Ralf GUM – Biography -

Ralf GUM is one of the highest respected figures in the house music scene for the distinctive qualities in his exceptional productions and DJ-sets. Since Ralf`s DJ career started in 1990 he stayed true to his passion for cool and diverse house music. Harmony & Soul & Groove – just some aspects of Ralf’s typical sound. With a feeling for the vibe, he convincingly played at more than 300 German and international spots, including gigs all over Europe, Japan and the United States. In autumn 2008 Ralf toured South Africa for the first time with great response and was the first German house DJ who got booked in Botswana.

Ralf GUM’s producing music since 1993 and worked with notable artists as Inaya Day, Michael Procter, Beady Belle, Wunmi, Concha Buika or the fascinating Monique Bingham. He worked for top labels like Defected, Mn2S, Peppermint Jam, Tommy Boy, Compose, InfraCom!, Sole Music, Milk & Sugar, Look At You and others. Ralf has released well-known songs, among them the soulful hit of 2008 “Kissing Strangers” (GOGO Music) featuring Monique Bingham, which was a bestseller in its genre in 2008. Thus it got #1 in the “Top 100 Singles 2008” and the “biggest house track 2008” in the chart of the ultra-credible Traxsource download-shop. Further hits of Ralf include “All This Love For You” (GOGO Music) featuring Diamondancer, “Ponle Tumbao” (Tommy Boy / Flamingo Discos / Milk & Sugar), "Helena Brown - Canção Dourada" (Peppermint Jam) or „Ralf GUM feat. Concha Buika – Nobody can touch me“ (GOGO Music). Not to forget all fine remixes for a bunch of other artists. Ralf GUM’s productions made it to a worldwide renown trademark in the house scene and UK’S TTR magazine called Ralf “one of Germany’s finest” in 2005.

But Ralf not only convinces as a producer - first of all his DJ-sets have helped him building up his reputation as an upfront tastemaker. After various residencies in South-Germany to date Ralf plays at two spots regularly. In 1998 the "Airport" (Wuerzburg /Germany) got the living-room for his interpretation of house. Since then he captures the crowd with his sessions every Friday night and played alongside with worlds-top artists like DJ Gregory, Martin Solveig, Lenny Fontana or DJ Pippi, to name just a few. End of 2006 Ralf started his residency at Climax in Stuttgart. From 2002 till 2007 Ralf hosted a bi-weekly event at "Studio-Lounge" (Wuerzburg) which was called “the deepest and most soulful party of Germany” by the Subculture Magazine and he played for one year regularly at APT, Frankfurt’s new in location. Some other club-highlights Ralf DJ-ed at include: “El Devino” (Ibiza, Spain), “Mo’Vibes“ Festival (Munich, Germany), “Amika” (Miami, USA), “The Room” (Tokyo, Japan), “ECU / Echoes” (Rimini, Italy), “Garito Café” (Palma de Mallorca, Spain), “Passage” (Vienna, Austria), “Garten Club @ Volksgarten” (Vienna, Austria), “Capitol Music Café” (Johannesbug, South Africa), “Barokko” (Budapest, Hungary) “Marula Cafe” (Madrid, Spain), “Ministry of Sound Radio” (London, UK), “Muak @ Herbal” (London, UK), “Soulstice” (Oslo, Norway), “Mica Club” (Lausanne, Switzerland) “Oxa” (Zürich, Switzerland), “Stereo Sushi” (Antwerp, Belgium), “Mansion” (Amsterdam, Netherlands), “Pacha” (Palma de Mallorca, Spain), “Rave on Snow” (Saalbach, Austria), “Nature One” (Germany), “Republic Cafe” (Salzburg, Austria), “Cocoon” (Frankfurt, Germany).

Ralf GUM embarked on the development of his own record label GOGO Music in 2001. With strong ambitions and his love for house music being the driving force, GOGO Music has become Germany’s, if not one of world’s most reputable house music labels. Late 2005 GOGO Music was called “one of the hottest imprints around” by UK’s leading magazin “Blues & Soul” and Germany’s “Subculture” wrote that “GOGO Music is the prime German house label”. In 2003 Ralf initiated the own GOGO Music Radioshow. Besides his sets the weekly show features Benny Pecoraio and from time to time selected guest-DJs. To date the show is broadcasted by more than 30 stations around the globe.

Next to Ralf GUM’s productions, he started two further projects. "SUGAR BEAT", is a collaboration with drummer Steffen Meder and developed out of their unique live performance: “Jazzy Live Drums & Uplifting Spinning”. With SUGAR BEAT’s irresistable sound of fusion a new broken beat style is being created. After their sweet remixes on GOGO Music, in 2006 the first own productions have been released on the “GOGO Music Spring Collection 06”. Together with soulmate Benny Pecoraio, Ralf joined forces and started “4 Ears”. Their first release 'Can't Be Without You' was signed to Canadian deep house label Iwanai Music.

During his career Ralf had the pleasure to compile and mix various CD-Compilations. Including in 2004 “Arrival Vol I” (Double Mix-CD together with Howard Donald - Ex Take That, for which they toured together all over Germany) and “Studio – the finest in lounge and house music”, which was selected as CD of the month in the German “Raveline” magazin in December 2004. In Februar 2005 the first GOGO Music labelcompilation “GO!” including highlights of 3 years label work was released. It was called the best compilation of the year by UK’S TTR magazin. In October 2006 the second part “GO!!” hit the market.

In 2006 Ralf GUM held his first GOGO Music Winter Music Conference event in Miami with great success. With an impressive line-up including e.g. Kenny Dixon Jr aka Moodyman, Theo Parrish, Markus Enochson, Glenn Underground plus the GOGO Music DJs, the party went down in a storm and was one of the most talked about events at the conference. 2007 saw GOGO Music teaming up with Atal Music and Bubble Soul for a joint WMC event at Hotel Victor, called “Yes Please”. Including an likewise great line-up including e.g. Jamie Lewis, Raw Artistic Soul and many others the party was a great success and the kick-off for further “Yes Please” events including the critical acclaimed WMC event in 2008 at Sagamore and ADE 2008 event at Mansion. More highlights worth to mention is the appearance at MTV’s “Battle of the DJs” in April 2003 and invitations to the You.FM Clubnight (Hessischer Rundfunk Radio and TV, 2 times in 2005, one time in 2006 and 2007).

In 2008 Ralf GUM unveiled his long awaited debut masterpiece album titled “Uniting Music” on his label GOGO Music. Composing a continuous piece of music, seamless and blended into a luscious texture of soulful-, afro-and latin-house and jazz inspired grooves, Ralf showcased his ability to create wonderful original songs. With each song intertwining with another, he’s pushing the boundaries well beyond the traditional dj mix sense! Almost seeming like one beautiful track the whole album contained it all: really pretty dreamy tracks, some real groovin’ live sounding deals and some late night slices of hypnotic house, too. The album received great plaudit worldwide. For example UK’s M8 Magazine called the CD „simply one of the best albums of the year“ and the 3Sat TV show “Kulturzeit” wrote on their web-site that “no single second of the album bores”. “Uniting Music” was released by Rambling Records in Japan and Soul Candi in South Africa as well.

The hallmark of Ralf’s sound is his love funky harmonies coupled with wicked underground beats and crisp percussion. But the distinctive groove isn’t the only reason for Ralf’s success – his passion for all things soulful shines through in all he does. This helps him creating a simply irresistible groove every time he emerges from the studio or works the turntables.