MK: Songs and Collaborations

The moment a piano drops into the room

Imagine a record that starts simple. A vocal that means something. Then a piano line that hits you somewhere honest. That's MK. That's Marc Kinchen. That's been his sound since 1989, and it's still his sound now, which in dance music terms makes him practically ancient and absolutely current at the same time.

Over 500 production credits. More than a billion streams. And the reason his name keeps turning up across three decades of dance music, mainstream crossovers, and everything between, is simple: he never stopped believing that a record was supposed to move you, not just impress you.

The sound that built a career

MK came out of Detroit's house scene at the turn of the 1990s. His signature was obvious from the start: soulful, piano-driven house that carried weight. Not reinvention. Consistency. Whether it's 1993 or 2016, an MK record tends to share the same DNA. A vocal that means something. A piano line you don't forget. A groove built for the floor rather than the charts. Except when it ends up topping the charts anyway.

The hits that made his name

Start with Always and Love Changes, both featuring Alana Simon, both US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play number ones in 1993 and 1994. They came from his debut album Surrender, credited to MK Featuring Alana. They're the closest thing to a founding statement his catalogue has.

Then there's the remix work. His MK Mix 95 of Nightcrawlers' Push the Feeling On hit number three on the UK Singles Chart in 1995. Nearly two decades later, his remix of Storm Queen's Look Right Through went one better, hitting number one in the UK in November 2013.

The voices and the crossovers

Alana Simon gave his early singles their soul. Then MK stepped into remix work for Pet Shop Boys, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci and Brandy. Between 2002 and 2005 he was an in-house producer for Will Smith, working on Shark Tale and the TV series All of Us. Celine Dion's Misled got the MK treatment too.

In 2016, Pieces of Me with Becky Hill proved his ear hadn't dulled a bit. A soulful voice, a piano, a groove that doesn't rush. Still works.

The gap that taught him something

From 1996 he stepped back from house to work in hip-hop and R&B. That's part of why his catalogue has such range. When he returned to house production, the piano-and-soul formula was still there. It just had years of studio craft behind it.