Lil Louis

Lil Louis is the stage name used by Chicago-born house-music producer and DJ Marvin Burns. His best known song, "French Kiss," featured vocals by Shawn Christopher and spent two weeks at #1 on the dance chart in 1989. The track features a several-minutes-long breakdown in which the music gradually slowed down in tempo to a stop. Even with its sensual sound, it crossed over to some pop radio stations and climbed to #50 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a big success throughout Europe reaching #2 in the UK Singles Chart and in Germany, and number one in the Netherlands. The video was directed by Marek Budzynski. British Drum 'n' Bass producers Ed Rush & Optical later produced a remix.

Links To Peel
Peel was a great fan of Lil Louis' French Kiss record, but found the inevitable woman faking orgasm sequence on the track a great pity on his 13 July 1989 show. "'At this point, this wonderful record degenerates into the inevitable woman faking orgasm sequence, which is a great pity I think. If it had gone on like that for another ten minutes, I should have been very happy. It does go on for about another five minutes, in fact, but not as good as that.'"

After his 50th birthday, Peel did an interview on the NME, where he criticised BBC Radio One in not playing French Kiss, despite the song at number 2 in the UK singles chart:

"'I wish Radio 1 would try and be ahead of the game instead of behind it; by the time things go on the playlist they're dead in the clubs, they're dead on pirate radio. You wouldn't have to make that radical a change to get some of the harder records straight on the air... I mean, you do get this strange double think. You say to them 'why do you play all this Kylie and Jason?' And they say 'well, people want to hear it, it's Number Three in the charts...' But then they didn't play the Lil Louis record. They said people don't want to hear it. And you said to them, 'but it's Number Two in the charts', and they go, 'yeah! but...' So they use the same argument to prove two different things.'"In the 90's Lil Louis failed to get any commercial success, but Peel did play a track from the artist in 1992, before losing interest in his music.

Shows Played
1989 1992
 * 13 July 1989: 'French Kiss (12")' (FFRR)
 * 07 August 1989 (BBC World Service): New York (12" - French Kiss) Diamond
 * 22 May 1992: 'Club Lonely-Radically Lonely Mix (12 inch)' (Epic)