Kenzie grew up in Chingford, London and attended Highams Park School.
Blazin Squad
Blazin' Squad was a 10-piece UK pop-rap vocal band. Despite avoiding the typical 'boyband' image, they appealed to a similar pre-teen female fanbase. They enjoyed moderate success in the UK, achieving 6 consecutive Top 10 hits, including a UK Number One single 'Crossroads', a cover version of the Bone Thugs 'N Harmony original. They recorded and released 2 albums, their debut 'In The Beginning' went gold in the UK, whilst their follow-up 'Now Or Never' failed to reach the UK Top 40 Album Chart. While in the band, he went by MC Kenzie.
The group subsequently split, in 2005. MC Kenzie, MC Flava & MC Strider, went on to former the band, Friday Hill (going now by Kenzie, James & Mus).
- MC Spike-Eee — real name Sam Foulkes
- MC Reepa — real name Stuart Baker
- MC Strider — real name Mustafa Omer
- MC Krazy — real name Lee Bailey
- MC Freek — real name Oliver Georgiou
- MC Melo-D — real name Chris McKeckney
- MC Kenzie — real name James MacKenzie. Kenzie was the runner up in series 3 of Celebrity Big Brother in January 2005.
- MC Plat'num — real name Marcell Sommerville . MC Plat'num was runner-up in Channel 4's TV show The Games.
- MC Flava — real name James Murray
- DJ Tommy-B — real name Tom Beast
All of the ten members grew up in Chingford, London and attended Highams Park School.
The group made a demo at a studio for £200 called "Standard Flow". This demo was released on pirate radio stations under their own record label, Weighty Plates. After EastWest Records heard the track on radio, Blazin' Squad were signed a legitimate record deal. DJ Tommy-B chose to cover a song called "Crossroads", which was originally recorded by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony as "Tha Crossroads" in 1996. They used the chorus of the original song and wrote their own MC verses. The track was released as their first single once they left school at the ages of 16, where they also had a history of academic success. "Crossroads" went straight into the UK Singles Chart at number 1 in August 2002. During their short time of 2 years together, the group achieved 6 consecutive UK Top 10 hits, however they faced a lot of criticism. Their rap skills were not taken seriously by the British media, sidelining them to a younger audience. Despite this, their debut album 'In The Beginning' achieved gold satus in the UK and spawned 2 further UK Top 10 hits, 'Love On The Line' which reached number 6 and a double a-side single 'Reminisce/Where The Story Ends' which reached number 8 in February 2003.
The group were popular with commercial radio gigs and roadshows as well as pre-teen pop-music magazines such as 'Top Of The Pops' and 'Smash Hits'. The group achieved further chart success in 2003, with 2 UK Top 5 chart hits. 'We Just Be Dreamin reached number 3 in July 2003, whilst 'Flip Reverse' reached number 2 in November. 'Flip Reverse' was used to re-launch the BBC's 'Top Of The Pops'. A special performance was recorded utside Television Centre with 100 or so hooded back-up dancers. Despite the chart success with their singles, they failed to match it with their second album 'Now Or Never', which failed to reach the UK Top 40 album chart. A live recording of a concert in Liverpool was released for Christmas 2003. However, it failed to re-ignite the flagging sales of their second album, nor did a follw-up single 'Here 4 One', which peaked at number 6 in the UK, during early 2004.
The next year was quiet for the group, until January 2005 saw Kenzie appear on Channel 4's 'Celebrity Big Brother', finishing in second place. The original Blazin' Squad split shotly after. Friday Hill were similar in vein to the music of Blazin' Squad. They released 2 singles in the UK, 'Baby Goodbye' which peaked at number 5 on the Official UK Singles chart in November 2005, as well as 'One More Night Alone' which reached number 13 in February 2006. They also released an album 'Times Like These', which failed to chart.
Blazin' Squad did make a brief return to the UK charts in October 2006, but as a four-piece. The single released was a summer-sounding 'All Night Long', which reached a disappointing number 54 on the Official UK Singles Chart.
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