Santogold

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Santogold performing in Guadalajara, Mexico
Background information
Birth name	Santi White
Born	1976
Origin	Philadelphia
Genre(s)	Indie rock, dub, electronic, New Wave, punk rock, psychedelic rock
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, record producer
Years active	2003–present
Label(s)	Marrakesh (2007) Atlantic, Downtown
Associated acts	Stiffed

For the infomercial jeweler Santo Gold, see Blood Circus.

Santogold (born Santi White) is an American songwriter, producer, and singer.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Santogold
2 Artistry
3 Discography
- 3.1 Albums
- 3.2 Singles
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Santi White attended Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and then went to college at Wesleyan University, where she double-majored in Music and African-American studies. The artist got her pseudonym in the 1980s from a friend's nickname for her.^[1] She worked for Epic Records as an A&R representative, but left the position to write and produce How I Do, the debut album from the singer Res.^[2] In 2004, her father, a lawyer involved in a Philadelphia municipal government corruption case, died.^[3]

Santogold was lead singer of the Philadelphia-based punk rock/ska band Stiffed,^[4] whose 2003 album, Sex Sells, and 2005 album, Burned Again, were produced by Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer.^[5] While in this group, she was offered a solo contract by Martin Heath of Lizard King Records.^[6] Her initial singles succeeded based on heavy attention from Internet media.^[7] White also appeared on Mark Ronson's 2007 album Version, performing on a cover of The Jam's "Pretty Green".

Santogold performing on January 16, 2008

[edit] Santogold

Working with fellow Stiffed member John Hill as co-producer, she recorded her debut album, Santogold, which was originally slated for release on Downtown Records in January 2008,^[6] but was pushed back to April 2008.^[8]^[9] The album (including its B-sides and remixes) features appearances or production work from Chuck Treece, Cliffored "Moonie" Pusey of Steel Pulse, Diplo, Freq Nasty, M.I.A, Naeem Juwan of Spank Rock, Radioclit, Sinden, Switch, Trouble Andrew, and XXXchange.^[10] The album's first singles, "Creator" and "L.E.S. Artistes", were both well received. Rolling Stone, Spin, and BBC all named Santogold an artist to watch in 2008.^[2]^[9]^[11] "Creator", along with "Lights Out",^[12] has appeared in commercials for Bud Light Lime in the United States,^[13]^[14] and VO5 hair products in the United Kingdom. Similarly, "You'll Find A Way" was featured in the EA Sports video game, FIFA 08, with "L.E.S. Artistes" featured in some versions of its sister game NHL 08. Her song "Say Aha" was featured in a Zune-Arts video. Santi has also toured with M.I.A., Björk, and Architecture in Helsinki.^[15] In addition to her own material, White has worked with Lily Allen^[14] and Ashlee Simpson.^[16]

Santogold has recorded a song with The Strokes' Julian Casablancas for Converse.^[17] Santi told Gigwise.com that they recorded the song separately and did "their own separate thing", "so it ends up being just this weird long song with sort of everybody with lots of their own personalities separate."^[18]

[edit] Artistry

White's style has been compared often to that of M.I.A..^[5]^[19] Santogold said of the comparison: "We’ve worked with some of the same people and ... have similar influences. But the way we go around implementing those influences are very different, and I am in no way influenced by what the press are saying."^[10] Additionally, some of Santogold's material has been compared to that of the Pixies,^[19] which Santogold agrees with.^[10] Santogold has also said that she is inspired by 1980s pop music. "I felt that a lot of pop music from the '80s had a depth to it, and I hope to bring back some more good pop songs."^[10] White also stated her liking for New Wave^[10] and critics named Siouxsie to describe "My Superman".^[20] The singer also cites Fela Kuti, James Brown, Aretha Franklin and reggae music as influences.^[21] Santogold has made a point of not performing R&B or rap like other "brown girls",^[10] saying she is "not like Ciara."^[8] White caused controversy when pointing out that people were labeling her music as hip hop and R&B because she is black, and that was racist.^[22]^[23]