Douvelle19 has always operated between a myriad of sonic worlds. The Newport-based producer’s interest in the fluidity of genres and bridging disparate sounds stretches back to his childhood when he grew up on everything from 1930s jazz and blues to early electronic forerunners like New Order & Leftfield as well as Faithless, Madonna and Arabian pop artists Nancy Ajram and Sabah. His own pre-teenage taste was equally eclectic: obsessions veered between Missy Elliott & Timbaland to Limp Bizkit & Sum 41.
After joining a youth centre in Newport, Douvelle19 taught himself how to DJ (including on vinyl), started his own local radio show and created his own dubplates – all while studying at school. This birthed his journey into making grime instrumentals for him and his mates, and dubstep and drum & bass records for his radio show, which he uploaded online. Aged 15, he found his way into the industry: forming the group Astroid Boys, they signed with Sony Records and became a fundamental link between grime/metal and hip-hop. His first taste of releasing music as a solo artist came aged 17; debut EP, ‘Dreamer', released under his initial Dellux alias, was picked up by Chase & Status’ MTA Records. Fast forward to his early twenties and Astroid Boys played headline tours and festivals worldwide. However, this all ended when the band split in 2017 after releasing debut album 'Broke'.
Leaving the Dellux project behind, becoming Douvelle19 enabled a fresh start free of comparisons to his earlier work. His desire to keep experimenting and to blend music from the underground culture mixed with pop records took hold. Debut EP ‘D19’, a collection of vocal-led house and garage released in 2018, was followed by his infamous Edits series, where he sampled vocals from grime freestyles and reimagined them by writing new instrumentals.
