Heller N Farley

Trace the roots of house music in the UK and you’ll find Pete Heller & Terry Farley at its source. Shoom, Future, Spectrum, The Trip: they were there. Omnipresent at those early exploratory and revelatory trips to Amnesia, Boys Own parties out in the sticks, expeditions to The Hacienda, Basics and Cream, the early years of Ministry of Sound and transatlantic ventures to worship at the altar of Junior at The Sound Factory.

Although prominent house DJs and producers individually, London-based remixers Terry Farley and Pete Heller enjoyed their greatest notoriety working as a duo. They first surfaced in the early ’90s as part of Andrew Weatherall’s Boys Own collective, making their debut with a hugely popular remix of the Farm’s “Groovy Train”; hits for Espiritu (“Francisca”), Sunscreem (“Perfect Motion”), K Klass (“Don’t Stop”) and Secret Life (“As Always”) followed. Farley and Heller also earned wide renown when their mix of M Peoples “Open Your Heart” topped Billboard’s club charts in 1995. A year later they reunited to assemble a two-disc entry into the Journeys by DJs beatmix series, with their own “Ultra Flava” 12-inch appearing at much the same time. In addition to working under the own names, Farley and Heller additionally recorded as Roach Motel, an outlet for their more underground projects; they also joined producer Gary Wilkinson in the lush garage techno trio Fire Island, as well as teaming with Weatherall and Hugo Nicholson in Bocca Juniors. Their other pop remix projects include work with New Order (“Regret”), Michael Jackson (“Blood on the Dancefloor”), his sister Janet (“When I Think of You”), Kylie Minogue (“Where Has the Love Gone?”), U2 (“Salome”) and Pet Shop Boys (“Go West”).

Heller & Farley productions are steeped in the sights and sounds of these experiences at the most influential of nightclubbing moments from the last 25 years. Their music is heritage, quality down to the bone: a bastion of the UK sound that has influenced and inspired subsequent producers all over the world.