Rachel Auburn

Rachel Auburn
Born1958 (age 66–67)[1]
OriginLondon[2]
Genrestrance, hard house
Occupation(s)disc jockey, record producer, fashion designer
LabelsTidy Trax, React

Rachel Auburn (born 1958) is a British fashion designer and hard house and trance disc jockey and music producer. She has performed her music extensively internationally, and was both the first female DJ to play in China and the first to showcase 1980s London clubland fashion in New York and Tokyo.[3] Auburn has held DJ residencies at club events including Tidy Trax, Taboo, and Trade, and has achieved UK chart success under her own name and the Tidy Girls and Candy Girls aliases.[4][5]

Biography

Auburn is known for her "unconventional" and "experimental" fashion designs. She first set up a stall in Kensington Market in 1982, and went on to be a significant presence as both a designer and a disc jockey in London's clubland. She first met Leigh Bowery at the market, and together they went on to open a stall together called 'Spend Spend Spend' and were the first to showcase the 1980s London clubland fashion scene in New York and Tokyo organised by Susanne Bartsch.[3][6] Auburn has work in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Victoria,[1] and was featured in the 2013 exhibition, Club to Catwalk, at the Victoria and Albert museum.[6]

Auburn was in the Tidy Girls, a Tidy Trax hard house collaboration with Lisa Lashes, Anne Savage, and Lisa Pin-Up.[7] The Tidy Girls eponymous release achieved success in the UK official singles chart in 1999.[8][9] In 2015 Auburn mixed the retrospective best-of compilation Reactivate 91-01 for the React record label. It received positive critical reception, with one reviewer stating that, for the label React, it was "by far their best compilation".[10][11][12]

Discography

Singles

Rachel Auburn singles
Title Artist Year Peak
UK Singles		 Peak
UK Dance
Fee Fi Fo Fum[13] Candy Girls 1995 23 1
Wham Bam[13] Candy Girls ft Sweet Pussy Pauline 1996 20 5
I Want Candy[13] Candy Girls 1996 30 12
Machine Man[5] Rachel Auburn 1997 38
Tidy Girls EP[5] Rachel Auburn/Lisa Lashes 1999 96 31
Coming On Strong/Screwdriver[5] Signum/Rachel Auburn 2006 25

Albums

Rachel Auburn albums
Title Artist Year Peak
UK Comp
Reactivate ’91 – ‘01[10] Various, mixed by Rachel Auburn 2015

References

  1. ^ a b "RACHEL AUBURN". National Gallery of Victoria. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  2. ^ Rouse, Rose (9 April 2006). "The Ex Files". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2024. Rachel Auburn, 47, is a yoga teacher and bestselling DJ. She has a son, Jack, from a previous relationship. She is now single and lives in London.
  3. ^ a b Burley, Isabella (5 February 2013). "Cult VIP: Rachel Auburn". Dazed. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  4. ^ Trax, Nicky. "RACHEL AUBURN". DMC World. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d "RACHEL AUBURN Songs". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  6. ^ a b Casely-Hayford, Alice (10 July 2013). "Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s". Dazed. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  7. ^ "Hard house". Future Music. March 2022. On 1999's Tidy Girls EP, four of the leading ladies of hard house - Rachel Auburn, Lisa Lashes, Anne Savage and Lisa Pin-Up - collaborated with Tidy Boys' Amadeus Mozart and Andy Pickles for a stone cold classic.
  8. ^ Roberts, Joe (14 July 2021). "How Tidy Trax embodies the loud, proud spirit of Northern hard house". DJ Mag. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2024. "We made a couple of the very first bounce tracks," he says, referencing 1999's 'Tidy Girls' EP, which they wrote with Lisa Lashes and Rachel Auburn.
  9. ^ "TIDY GIRLS EP". Official Charts. 1999. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  10. ^ a b Pell, Damion (28 October 2015). "Relive your raving days from 91 – 2001 with the seminal brand Reactivate featuring Jam & Spoon, Jones & Stephenson, John '00' Fleming, The Age Of Love and more". Decoded Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  11. ^ Todd, Chris (23 November 2015). ""Reactivate Classics '91 - '01"". The Line of Best Fit. Archived from the original on 30 December 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  12. ^ McMonagle, Mickey (29 November 2015). "REACTIVATE THE YEARS 91-01: ALBUM". Sunday Mail. Mixed by Rachel Auburn, it's a work of art - proper dance music. Buy it.
  13. ^ a b c "CANDY GIRLS Songs". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2024.