Jon O'Mahony

Jon O'Mahony
Background information
Origin London, United Kingdom
Genres Pop, rock, folk, indie, country
Instruments Drums, piano
Years active 1995–present
Labels East West Records 1996 – 2003
EMI Music Publishing 1996 – 2008
Associated acts Ultra, Honey Ryder
Website

http://oceanicmusic.com/
(Plays music upon entering site)
http://lasound.co.uk/

http://www.honeyryder.com

Jon O'Mahony (born 10 August 1973) is a British artist, songwriter and record producer. He was the drummer in the band Ultra signed to East West Records (Warner), and has written & produced for artists including Bryan Adams, Natasha Bedingfield, Kylie Minogue and most recently, Honey Ryder.

Early years

Before entering the music industry, O'Mahony had a variety of jobs including working at Drumtech drum school in London, and a 3-year stint working as a tennis coach at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida and the UK where he was also a hitting partner to various up and coming juniors, including the then 12-year-old Anna Kournikova in the early 90's.

Ultra

Although sometimes mistakenly described as a manufactured boyband, Ultra was originally formed by O'Mahony, James Hearn, James Rose & Michael Harwood who were schoolfriends from Buckinghamshire, England in the mid-1990s. After they left school they formed various bands, playing under names such as Stepping Stoned, Decade and Suburban Surfers (where they signed to manager Tom Watkins. After a brief 9 months with the notorious manager, they left him and found a new manager in Tony Gordon, who had masterminded the careers of Culture Club and Curiosity Killed The Cat. They eventually called themselves Ultra (named after the Depeche Mode album), and the following year Nick Keynes joined as bass player after being introduced by mutual friend Neil Cowley, who at the time was the keyboard player for the Brand New Heavies, and more recently performed piano on Adele's 20 million selling album 21.

Chart success

Their demo tape eventually came to the attention of Ian Stanley (ex-Tears for Fears) and they were signed to Warner's EastWest label by Ian and Max Hole, who was later to become CEO of Universal Music Group. In 1998 they released their first single, "Say You Do", written by band member Hearn, which reached No. 11 in the UK. Their next single, "Say it Once", charted at No. 16 in the UK as well as hitting the Top 10 spot in several other territories including Spain, Italy and Australia. Over the next two years they had several singles in the UK, Italian and Spanish top 20, and in 1999, their debut album, Ultra, entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 37. Their final single for Warners was "Rescue Me", which charted in the UK at No. 8, the band's only British Top 10 single. The band sold over 1 million records.

They were very popular with young female audiences, although they insisted that their success came primarily from their songs, not their looks. Ultra performed live and also supported a number of other pop acts including Irish boyband Boyzone in 1997, former Eternal member Louise Nurding for a performance at Wembley, and boyband 911. They were particularly popular in South East Asia and Italy, where they were mobbed by 3000 teenage girls at a record signing in Milan.

The band performed on Top of the Pops three times, as well as saturated UK and international TV coverage over a two-year period. Their biggest audience was at a festival in Seville where they performed to over 100,000 people.

Just before recording of their second studio album, Max Hole and Ian Stanley left the company to be replaced by Cheryl Robson and Christian Tattersfield. Production had started under temporary Warner MD Ian Grenfell, and big name producers Ian Stanley, Steve Robson, Ash Howes and Claudio Guidetti (producer of Laura Pausini and Eros Ramazotti) were drafted in. However, half way through recording, Tattersfield decided that the band were no longer right for the label and they were dropped without finishing the record. The band had split up but reunited to release a second album, The Sun Shines Bright, in 2006.

Rider

Following from Ultra, O'Mahony, Keynes & Harwood formed a new group with a number of different short term vocalists including Ryan Molloy. Singers Alistair Griffin and James Fox were both briefly members of the band at different times.

In 2002, and with Molloy as lead singer, the band wrote and recorded a song to celebrate the World Cup, called "England Crazy", which they recorded as a one-off project as Rider with Terry Venables. This project was re-signed to their old record label East West, but only reached number 46 in the UK chart due to a lacklustre campaign from the label. It has since been featured on a number of football-themed compilation albums.

Goldust Productions

O'Mahony, Harwood and Keynes set up a music production company, Goldust, writing and producing for other artists such as Bryan Adams, Kylie Minogue, Natasha Bedingfield, Phixx and Liberty X. They also wrote music for movies, with title tracks on the Andy García movie Modigliani, and The Magic Roundabout.

Oceanic & LA Sound Studios

O'Mahony left the Goldust partnership in 2009 to pursue other musical ventures under the name Oceanic. As well as writing and producing for various artists, Oceanic also became a record label and management company, and home to UK band Honey Ryder. Under the Oceanic umbrella is the 6 studio recording complex LA Sound in West London, home to various other producer/writers including Steve Brown, David Dawood, and Richard Spiller.

Discography

Artist Release Label Credit Chart Position
Alistair Griffin – Bring It On (Album) Universal Co-writing No 12 UK
Alistair Griffin – You And Me Tonight (Single)
- Feeling Alive
- Real World 		Universal Co-writing
co-writing
co-writing 		No 18 UK
/
/
Awake – Original Song for Movie Soundtrack Weinstein Co Co-writing
Bobby – Movie Soundtrack Miramax Co-writing, Produced & Engineered
Bryan Adams & Andrea Remanda – Believe (Music from the Motion Picture 'Ella Enchanted') Hollywood Produced, Engineered & Performed
British Beef – Without Me (UK Single)
- No I Don't Want Another Joint
- Crash
- No Win Situation
- Something Else 		Song BMG Produced & Engineered
Produced & Engineered
Produced & Engineered
Produced & Engineered
Produced & Engineered
Degrassi Takes Manhattan – US Movie Soundtrack Fontana Co-writing, Produced & Engineered
Dom Tandy – Satellite Kiss
- Phoenix
- My Heart Just Lost Some Weight
- Rescue Room 		Unsigned Produced & Engineered
Produced & Engineered
Produced & Engineered
Produced & Engineered
Doogal – US Version of The Magic Roundabout Hollywood Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed
EA Sports – Arena Football
- Fifa Street 2 		EA Co-writing, Produced & Engineered
Honey Ryder – Rising Up (Album) HRML / Universal Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed
Honey Ryder – Numb (UK Single)
- Fly Away (UK Single)
- Choices (UK Single)
- Love in Time (UK Single)
- Rising Up (UK Single) 		HRML / Universal Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed No 32 UK
No 31 UK
/
/
/
Honey Ryder – Marley's Chains (Album) Oceanic / EMI Co-writing, Produced & Engineered
Honey Ryder – Marley's Chains (UK Single)
- You Can't Say That (UK Single)
- Worlds Away (UK Single) 		Oceanic / EMI Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed
Illumina – CopyK@tz Beware
- AlleyK@tz 		BBC Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed
Jim Bakkum – Impressed (Album)
- Dance to the Music (Album)
- You And Me Tonight 		Sony BMG Netherlands Co-writing
co-writing
co-writing 		No 1 Netherlands
No 1 Netherlands
/
Kahlua – North American TV Commercial Publicis Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed
Keedie – My Reason (UK Single)
- Falling
- Les Fleurs
- Interlude
- Angel Child 		EMI Classics Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed
Kylie Minogue – The Magic Roundabout (Movie Title Track) Pathe / Miramax Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed
Liberty X & Rev Run from Run DMC – Song 4 Lovers (UK Single) Virgin Produced, Engineered & Performed No 5 UK
Liberty X – Thinking It Over (UK Album)
- Everyday
- Right Here Right Now
- Breathe 		V2 Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed No 1 UK
/
/
/
Liberty X – Being Somebody (UK Album)
- I Just Wanna
- Take Me Home
- It Helps 		V2 Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed No 1 UK
/
/
/
Liberty X – X (UK Album)
- Divine Intervention
- Oh Holy Night 		Virgin Produced, Engineered & Performed Top 10 UK
/
/
The Magic Roundabout – The Magic Roundabout (Title Track)
- Spinning
- Lean Mean Fighting Machine
- Simply Wonderful
- Bust This Joint
- Believe Yourself
- Hazy
- Sail Away 		Pathe / Miramax Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed
Marli Buck – White Light (UK Album) Sony BMG Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed
Modigliani – Title track from Andy Garcia movie Cutting Edge Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed
Natasha Bedingfield – Unwritten (UK Album)
- Sojourn 		Phonogenic / Sony BMG Produced & Engineered
Produced & Engineered 		No 1 UK
Nikki Webster – This Is How We Do It BMG Australia Co-writing, Produced & Engineered
Phixx – Electrophonic Revolution (UK Album)
- When I Fall
- Don't Walk Out 		Concept Co-writing, Produced & Engineered
co-writing, Produced & Engineered
co-writing, Produced & Engineered
Reborn in the USA (Compilation Album) – Haydon Eshun 'Misty Blue'
- Haydon Eshun 'Wonderful Tonight' 		Universal Produced, Engineered & Performed
Rider feat. Terry Venables – England Crazy (UK Single) East West Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed No 47 UK
Romtelecom – European TV Commercial Grey Co-writing, Produced & Engineered
SEAT – European TV Commercial / Co-writing, Performed
Soccer mother – US Movie Soundtrack Home Journal Co-writing, Produced, Engineered & Performed
Sophie Ettinger – Through The Looking Glass (UK EP) Unsigned Produced & Engineered
Ultra Ultra East West Co-writing, performed No 1 Italy, SE Asia
Top 10 Australia, NZ, Spain
No 37 UK
Ultra – Say You Do (Single)
- Say it Once (Single)
- The Right Time (Single)
- Rescue Me (Single)
- Blind to the Groove (Single) 		East West Co-writing, Performed No 11 UK
No 1 Italy, Australia, SE Asia, No 16 UK
No 27 UK
No 8 UK, No 1 SE Asia
Top 10 Italy, Spain
Ultra The Sun Shines Brighter IODA Co-writing, produced, engineered & performed
Zoo – Wanted (Single) Wright Co-writing Top 20 Ireland

Notes

    References

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