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Rave pioneer Eamon Downes has died following a five year battle with cancer, close friends confirmed on Tuesday.
The talented producer, who was also known as Ame, enjoyed enormous success as one half of pioneering dance act Liquid in the early 1990s.
Downes is survived by wife Stella and daughter Bea, the couple’s only child.
Confirming his death on social media, fellow DJ Billy Daniel Bunter wrote: ‘It’s with heartbreaking sadness that I’m letting the world know we’ve lost Eamon Downes, devoted husband to Stella, proud dad to Bea, and one of my closest friends ever.This one really hurts.
‘I still remember him playing me ‘Sweet Harmony’ down the phone before it got cut. When XL signed it, he was buzzing. Sending dubplates by bike to Pete Tong and then straight to me at Labrynth, he loved that side of things.’
Signed to XL Recordings – the label responsible for launching The Prodigy – Downes and band-mate Shane Heneghan scored one of the biggest club hits of the ’90s with Sweet Harmony.
With its heavy sampling of CeCe Rogers’ 1987 single Someday – notably its euphoric piano motif and gospel melodies – the iconic track quickly became a dance-floor staple in clubs across the United Kingdom following its initial, independent release in 1991.
Following an early pressing on the group’s Liquid EP, Sweet Harmony gained commercial traction the following year when XL released it as a single, with the track climbing to number 15 on the UK Top 40.
The early commerical success of Liquid served to bolster XL – originally established as an independent record label in the late 1980s – and would help them grow into one of the biggest labels of the decade.
Further releases from XL included The Prodigy’s 1994 album Music For A Jilted Generation and its 1997 follow up, The Fat Of Land – both enormous commerical hits across the United Kingdom and mainland Europe.
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Rave pioneer Eamon Downes has died following a five year battle with cancer , his family confirmed on Tuesday
