D’Influence

D'Influence (also D-Influence and D*Influence) is a British production team and acid jazz band. Formerly of The Echo Label they founded their own label, Freakstreet Records. Original members include Kwame Kwaten, Sarah-Ann Webb, Ed Baden-Powell, and Steve Marston. They have produced hits for British R&B artists Mark Morrison (Return of the Mack), Shola Ama (Much Love) and Ultra Naté (New Kind of Medicine); remixed for the American hip hop artist Jay-Z ("Wishing on a Star", Bring It On: The Best of Jay-Z); Mick Jagger; Tom Jones and performed live with Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk (Later with Jools Holland). In 2017, the band regrouped for one-off concerts at various top London clubs and summer festivals in the UK. Reviewing their 'generation-spanning' set at Love Supreme festival, the Financial Times praised 'the slinky, bass-heavy grooves that sustained their success in the 1990s.' Music critic Mike Hobart explains D'Influence 'last played a festival 17 years ago, their current revival coming about after a promoter saw... their annual get-together jam on Instagram. The band has lost none of its sass.' 2018 sees further performances in the UK, Africa and Europe. With stellar daytime and session careers of their own, members unite for performances only. Kwame Kwaten is a widely respected artist manager, lecturer and mentor. Ed Baden-Powell is consistently ranked as one of the entertainment industry's top international lawyers by Chambers UK, who profile him as 'the "extremely intelligent" and "very astute" prolific entertainment practitioner, advising clients in the music and digital media sectors on a variety of issues.' D'Influence also had several UK hit singles of their own during their first run of the 1990s. These included Top 40 successes with "Hypnotise" (1997, UK #33) and "Rock With You" (1998, UK #30).While the band has a loyal following, one mystery remains over its billing. Even its most dedicated fans have no idea if D Influence contains a hyphen, a dash, an n-rule, an em-rule, or any combination of the latter with spacing. Or an apostrophe. Or a star. Or a period. Band members remain enigmatic on the subject.