Paul Hartnoll (GB)

Though they might not have envisioned it when they recorded debut single Chime inside a cupboard at their parents’ house for less than £5, Orbital would go on to become giants of electronic music.

Phil and Paul Hartnoll both redefined what dance music could do and the place it held within popular culture. Their music has influenced and inspired artists from Björk to Bicep, and they have collaborated with minds as diverse as Madonna & Kraftwerk.

Despite its inauspicious beginnings at the Hartnoll family home in Kent, Chime became a huge hit on the underground rave scene, and when re-released by FFRR Recordings in 1990, it leapt into the UK top twenty, leading to them appearing in the inauspicious surroundings of Top Of The Pops.

Following 1991’s debut album, their second self-titled album – aka The Brown Album – cemented Orbital’s position as musical visionaries. With four tracks linked together into a 26-minute epic, it broke down & rebuilt ideas of what electronic music could do. A career of creative leaps quite unlike those usually seen in the fast-turnover world of dance music followed, including soundtracking Hollywood films & performing at the 2012 Paralympics with Professor Stephen Hawkins.

2024/25 saw Orbital go full circle as they revisited The Green and Brown albums in comprehensive reissue campaigns, aligned with an international tour that saw them perform The Green album back to back with The Brown album.