Zepherin Saint's first release, 1988's Give Me Back Your Love as Boyz in Shock featuring Carol Leeming, was one of the first soulful house records to hit the UK. Saint played a key role in the UK's dance music scene, but as journalist Marcus Barnes highlights in this week's Resident Advisor Exchange, the influence and value of his work over the years has often been overlooked.
Saint grew up in Harrow, North West London. His earliest experiments with music happened at school, playing the drums in a band making music that he describes as "Spandau Ballet funk, soul and pop tracks." The tunes were so good that their teacher organised studio time so they could make a demo.
Handed down one of Harrow's key soundsystems from his older brother, Saint would go on to build rigs, and recording studios, of his own, supplying the sound for many acid house nights as the scene exploded. He worked at legendary London shop Black Market Records and spent time in the US managing R&B artists like Terri Walker, before returning to the UK to launch Tribe Records, bringing dance music from South Africa and establishing the blueprint for what is now the Afro house scene. Today, Saint is based in Melbourne, where he's started a new label, Inner Sauce, to celebrate the live house sound bubbling there.
In an enlightening conversation with Barnes, Saint discusses Melbourne's return to partying post lockdown, building soundsystems, finding his identity in London as a young West Indian man, working at Black Market Records and how he's now turning his focus back onto his own productions.