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| MJ Darl!ng, STARSH!P Captain, 2016 |
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| MJ w/ parents, Veverly and Ralph |
MJ Darl!ng was born in Birmingham, AL, and is from a long line of creative, and military archetypes.
His mother's line is musical, and thrived in the realm of education, the military, the Southeastern church circuit (his grandmother, Dorothy Jackson workshopped and performed with Gospel acts like David Peaceton, The Winans, and Kirk Franklin), and mainstream music success in the 1970-1980s (via Deniece Williams). His father's bloodline is mainky artistic and military, with a number of musical vocalists, and songwriters to their credit as well.
THE EARLY YEARS
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| MJ (bottom left), among cousins |
As a young urban child in the early 1980s, with a boombox and lots of creative cousins, MJ would often make tapes of their sonic antics, to replay for family during get-togethers. It was then that MJ's interest in music became obvious to family elders, and they were helpful in actively guiding both, his creative discipline and tastes in any way they could, fostering his involvement in piano, and alto saxophone for symphonic band during Grammar and middle school.
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| singing in church |
MJ participated as a young vocalist in his family's Christian singing group during the mid-1980s, along with his mother, grandmother and grandfather, great aunt, and cousin.
He performed in harmony with them for Christian conventions, and revivals all over the Southeastern America until the early 1990s, when MJ graduated to high school, and discovered that high school girls absolutely loved guys that can sing.
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| MJ at 9yrs old. |
He had also by this time discovered Rock, Punk, New Wave, and Pop, listening to the latest from Def Leppard, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, David Bowie, Prince, and Michael Jackson, etc. through the influence of his baby-sitting aunt, and MTV, plus the cinematic soundtrackers of the times, Jan Hammer, Vince DiCola, Bill Conti, Henry Mancini, Lalo Schifirin, and Giorgio Moroder. And via a mixtape from his art-schooled cousin from Atlanta, Electronica, in the form of Chicago Acid House, namely, DJ Pierre's "Rock To The Beat".
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| MJ at 15 yrs old; c1991. |
THE TEEN YEARS
In high school, MJ and four other of his classmates were busted in class, for singing the harmonies of Al B. Sure!, Guy ft. Teddy Riley, Babyface, Jodeci, New Edition and Boyz II Men to the young ladies during classtime.
Their teacher then made them perform impromptu before the entire class, and upon hearing their albeit raw talents, urged them to perform officially for an upcoming class function.
They met her challenge a few weeks and faculty favors later, which went over so well, it inspired them to form an R&B/Hip-Hop boy band called "The Image", to which, MJ cut their first demos by splice-editing his tracks with a razor blade and scotch tape, and "pause-mixing" or creating manually looped tracks with a dual cassette recorder.
These first (but admittedly terrible) "demos" he made throughout the years were, indeed, the meager beginning of MJ's career as a one-in-a-million music producer, and recording artist/engineer.
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| MJ leads the high school class song, at 17 yrs old, 1993. |
During high school, MJ also took part in theater, by one year, performing in their MLK play, and the next, playing Malcolm X, where he had to die for the audience in a particularly dramatic assassination scene involving funeral limousines, and a grand procession.
Their group lasted until MJ's graduation to college, and had, by then, a sister-group counterpart, called "Class A".
They both experienced some successes opening for groups, 2 Live Crew ft. Luke Skywalker, H-Town, on the Southern leg of their "I Got S*** On My Mind" tour, becoming lifelong friends with many of his group-mates, some of which followed him to college, and throughout his life, as extended/honorary family.
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| !ndi Cru (24 Elderz, Jack!e Bubbles, D@/Se7en) |
THE COLLEGE YEARS
In college, MJ studied Journalism and writing, but waxed in rudimentary electronic music production, performing in college talent shows with his fellow collegiate high school alums and group-mates. He also made money making romantic mixtapes for his college mates, to play when their girlfriends came over to their dormrooms for visitation.
During his Summer breaks, he, as "Perfect Timing/P.T./Perfect" met and was soon adopted by a creative Hip-Hop family called the "!ndividuals Cru" or "!ndi/NDC", where he learned how to scratch, and to program keyboards and drum machines, and are where his resulting exclamation marks in everything concerning his brand originated from.
Their tight-knit family was rocked less than two years later, when their big brother-member, Nathan "Prov(erb)" Wallace was tragically murdered, devastating, and removing the glue from their once-thriving crew.
It would be a few years more before they would reform as MJ's "ANOM!LE All-Stars" in 1998, to record digitally for the first time, thanks to MJ's computer-whiz/then-fiancee, who built MJ's first studio computer. It was on this computer that MJ would flourish officially as a formidable producer and engineer.
MJ ADOPTED
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| MJ, Supreme, and crew, 1999 |
During his estrangement from NDC, MJ got involved in a local organization chapter that helped AIDS patients, and would escort them to get groceries, meds, shopping, but mostly to raves, where he was re-introduced to the multi-faceted focus of fascination, that is Electronica.
MJ soon befriended other ravers, and trained as a Jungle/Drum N' Bass DJ with several rave DJ hopefuls, some of which went on to be later known as, "The Majik City Junglists", "The Enemy", and LA's "Evol Intent".
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| MJ in sessions with Supreme and D@/Se7en, 1999 |
As the ANOM!LE All-Stars, MJ's new digital setup, co-creators, and skillsets allowed him to fully express his creativity, giving winks to his past influences, and grounds to bid his listeners to join him in exploring this new sound, his fusion of Hip-Hop and R&B with Electronica, Trip-Hop, House, and Drum N' Bass, influenced by the likes of Goldie, Roni Size, Bjork, Stereolab, Portishead, and Tricky/Massive Attack.
The crew was soon discovered by John "DJ Supreme" Malone, who met, and would workshop with MJ in Soul Child Music studio some years earlier, and was developing a Hip-Hop revue called "The Eargasm", to which MJ's crew would come to perform as regulars during its tenure of over a decade, and even later developed a rave-esque dance afterparty, performing with local favorites, Abstract Chemestry (now known as Nerves Baddington), Red Light District, R-Tist and COMPLET, (of The Green Seed), and a host of other local and regional talent.
At this time, MJ's influences included A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One & BDP (Boogie Down Productions), NWA, Bell Biv Devoe (BBD), Organized Confusion, Wu-Tang, and DITC (Digging In The Crates) crew.
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| ANOM!LE All-Stars with Supreme, at Eargasm's premier, 1999 |
In 2000, MJ took a side-job with Osborne Entertainment to be a "song & dance" guy at Visionland (now called Alabama Adventures), playing dancing versions of Beetlejuice, The Crypt Keeper, and a pompodor-coiffed, leather jacket-wearing biker in "Leader Of The Pack", where MJ once again has to dramatically play dead for the crowd.
Darl!ng, then called, "Or!on Pax/Opax/OPX", after one of his favorite heroes' incarnations, recorded over two years, a collection of unreleased material called "Yestereon", featuring MJ as Or!on Pax, Supreme, several members of the "!ndi" crew (then-named "24 Elderz), and introducing his first protege, Denise "D@" Tatum (R.I.P. 2012).
MJ ADOPTS
Ever since then, MJ would always keep an ear out for the next artist with raw talent, worthy of turning his setup on for, or an opportunity to work with new co-creators, and build from the ground up. In 2000, he met best friend, co-creator, and his next lyrical protege Chris "Art!ficial" Strickland (aka "Dub Hel!x", R.I.P. 2009), and a rag-tag class of rave DJ hopefuls who would be the next generation of his creative family.
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| MJ, with his DJ crew, 2001 |
At the time, MJ worked as a DJ equipment salesman at a local music store, and after selling many young towns'kids their first rigs, and tutoring them at the store, it wasn't long before they were all meeting in private, conducting sessions in their homes, collaborating in the studio, making Electronic music of all styles, and throwing parties and raves to audition/premier them.
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| Bassfam, DJ Lee Jeffrey and David Jean, 2001 |
for the next three years, MJ and his new collaborators would throw, participate in city raves with industry colleagues including Danny The Wild Child, 12" Gangsta, Jordana "DJ 187" LaSesne, and MC Word, eventually came to battle its creative "twin" rave DJ crew, Majik City Junglists (MCJ) in a friendly but furious exhibition match, in 2002.
Being known as tenacious underdogs of the scene, they, incarnate as ANOM!LE/Rocksol!d would cement themselves among their circle as grass-root bad boys with a touch of jazzy panache.
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| MJ and his DJ crew, 2002 |
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| MJ and Ralph Lindstrom of Harmony Productions, 2002 |
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| MJ joins forces w/ Magick City Sirens, 2008 |
In 2006, MJ's attention turned to the fairer sex, beginning a
search for more local female acts to counter a deluge of male
performance acts. He soon discovered the efforts of burlesque performer,
Jezabelle Von Jane, and helped her develop the Magic City Sirens,
participating as a co-producer, photographer, and guest performer, for
the "Sleep When You're Dead" burlesque series, where he would continue
on until 2011.
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| MJ operating the "spot" at a Magick City Sirens SWYD show, 2011 |
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| MJ Dances for Magick City Sirens SWYD Show, 2009 |
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| MJ, Magick City Siren founder Jezabelle Von Jane and DJ David Jean, post-performance at Imagicon II, 2011. |
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| MJ rides his motorcycle, "Valor!", 2009. |
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| MJ and best friend, Chr!s Art!ficial/Dub Hel!x (R.I.P. 2009), 2009 |
About six months before Chris Art!ficial's demise in a motorcycle accident, he and bestie, MJ, recorded Chris' debut album, "The Morning Would", and MJ's "OPX & The Tales Of The Southern Cross", a Hip-Hop tall tell-all about the mythical history of Southside Birmingham, Alabama's creative runaway, communal, and flophouse culture, patroned by their local champion of destitution, Brother Bryan. Thier "TOSC" album was a poetic expose into the sordid history of the formerly creative sprawling zone-turned-corporate wasteland.
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| MJ in the studio, 2011 |
STARSH!P
In 2009, regardless of regional success, things began to decline for the "SWYD" series with a long string of tragic deaths, including the boyfriend of one of its producers, guitarist, Ted Ledbetter of "Red Harp", and colleague DJ Paul "Gadget" Keith of Majik Ciy Junglists (MCJ), plus the incarceration of long-time friend and colleague, emcee, Harold J "KNCKTRNL" Williams of Majik Ciy Junglists (MCJ), and the passing of Chris Art!ficial (Dub Hel!x), and roller derby girl, and breakdancing galpal, Sarah "Sally Slaughter" Stanfield, all beloved, and in 2009.
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| MJ emcees at Heartbreaker VII, 2007 |
This high frequency of calamity deflated their will to continue.
A new show was needed to turn their energy from a sullen negative to a regenerative positive, which soon after spawned a showcase that would become its own brand. MJ began to slowly build what would in 2010 become STARSH!P, a Sci-Fi music fantasy with its own DJs, acts, and an online creative research journal, to reveal how everything they did was done.
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| MJ generates a star tetrahedron hologram in his sudiolab, 2011 |
A grand and noble idea, but a massive developmental endeavor that took longer than his relationship with Magic City Sirens to manifest.
This incarnation involved teamwork from other formerly unsung talent, and crews, but MJs concept was so abstract in its genesis, that not many understood his vision of STARSH!P; not even he truly understood, for it was, as he put it, "precipitating from the heavens like rain, to be assembled as it occured to him".
With help from several "Old headz" who trusted his vision, they formed a small alliance, premiering themed STARSH!P events, some with laser cannons, togas, visual projections, neon LED hoola-hoopers, and regional DJs/performers of all genres, which ran until 2013.
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| MJ at the helm of the STARSH!P DJ decks at Cosmos, 2014 |
Even during this time, MJ never stopped making music. During which time, he released his "STARSH!P: Excursions Beyond" LP in 2011 under the codename "Omn!pax", which delved into the cold but intense science of Electronica, particularly Drum N' Bass.
This album was followed with STARSH!P: Master Class" LP in 2013, adding Dubstep to the spacy sonic saga's list of genres worthy to explore. He dabbled rather unsuccessfully mobile wedding DJing, but soon had developed into quite a formidable composer.
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| MJ photobombs his friends. |
In 2015, MJ began to write again, after almost a decade since he'd written his last lyrical song that wasn't a rap. Until then, he had been building STARSH!P online, aired a DJ live stream/podcast, and was readying a recording label, for himself, and his next crew's incarnation.
2016 marks MJ's 10th, volume of music, from his humble start, splicing mixes, to his psychonautic explorations of style as "Omn!pax", unto now, where he takes us on a journey into "The Love Dimension". Whereas before, as "Omn!pax", MJ rarely spoke nor sang, his reassertion of himself as MJ Darl!ng is liberated and honest, giving his all in every facet of his production (ie., songwriting, composing, vocalism, rapping, mix decisions, etc.) creating every song on the album in either a different formerly underground genre, or style, past or future.
ANOM!LE/STARSH!P has since grown into a creative brand with music, clothing design, a strong online presence, and a media-rich creative research journal, to show you how to do it all for yourself. If you let MJ tell it, he'll also be releasing a STARSH!P coloring book, novel, and screenplay, toon, and maybe movie franchise complete with figurines soon, but until then, we'll just have to watch that rain "percipitate" whenever it does.
"My quest throughout life is (and has always been) to integrate the analytical, the creative, the mundane, and the superlative together, unified where one may de-compartmentalize, and live as a whole, yet extremely dynamic individual-to-culture.
Really, I don't know if I'll ever tour the globe as a world-class singer, be a million seller, or if I'll ever grace the Hollywood red carpet next to the celebs of the day; however, I do know that I'll always be in control of what and how I create, and that whatever I create will amaze those who witness it.
That, and whatever you're doing creatively being an affair of the heart, a labour of love, and a driving force to your momentum in that field, is the real meaning of STARSH!P."
It was never a 'spaceship' of any sort; it rather was, is, and will always represent the infinite thrust of the impassioned Heart."
-MJ Darl!ng
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| MJ and STARSH!P follower Bryan Gant, 2012 |
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| MJ hugs his close friends, Jackie and Erin, leaving for Los Angeles, 2011 |
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| MJ hugs his close friends, Jackie and Erin, leaving for Los Angeles, 2011 |
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| MJ flies with close friends/crewmates, incl. pilot pal, Steven Smith & godson, Kiran, 2011 |
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| MJ flies with close friends/crewmates, incl. pilot pal, Steven Smith & godson, Kiran, 2011 |
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| MJ and close friends/crewmates, and children, 2011 |
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