Introduction
Funkstar De Luxe (born Martin Aulkjær Ottesen in 1973) is a Danish house producer and remixer. He is best known for his million-selling reworking of Bob Marley's "Sun is Shining."
Work
Funkstar was first exposed to Marley's music as a teenage keyboardist in an amateur reggae band."Sun is Shining" was a worldwide hit reaching the Top 20 in nine countries including No. 3 in the UK singles chart. It was also awarded best-selling international reggae single of the year at the World Music Awards.
Longtime Marley manager Chris Blackwell hurried to release his own remixes, but Funkstar had already moved on and had another hit with a remix of Marley's "Rainbow Country." He has since recorded other remixes for artists including Tom Jones, Mary J. Blige, Grace Jones, and Barry White, the most notable of which appeared on "Keep on Movin: It's Too Funky in Here". In 2003, Funkstar released an album of his own material, "Funkturistic".
Dubbed "The Danish King Of The Remix" by Allmusic.com, after two sabbaticals away from the music industry during the 2000s, Funkstar recently returned to the scene charting with a remix of Kim Wilde's "You Keep Me Hanging On" in 2013.In 2014 his long-time label Lifted House released a rework of his Marley hit "Sun Is Shining - 15th Anniversary" which reached No. 1 on the British Dance Chart.
His most recent single is "Million Miles" featuring Michael Jackson collaborator Geoffrey Williams. The single reached No. 8 on the British Dance Chart and spent ten weeks in the UK Dance Top 20.
Discography
Albums
- Keep On Moving (1999)
- Keep On Moving (It's Too Funky In Here) (2000)
- I'm a Rainbow too (2000)
- Funkturistic (2002)
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN |
BEL | CAN | FRA | GER |
IRE |
NLD | NOR | NZL | SWE | SWI |
UK |
USDance | ||||
| "Sun Is Shining" (vs. Bob Marley) |
1999 | — | 7 | 3 | 12 | 19 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 1 | UK: Silver | Keep On Moving (It's Too Funky In Here) |
| "Rainbow Country" (vs. Bob Marley) |
1999 | — | 58 | 12 | 78 | 47 | 28 | 78 | — | 27 | 40 | 54 | 11 | — | ||
| "Let the Music Play" (vs. Barry White) |
2000 | — | 24 | — | 39 | — | — | 91 | — | — | — | 92 | — | — | Single only | |
| "Sunshine Reggae" (vs. Laid Back) |
2000 | — | — | — | — | 68 | — | 35 | — | — | — | 64 | — | — | Single only | |
| "Walkin' in the Name" (vs. Terry Maxx) |
2000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 42 | — | Keep On Moving (It's Too Funky In Here) | |
| "Pull Up to the Bumper" (vs. Grace Jones) |
2000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 60 | 4 | ||
| "Blinded By the Light" (with Manfred Mann's Earth Band) |
2002 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Funkturistic | |
| "Saturday" | 2003 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Easy" | 2003 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "When I Think of You" | 2004 | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Singles only | |
| "She's a Lady" (vs. Tom Jones feat. DJ The Wave) |
2004 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 96 | — | — | ||
| "Itch It Up" | 2004 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "So Invincible" (feat. Kristine Blond) |
2008 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (feat. Kim Wilde) |
2013 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Sun is Shining (15th Anniversary)" | 2014 | — | — | — | — | 11 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | ||
| "Million Miles" (feat. Geoffrey Williams) |
2015 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||||