From dancer to stylist to actor to up-and-coming popstar, the path of Duke Christian George has brought him in contact with the biggest of stars. Dancing with Britney Spears and Will Smith and styling Kanye West has given Christian a glimpse of what makes a star a star. With the release of his debut single "Strangers" flying up the charts, we get a glimpse of Christian's white boy soul and a taste of his upcoming debut album...
DJ Ron Slomowicz: So Christian, is this your first Winter Music Conference?
Christian George: My first Winter Music Conference.
RS: What's your take on it so far?
Christian George: It's been fun, about partying and meeting a lot of
great people and the weather's great, yes, I look forward to coming
back again pretty soon.
RS: But next time you come back you're going to be a superstar
with this album of yours.
Christian George: I plan on it, yes, that's where we've got to go right now.
RS: The first single "Strangers" has a variety of mixes and you
also wrote the song, what was the inspiration for the song?
Christian George: The way I've lived my life over the past three
years is very much on like a playboy level, if you will, because I'm
so focused on making the best album possible so I really didn't get
any time to get into like serious relationships. So me and my social
life ended up being just one night stands, you know, just quick
affairs, hence Let's Make Love Like Strangers, because that's usually
what I was doing over the past couple of years. And with that title,
it's almost more fun to me when you do meet somebody and you end up
going home with them and you do what you do, nine times out of ten you
might not see them again, so you're free to be who you are and they're
not going to judge you, you can experiment with them and if they feel
comfortable enough then they'll think it's great. Yes, so it's a more
exciting physical experience, if you will.
RS: And the song was inspired by Laura Branigan's "Self Control"?
Christian George: Well, in her song there was the oh-oh-oh-ohs,
oh-oh-oh-ohs, and since I had a little bit of 80s vibe going with her
at the beginning of the record, that was just the first thing that
came to mind. And not really inspired by that but that was just
something that worked that people would be recognized for a lot of
people that are familiar with that song.
RS: There's a lot of remixes on the record, which is your favorite so far?
Christian George: To be honest with you, I'm really impressed with
the way all of them came out. Yes, the Mike Rizzo's really good, the
Speakerbox and Rod Carillo. The Thomas Gold remix is fantastic, it's
getting a lot of response right now, as is the Jack Rokka. The album
version I produced- I co-produced and wrote the album version. The
Wide Boys are really big in Europe right now with the bassline
sound... I mean, I really couldn't be more happy with the way the
remixes came out.
RS: The mixes have like a UK flavor to some of them and a US
flavor, where do you see yourself breaking first?
Christian George: I think there's going to be a bigger UK push
initially. I've always seen myself as a world artist, not just as a
domestic artist, I think I'd be selling myself short if I just wanted
domestic recognition. So with that, you know, we'll be doing a heavy
European campaign, a heavy UK campaign, in Asia and the rest of the
world, we're expecting the song to take up rather quickly because of
the response we've gotten so far. That leaked on to the internet
about a month early which made everything known to like fifth gear to
the official release, so we'll officially release it here at the
Winter Music Conference but it's been online for about a month. So
amazing responses, it's on play lists all over he world, every time I
Google I type in Christian George and Strangers and it ends up on
another ten/fifteen play lists every day which is great, you know.
Yes, it's been, it couldn't be going more well than it is right now.