MARK RONSON
The Collaborator
AGE 31
WHY HIM The onetime celebutante DJ has gone legit, producing stand-out songs on two of the biggest U.S. debuts of the past year: sensational Brit bad girls Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen. ''With Lily and
Amy,'' Ronson explains, ''they weren't yet huge artists, so there was no
pressure in the studio. It was just friends, making music that we
wanted to make.'' He pauses for self-deprecating air quotes: ''I guess that's why I am, as you say, 'hot' now.''
NEXT His own album, Version (already a hit in his native U.K.), drops Stateside July 10. On it he borrows iconic tracks by artists from the Smiths to Britney Spears, and turns them inside out with the help of famous friends (Robbie Williams, Winehouse, the late, great ODB) and a live band. First single ''Stop Me,'' with Aussie star Daniel Merriweather filling in for Morrissey, already hit No. 2 in England. With triumphs like these, that pesky ''celebutante'' tag will soon be history.
