Ice MC

Ice MC, born Ian Colin Campbell on 22 March 1965, grew up in Hyson Green, a district of Nottingham. His nickname ‘Ice’ comes from his initials IC, which he later read as ‘Ian Campbell Esquire’. After leaving school he joined a breakdance crew in 1983 and toured Europe with them.

His professional music career began in Italy in 1989 when he signed with producer and singer Roberto Zanetti (also known as Savage, Robyx and Daddy Bug). Their first single, Easy, released the same year in a hip-house style, was a major success across Europe, reaching the top 5 in Italy and top 3 in Germany.

The collaboration produced a string of eurodance hits in the 1990s: the singles Cinema and Scream and the debut album ‘Cinema’ (1990) confirmed his popularity. Ice MC is noted as one of the first artists in the genre to combine raggamuffin-style rap with female sung choruses.

His second album, ‘My World’ (1991), was less successful as hip-house had fallen out of fashion. He changed image and style with the third album ‘Ice ‘n’ Green’ (1994), on which vocalist Alexia provided the singing. That album produced his best-known tracks: Think About the Way (included on the ‘Trainspotting’ soundtrack in 1996), It's a Rainy Day and Take Away the Colour. The album was even distributed in the United States, where the main singles did well in clubs and on radio.

A remix album, ‘Ice’n’Green – The Remix Album’, was released in 1995. The next album, ‘Dreadatour’ (1996), produced by Gianfranco Bortolotti, included the track Give Me the Light. After a break, Ice MC returned to Italy at the end of 2002 and resumed working with Roberto Zanetti (Robyx) on new material. Their fifth studio album, ‘Cold Skool’, was finally released on 19 April 2004 on the Time Records label.

Throughout his career Roberto Zanetti’s production team was behind his biggest hits and also worked for other major Italian 1990s acts such as Double You, Alexia and Corona.