OK. We’re just gonna go right out there and say it: Mark Ronson is extremely hot. Like, at the risk of sounding likes those two corny overly enthusiastic yogurt commercial ladies, he’s like, eating-jalapenos-in-the-desert-while-wearing-a-wool-sweater hot.
Some background: He’s British (extra hot points right there). He used to be a model. His stepdad was in the classic rock act Foreigner. His mom’s a socialite. He’s modeled. His sisters are clothing designer Charlotte and DJ Samantha (who’s BFF with Lindsay Lohan). He’s BFF with Stella McCartney. He was a model. Keith Moon taught him to play drums. He taught Sean Lennon to play guitar. He grew up with Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger over at the pad for dinner. And he modeled.
But… there’s plenty beneath his pretty boy looks, easy-come piles of family cash and status as kingpin of New York’s social scene — he made a name for himself DJing hip-hop at celeb-packed parties. And most recently he DJ’ed Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding! He’s a quadruple-threat musical genius: a singer-songwriter-producer-musician with an encyclopedic knowledge of artists and musical genres and an uncanny knack for pairing artists and creating collaborations that on paper look like head scratchers but sound, well, perfect coming out of your earbuds. Case-in-point: Lily Allen’s cover of Kaiser Chiefs’ hit “Oh My God.” Or, the late Old Dirty Bastard’s reinvention of Britney Spears’ “Toxic.”
He’s responsible for Amy Winehouse’s hit “Rehab” (but not her hardest-core substance problems, k?) as well as her entire Back To Black album, which he produced. He’s also mastered the fine art of covering popular songs without turning into a cheesy cover artist. His take of The Smiths’ “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before,” which he turned into a dance track called simply “Stop Me,” with Daniel Merriweather on vox, shot up the U.K. pop charts. With good reason.
And now, with Version out, his second album in four years (not bad for a busy guy who also runs his own record label, Allido Records), he’s set to leave behind some of his image as a predominantly a socialite DJ, and he’s set to emerge from behind-the-curtains producer and become a full-fledged, in-his-own-right artist. And he’s the freakin’ DJ on this weekend’s MTV Music Video Awards!
And if those aren’t good enough reasons for him to be Artist Of The Week, then you lose, and that means more Mark for us! But really, could we ever have enough Mark? Check out his hilarious housekeeping video below, and catch his videos all this week on MTV, AND don’t miss him spinning live at the VMAs this Sunday.