Jono Grant (DJ)

Jono Grant

Jono Grant (born 16 November 1979) is an English DJ, musician and vocalist, better known as a member of electronic music group Above & Beyond (alongside Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamäki)[1] and duo JODA (with Darren Tate). He is also a part owner of London-based electronic dance music labels Anjunabeats[2] and Anjunadeep.

Personal life

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Grant attended the University of Westminster where he met fellow Above & Beyond member Paavo Siljamäki[3] and discovered a mutual interest in Electronic Music.

Grant married his wife Giselle in Miami.[4]

Grant's sister, Charlotte, died in early 2015 on her 42nd birthday.[5][6] The passing of Charlotte led the group to create the 'Little Something fund', designated to help perinatal mental health and encourage and empower women on their road to recovery.[7]

Music career

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After meeting Siljamäki, in 2000, they released their first single, "Volume One" under the name Anjunabeats,[8] which would also be the name of the label they founded.[9]

Above & Beyond then teamed up with vocalist Justine Suissa and formed OceanLab in 2001,[10] which they scored their highest hit to-date, Satellite, in 2004.[11]

In 2000, Grant met Darren Tate while on tour in Tokyo, and released the single Let the Shine in released in 2003.[12] Two decades later, in 2020 Above & Beyond teamed up with Tate to compose the score "The Last Glaciers" (released 2022), a year that also saw the return of the Jono Grant/Darren Tate duo collaborating as a song-writing partnership under the name of JODA.[13]

Jono Grant is the brother of James Grant, who acts as Above & Beyond's artist manager, and who together founded the Anjunadeep label in 2006, this time focusing on Deep House.[14]

With Above & Beyond, Grant went on to release 4 studio albums (Tri-State in 2006, Group Therapy in 2011, We Are All We Need in 2015 and Common Ground in 2018), 1 as OceanLab (Sirens of the Sea in 2008) as well as 2 acoustic albums (Acoustic and Acoustic II), 2 downtempo Flow State albums, 15 Anjunabeats compilations and a handful of other mixes.[15]

Following a moderate success of Volume One, Liam McGuinness (Tony's brother) got in touch with Jono Grant who later, alongside Siljamäki, helped him to finish a remix of Chakra – Home, leading to what would be the birth of Above & Beyond.[16]

Other than electronic synthesizers, Jono Grant plays piano and the Fender Rhodes[17] as well performing lead vocals on tracks like "1001 (Is It Love?)", "Diving Out of Love"[18] and the band's cover of New Order's "Blue Monday".[19]

In 2022, Grant partnered with Darren Tate on a new indie project called JODA.[20]

References

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  1. ^ Anderson, Elvis. "Above & Beyond: "We Want Our Set to Be More Than Just a Drunken Night Out"". Miami New Times. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  2. ^ "Home — Anjunabeats". 2016-07-14. Archived from the original on 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  3. ^ "9 Things You Didn't Know About Above and Beyond | Club Glow Washington DC". 2021-01-23. Archived from the original on 2021-01-23. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  4. ^ Anderson, Elvis. "Above & Beyond: "We Want Our Set to Be More Than Just a Drunken Night Out"". Miami New Times. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  5. ^ Ben (2015-03-05). "Above & Beyond's Jono Grant Mourns Tragic Family Loss, Leaves US Tour". EDMTunes. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  6. ^ "Above & Beyond's Jono Grant Loses Family Member, Leaves US Tour". Your EDM. 2015-03-05. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  7. ^ "Little Something Fund". www.dpt.nhs.uk. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  8. ^ Anjunabeats – Volume One, retrieved 2022-06-09
  9. ^ "Anjunabeats". Discogs. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  10. ^ "OceanLab". Discogs. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  11. ^ "OCEAN LAB | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  12. ^ Darren Tate Vs Jono Grant – Let The Light Shine In, retrieved 2022-06-09
  13. ^ Store, Anjuna Music. "JODA on Anjuna Music Store". Anjuna Music Store. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  14. ^ "Anjunadeep". anjunadeep.com. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  15. ^ Store, Anjuna Music. "Above & Beyond on Anjuna Music Store". Anjuna Music Store. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  16. ^ "HF / Features – Interview with Above & Beyond". 2011-07-19. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  17. ^ Above & Beyond – Acoustic II, retrieved 2022-06-09
  18. ^ Above & Beyond – Diving Out Of Love (Official Lyric Video), 7 October 2020, retrieved 2022-06-09
  19. ^ "Above & Beyond release trance remix of New Order's 'Blue Monday': Listen". DJMag.com. 2020-01-20. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  20. ^ "Above & Beyond's Jono Grant and Darren Tate join together on ' We Find Ourselves' for new indie side-project, JODA". 10 May 2022.