Atmosfear
Biography
Atmosfear are a jazz funk/Brit funk band who formed in the United Kingdom in 1978. The band was formed by two friends Lester J. Batchelor Jr. and Raymond Johnson two soul boys on the London soul and jazz funk music scene in the late 1970s, both of whom were regular club goers and record collectors. Johnson was a well known dancer and dance skater, Batchelor was a design student. They would attend out at local clubs such as Scamps, Bobby McGees, The Global Village, Wag and Billy's in London. Atmosfear's original line up consisted of band leader, bassist, and keyboardist Batchelor, drummer Johnson, saxophonist Stewart Cawthorne, producer Jerry Pike and guitarist Andy Sojka, a figure on the Brit funk scene, who owned the All Ears dance music import shop in Harlesden, London, England, at the time. The Elite record label was originally created as a marketing and distribution vehicle to release Atmosfear's music, and following the success of Atmosfear it became a mecca for independent unsigned local artists. A year later singer and guitarist Tony Antoniou joined the main line up. Regular support musician / members of the band were Batchelor's friends - keyboardist Peter Hinds, who has also been a member of UK jazz funk pioneers Light of the World and Incognito, and percussionist Leroy Williams, a member of UK soul band Hi-Tension, who had also played with Level 42, a band Sojka was introduced to following Atmosfear signing a recording deal with MCA Records. Their most notable release was "Dancing In Outer Space", which reached the Top 50 of the UK Singles Chart in 1979. A double A-sided single followed, "Motivation" / "Extract" which did not chart. This track also became BBC Radio 1 DJ, Pete Tong's club track of the year, when it was released where Tong appeared at a nightclub close to Brands Hatch. Following a major disagreement with Sojka, the main group line up changed, when Batchelor left soon after the release of the single "Xtra Special", which he had penned. The d
Bio from Wikipedia
Discography
Records they worked on — most-collected first.
Credited work
36 releases · 18 albums · active 1979–2021
- Performance · 30
- Production · 6
- Engineering · 3
- Other credits · 2
Studios: The Madhouse (2) · Gateway Studio, London · Vons Studios · Dungeon Tape
Frequent collaborators
- Various
- The Brotherhood