KEY POINTS:
For most New Zealanders being 17 means the last year of high school, perhaps a first love, and maybe some game-time for the First XV.
For London-born, New York-raised Mark Ronson, being 17 meant hustling for DJ gigs in the New York club scene, where he found himself
in the early 1990s running club nights attended by the big players in hip-hop music.
"It was crazy," Ronson says down the phone from London, where he is about to start touring his live show. "One night, it was Biggie Smalls' birthday and him and Jay-Z came in wearing matching white suits with pimp hats. We were just amazed because these were the guys making the hottest records that you had to have. How'd they find out about us?"
Ronson was clearly making the right kind of noise, and in the following years his DJ skills were employed by everyone from Tommy Hilfiger to P. Diddy. He soon gained a reputation as DJ to the stars - more recently he played TomKat's wedding in Italy.
Lately though, aside from special events, he has stepped out of the DJ booth and into the studio. Since his debut album Here Comes The Fuzz in 2003, Ronson has worked with Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse (he produced her bluesy pop anthem Rehab), and Robbie Williams.
All of the above contributed guest vocals to his most recent album, Version, on which he pulls apart a selection of rock and pop songs before rebuilding them in his distinctive hip-hop-influenced, horn-heavy style.
Version has gained plenty of momentum already, with the first single, Stop Me, a Smiths' cover blended with the Supreme's You Keep Me Hangin' On, reaching number two in the British pop charts.
With the calibre of contributing talent you get the feeling there will be more hits to come, for example Robbie Williams bringing the star factor to his surprisingly touching version of The Only One I Know by the Charlatans.
Ronson says he has been trying to work with Williams since he saw the video for Millennium on MTV with its "swirling strings, hip-hop influenced beat, and this guy who thinks he's James Bond".
The international pop superstar was too busy to contribute to Ronson's first album, but they managed to hook up for one track on Version.
"Basically, Robbie Williams summoned me, sent three henchmen and they were like, 'We can't tell you where we're going'," laughs Ronson, "and I went to his palatial estate in Los Angeles and we decided to make some music."
British record label BBE can be partially credited as Ronson's inspiration to pursue the covers angle for this album. They approached Ronson to contribute to a Radiohead covers record called Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads. He covered Just - also included on Version - and the process got him thinking.
"I'd always loved that guitar break in the middle. Then I got thinking - put that break at the beginning, extend it, break it all down into melody and chorus, then rebuild it almost, over a beat. Then replace the heavy guitars with horns.
"I was like, 'Wow, this is really cool'."
Later that year, when he was supposed to be programming drums for a record by rapper Rhymefest, he found himself getting distracted, mucking around with a Kaiser Chiefs' song over a hip-hop beat.
He realised he was hooked. "That's kind of how the album was born," he remembers. It becomes clear that much of his inspiration still comes from trying to make things work on the dancefloor.
"I'd always liked to play rock in my sets because I grew up loving that kind of music," he says with his relaxed Englishman-in-New York accent.
"As a DJ you're always finding ways to introduce records to your crowd. Sometimes you have to dress it up or do something clever with it so you're not just throwing on a Led Zeppelin song at random. With Version I've taken some of my favourite rock songs and redone them with hip hop beats, horns and more of a 70s funk arrangement. Kind of the pinnacle of that dressing up idea I guess."
Ronson does sound tired, but who could blame him, as he busily prepares to go on tour and perform the album live. Then there's his label, Allido Records, which is currently working on albums by Rhymefest and Daniel Merriweather.
"I'm also producing a few other artists too - pretty much have no life at the moment," he laments. "I'm on the road and in rehearsal, or in the studio, and I miss my dog and I miss my girlfriend and that's the reality of it."
He pauses, "It could suck worse though!" Yes, Mark Ronson - DJ, super producer, label boss, did we mention DKNY model? - it certainly could suck worse.
Lowdown
Who: Mark Ronson, transatlantic DJ-producer with penchant for cover versions.
Producer credits: Christina Aguilera, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, and Robbie Williams.
Own albums: Here Comes The Fuzz (2003), Version (2007, out now).
Trivia: He's often mistakenly labelled as the son of one-time Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson, maybe because his stepfather is guitarist Mick Jones of Foreigner.
