the songs IceMC expresses his
feelings. You will find there
many hot, dancable tracks. You
will also for the first time can
hear the new female vocalist
Valentina Ducros (born,
06,19, 1974). She is an Italian
girl originally from Rome.
Valentina has a fiery
temperament and quite strong
and nice voice. Hopefully now,
Ice MC will not be a stranger
anymore, and this page can be
more often updated. IceMC is
doing now a tournee in Europe.
He started this tournee about
two months ago in France in the
club called "Le Windsor" in
French Atlantic Ocean beach in
city called: Arcachon. This is a
very known place because the
biggest "desert" (actually
dunes) of Europe is just there.
This place is also famous
because of an excellent wine
(but than French wine is a
French wine, and after all the
famous Bordeaux is just around
the corner). "Le Windsor" is the
best club in the area. Ice Mc &
Co. really liked the sound and
lights effects in this club.
Everything was quite good,
however this placed lacked a
decent dressing room. The
place was big enough just for
Valentina, so Ice MC and
Lupo (keyboards) changed
their attire outside. Cool! Isn't it?
One might say that for
somebody mentally unstable
such the beginning of the
tournee could cause frustration,
however entire group was cool
about it. Ice MC is a soul of the
group. He is very dynamic when
he performs. Rapping,
Hip-hopping, Raggamuffining
and Jamaican Rhythms that all
well describes Ice MC. He is
also a cat lover, he likes beer
and adore SOUL. He closed his
performance in the concert with
his newest single: "Music For
Money". This his has been also
released as a part of the recent
album. Next stop was Toulouse.
Let's hear soon what is next in
near future.
So far there were released two
singles from the album:
Dreadatour. "Music for
Money" and "Give Me The
Light". In 1996 Ian was also
well chuffed to have a song he
wrote (the lyrics) featured in
such a good film as
Trainspotting (look for it in the
US), but he is not actually
getting a penny out of it. On the
small screen scene Ice MC
was filmed on location in Berlin
for a walk on part in a TV serial
called TRIKE due for air in
Germany in April 1997. He also
co-wrote two tracks for this
program.