Return To England and Tyrant (1998 To 2001)
Although Burridge's reputation in Hong Kong earned him gigs nearly every night in the city's top venues, he was relatively unknown in the UK upon his return.
According to Lee Burridge's PR "mythology", Richards—who was running several successful club nights in London, including Georgie and Malibu Stacey—invited Burridge to play at one of his parties, thus introducing him to the London crowd. However, in more detailed accounts, Burridge returned to London and struggled to develop a following, and consequently was considering returning to Hong Kong. As a favour, a promoter in Hong Kong flew him back to play a sold-out show with Sasha, and the exposure earned him a well-deserved international following.
The subsequent launch of Tyrant catapulted Burridge's career in the UK and globally.
As part of Tyrant, Burridge teamed up with Richards and Sasha to play regular monthly nights in London, first at a warehouse space and then the End nightclub, while also playing monthly at The Bomb in Nottingham. At the same time, Burridge began playing solo gigs at other leading British nightclubs, such as Cream, Golden and Ministry of Sound.
He mixed his first compilation for Hooj Choons, Deeper Shades Of Hooj 2 in just a single night.
In 1999, Burridge cracked DJ Magazine's prestigious annual Top 100 list for the first time, placing 33rd. That same year, Burridge also released his first solo mix album, Metropolis on Tide.
While continuing to carve out a career of his own, Burridge's work with the Tyrant project blossomed. Despite Sasha's production schedule causing him to miss several shows, Burridge and Richards continued to forge forward and grow a crowd of their own. When Sasha eventually decided to leave the project, the two decided to continue with the Tyrant nights and would go on to mix the highly acclaimed Tyrant mix compilation in 2000.
Also in 2000, Burridge and Richards began a Tyrant residency at the newly opened Fabric Nightclub in London, and helped build the club's sophisticated, hedonistic reputation while playing together each month until 2006.
In 2001 Burridge appeared on the cover of DJ Magazine and was asked to join an emerging group of young DJs for Global Underground’s NuBreed series. Burridge's double disc NuBreed compilation, which featured a mixture of breakbeat, tech house and techno, helped to cement the DJ's mass appeal and popularity, and that same year he also moved into the top 30 in the DJ Magazine Poll.
Read more about this topic: Lee Burridge, Biography
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