Goldie Biography
Born on September 19, 1965, Clifford Joseph Price MBE, professionally known as Goldie, is a British music producer and DJ.
Born in Walsall and raised in Wolverhampton, England, Goldie has Jamaican and Scottish heritage. At the age of three, he was put up for adoption and experienced a difficult childhood in childcare homes and with various foster parents, enduring physical and sexual abuse, as detailed in his 2002 autobiography.
Goldie’s graffiti artwork in Birmingham and Wolverhampton gained recognition, being featured in Dick Fontaine’s documentary Bombin’ and the book Spraycan Art by Henry Chalfant and James Prigoff.
He moved to the United States for graffiti projects and began selling grills (gold teeth jewelry) in New York and Miami, later continuing the business in the UK after his return in 1988. Goldie’s nickname originated from “Goldielocks,” which was later shortened when he no longer had dreadlocks.
In 1991, DJ Kemistry, Goldie’s girlfriend at the time, introduced him to the British breakbeat music scene and to jungle and drum and bass producers Dennis “Dego” McFarlane and Mark “Marc Mac” Clair, known as 4hero.
Goldie subsequently worked on design and A&R for 4hero’s Reinforced Records label. In 1992, he made his first record appearance on an EP by Icelandic group Ajax Project, which included the track Ruffige.
Under the alias “Rufige Cru,” Goldie released Killa Muffin b/w Krisp Biscuit and the Dark Rider EP on Reinforced. His 1992 hit Terminator, released under the name Metalheads, pioneered the use of time stretching. In 1993, he released Angel on the Synthetic Hardcore Phonography label, and in 1994, he established his own record label, Metalheadz.
Goldie’s first studio album, Timeless, was released in 1995 and reached number seven on the UK Albums Chart. The album featured orchestral textures, soul vocals by Diane Charlemagne, and breakbeats and basslines common in jungle music.
Goldie’s subsequent work includes Saturnz Return (1998), which featured appearances by David Bowie, Noel Gallagher, and KRS-One, and the 2017 album The Journey Man. In 2020, Goldie launched a new record label, Fallen Tree 1Hundred.
In addition to his music career, Goldie has an extensive acting résumé, including roles in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough as Mister Bullion, Guy Ritchie’s Snatch (2000), and the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2001–2002). He has also participated in numerous celebrity reality television shows.
Goldie returned to the art world in 2007 with the Love Over Gold exhibition at the Leonard Street Gallery in London. In 2021, he modeled for Louis Vuitton Menswear Spring/Summer and contributed a song.
Goldie’s personal life has seen its share of notable relationships. In the early 1990s, he was romantically involved with drum and bass artist Kemistry, who tragically passed away in a car accident in 1999. In 1996, Goldie had a relationship with Icelandic singer Björk.
In 2002, Goldie married model Sonjia Ashby, but the couple divorced in 2005. By 2003, he had five children, including social content creator Danny Price, who appeared on the Channel 4 reality show Make Me Prime Minister.
In 2007, Goldie began a relationship with Mika Wassenaar, a Canadian, and the two married in 2010. Goldie and Mika appeared together on the 20 June 2009 episode of ITV’s All Star Mr and Mrs with Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton.
As of 2017, Goldie and his wife Mika were living in Thailand, having moved there in 2015.
