James Lavelle, a pivotal figure in shaping the cultural landscape of the 1990s, founded Mo' Wax Records and UNKLE, fostering creative collaborations with influential artists such as DJ Shadow, Ian Brown, Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft, and Massive Attack.
Within a decade of leaving Oxford to work in a record shop, Lavelle established one of the most coveted music labels in the world, as a record producer, label head, and tastemaker, he tapped into the most celebrated and innovative era since the 1960s, earning widespread recognition as the greatest A&R man of his time.
Over the past twenty years, Lavelle has been incredibly prolific, releasing four studio albums with UNKLE, including Psyence Fiction, Never Never Land, War Stories, and Where Did The Night Fall, as well as a series of critically acclaimed film scores, and curating a series of art exhibitions through Daydreaming With..., notably the highly successful Daydreaming With Stanley Kubrick exhibition at Somerset House.
Lavelle's artistic achievements were recognized in 2014 when he was invited to curate the Meltdown Festival at the Southbank, joining a prestigious list of musical luminaries such as Yoko Ono, David Bowie, Massive Attack, Nick Cave, and Patti Smith, as Mo' Wax and UNKLE took their rightful place in the Southbank hall of fame. His unique journey as an artist was also captured in a two-hour documentary, Matthew Jones's 'The Man From Mo' Wax', released in August 2018.
In 2017, Lavelle released his first UNKLE album in seven years, The Road PT 1, to critical and commercial acclaim, debuting at number 16 on the album charts.
In 2018, Lavelle completed music for Trust, Danny Boyle's TV series for FX, and began a monthly residency at Soho Radio, with new music set to follow this summer.
