British producer and remixer.
Born: 15 March 1963 in Bristol, England, UK.
Producer Nellee Hooper was behind some of the most successful and inventive dance-oriented pop music throughout the late 1980s and on through the 1990s. Hooper came up as a DJ, as a member of the Wild Bunch – the Bristol-based collective that would develop into
Massive Attack. He also played percussion for
Nasty Rox Inc..
Along with
Jazzie B., he produced
Soul II Soul through the release of the group's first two albums, both of which scored major hits (Keep On Movin', Back To Life, Get A Life). Work followed for the likes of
Tracy Chapman,
Björk,
Janet Jackson, and
Sade. The Brit Awards honoured Hooper in 1995 as Best Producer for his work on Massive Attack's Protection, Björk's Post, and
Madonna's Bedtime Stories.
Later on in the 1990s, Hooper set up the Meanwhile imprint, a subsidiary of Virgin, with one of his first pet projects being called
Furslide. Steady work continued into the early 2000s, and he received a Grammy nomination in 2003 for his work on
No Doubt's Rock Steady and
Lamya's Learning From Falling.