Steve "Silk" Hurley

Steve W. "Silk" Hurley (born November 9, 1962), also known as J. M. Silk (for "Jack Master Silk"), is an American club DJ, house music producer, and songwriter.

From 1985 to 1988, he had four top-10 singles on the US Dance chart, including the number-one hit "I Can't Turn Around", all released in collaboration with Keith Nunnally as J. M. Silk. With "Jack Your Body" (number 25 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play), he topped the UK Singles Chart in January 1987 as a solo artist, while one of his later compositions, "Work It Out" from 1989, brought him his fifth top-10 record on the US Dance chart (at number three). To date, Hurley's last charting single is "The Word Is Love (Say the Word)", also known as "Silk's Anthem of Life" by The Voices of Life, which peaked at number 26 in 1997 in the UK.

Hurley is a four-time Grammy Award nominee; two times as Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical (in 1999 and 2000), and twice for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical (in 2002 and 2003).

Early life

Hurley studied engineering at Robert Lindblom Math & Science Academy (originally named Lindblom Technical High School) in Chicago, Illinois, and later at junior college but dropped out by 1981 to concentrate on his music career full-time.

Career

Hurley gained worldwide fame as a DJ on the Saturday Night Live Ain't No Jive Dance Party on WBMX in Chicago in the mid 1980s.

His song "Jack Your Body" was also a hit on the UK Singles Chart, reaching number one for two weeks in January and February 1987. This was the UK's first house music chart topper, In spite of "Jack Your Body"'s success, Hurley has had no further singles (under his own name) reach the UK charts, thus condemning him to one-hit wonder status. Ironically, Hurley's version topped the US Dance chart and the producer later got his satisfaction by trumping Keith's success with the number one hit "Jack Your Body".

Discography

Albums

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!Year

!Title

!Artist(s)

|1987

| style="text-align:left;" |Hold on to Your Dream

Release date: 1987
Record label: RCA Records
Formats: LP, CS

|J. M. Silk

|1989

| style="text-align:left;" |Work It Out Compilation

Release date: 1989
Record label: Atlantic Records
Formats: LP, CD, CS

|Steve "Silk" Hurley

Singles

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!rowspan="2"|Year

!rowspan="2"|Title

!rowspan="2"|Alias

!colspan="4"|Peak chart positions

!rowspan="2"|Certifications

!rowspan="2"|Album

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

!width="35"|IT

!width="35"|UK

!width="35"|US Dance

!width="35"|Hot Dance Singles Sales

| 1985

| style="text-align:left;" |"Music Is the Key"

| style="text-align:left;" |J. M. Silk

| —

| 9

| 18

|The House Sound of Chicago

| rowspan="3"|1986

| style="text-align:left;" |"Shadows of Your Love"

| style="text-align:left;" | J. M. Silk featuring Steve "Silk" Hurley

| —

| 3

| 40

| rowspan="7"|Hold on to Your Dream

| style="text-align:left;" |"I Can't Turn Around" (by Isaac Hayes)

| style="text-align:left;" |J. M. Silk

| —

| 62

| 1

| 9

| style="text-align:left;" |"Jack Your Body"

| style="text-align:left;" |Steve "Silk" Hurley

| —

| 1

| 25

| 37

BPI: Silver

| rowspan="4"|1987

| style="text-align:left;" |"Let the Music Take Control"

| style="text-align:left;" |J. M. Silk

| —

| 47

| 2

| 8

| style="text-align:left;" |"She's So Far Away"

| style="text-align:left;" |J. M. Silk

| —

| 80

| —

| style="text-align:left;" |"Heart of Passion"

| style="text-align:left;" |J. M. Silk

| —

| style="text-align:left;" |"Cry of the Lonely"

| style="text-align:left;" |J. M. Silk

| —

| 50

| —

| rowspan="2"|1988

| style="text-align:left;" |"All in Vain"

| style="text-align:left;" |J. M. Silk

| —

|Jack Trax: The Fifth Album

| style="text-align:left;" |"It's Percussion"

| style="text-align:left;" |Steve "Silk" Hurley featuring M-Doc

| —

| rowspan="3"|1989

| style="text-align:left;" |"Work It Out"

| style="text-align:left;" |Steve "Silk" Hurley featuring M-Doc

| —

| 3

| 17

| rowspan="3"|Work It Out Compilation

| style="text-align:left;" |"Chain of Fools"

| style="text-align:left;" |Steve "Silk" Hurley featuring Risse

| —

| style="text-align:left;" |"Cold World"

| style="text-align:left;" |Steve "Silk" Hurley featuring Jamie Principle

| —

| 22

| 36

| 1991

| style="text-align:left;" |"Seasons of Love"

| style="text-align:left;" |Keith Nunnally

| —

| 1992

| style="text-align:left;" |"Melody"

| style="text-align:left;" |Steve "Silk" Hurley

| —

| 1997

| style="text-align:left;" |"The Word Is Love (Say the Word)"

| style="text-align:left;" |The Voices of Life featuring Sharon Pass

| 15

| 26

| —

| 2000

| style="text-align:left;" |"Dubs from the Dungeon Vol.1"

| style="text-align:left;" |Steve "Silk" Hurley

| —

| 2002

| style="text-align:left;" |"Don't Give Up"

| style="text-align:left;" |The Voices of Life featuring Gordon Chambers

| —

|Non-album single

| rowspan="2"|2003

| style="text-align:left;" |"Stop Playin'"

| style="text-align:left;" |SilkMix.com vs. 2 Live Crew

| —

| style="text-align:left;" |"Runnin' Away"

| style="text-align:left;" |The Voices of Life featuring Sharon Pass

| —

| 2014

| style="text-align:left;" |"Classic"

| style="text-align:left;" |Steve "Silk" Hurley featuring Javante

| —

|colspan="9" style="font-size: 9pt"| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that region.

;Notes:

A Steve Hurley was credited as one of backing vocalists on the Keith Nunnally's debut solo single. The other names were Sharon Pass, Kym Sims and Manny Mohr.

Music awards and nominations

{| class="infobox" style="width: 25em; text-align: left; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: middle;"

|- bgcolor=#D9E8FF style="text-align:center;"

!style="vertical-align: middle;"| Award

| style="background:#eecccc; font-size:8pt;" width="60px"| Nominations

| style="background:#cceecc; font-size:8pt;" width="60px"| Wins

|- bgcolor=#eeeeff

|align="center"|

ASCAP Awards

|align="center"|

Grammy Awards

;ASCAP Award