Born: in Whalley, Lancashire, England

Active Decades: 2000

British producer Richard X was one of the progenitors of the bastard pop phenomenon of the early 2000s and a significant contributor to electronic dance-pop of that decade, parlaying the notoriety he gained for a series of underground mash-ups -- released under the alias Girls On Top -- into a recording contract and a successful career as a mainstream record producer and remixer. His productions typically feature icy, synthesized electro-pop combined with soulful vocal hooks, an aesthetic established in his early bootleg singles, each of which layered the a cappella from an American R&B hit over an '80s synth pop or electro instrumental, and which were regarded as having an unusual degree of musical sensitivity and compositional elegance within the novelty-prone, concept-over-execution world of bastard pop.



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