AmplifiEr

sheriff specialHIS FIRST MAJOR INTERVIEW

MY NAME IS KHANYES, IT’S IMRAN KHAN

ANGREZ ALIdj gurpsDJ COBRA

£1.99 JANUARY 2010 WEEK 1 ISSUE 5

top 50 albums of all timEROMAN REVIEWS THE GREATEST ALBUMS EVER!

SHERIFF’S SUMMER

TOUR INSIDE

sohni lagdiCAN SHINDA’S NEW REMAKE

BETTER THE ORIGINAL?

JAY SEAN

“For me, music is about the money”

THE BEST SELLING ‘EAST MEETS WEST’ MUSIC MAGAZINE

ALL FEATURING INSIDE

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mr solo FT. MC.BNEW TRACK: us thugs

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CONT

ENTS IMRAN KHAN

Imran Khan talks about his plans for 2010 and what YOU can expect - P3-4

JAY SEAN“It’s me against myself” - P5-6

Amplifier has got a whole load of prizes in stock to give away, from iPod’s to PS3’s, and dhol’s to amaz-ing days out. Good thing is, everyone is a winner! Look inside at exactly what we mean - P26

QUESTION TIME WITH ANGREZ ALI AND DJ

COBRA

MR DESI DITCHES THE DHOLMr Desi ends his 60 year career. Amplifier looks back at what has been a career full of ups and downs, success and controversies, yet a very successful career. - P7-10

P11-12

A HISTORY OF BANGHRAAmplifier looks back - P15-17

ROMAN’S REVEIWSAmplifier’s music critic Roman re-views all the best albums of all time. Do you agree?- P18-20

DJ GURPS v AKONDj Gurps meets the legendary singer - P21

THE WORLD OF MUSICA look into what’s happening in the world of music around this week - P22

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BOLLYWOOD BITESA quick insight to what’s happening at Bollywood Studios - P23

BENNY’S BLOGBenny brings you his usual rants this week. See what he has to say about Asian grime! - P25

SukshindEr shindaNew tracks in plan for 2010 - P24

SHERIFF“For me, music is about the money”. Find out why the rising star comes up with such thinking. He’s our exclusive star this month - P13-14

ADNAN SAMIHe plans to return to the UK - P25EXCLUSIVE

STAR: SHERIFF

IN DEPTH REVIEW WITH FREE ITUNES VOUCHER INCLUDED

News and features

exclusive interviews

GIGS AND EVENTSAll the information you need for the upcoming gigs and events - P26

win

50 years ago...1960’s biggest Asian music hit Ham-rez won Europe’s best voice award, and was the first person not from the continent to win it after 120 years of the accolade being around. Despite much dispute about this, the decision was final, and Hamzrez went down in history!

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“NO ONE CAN

EVER SHOOT

THE SHERIFF”

Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself – your name, where you’re based and what got you into music.

My real name is Sohail Shariff, but I prefer to be known as Sheriff – it’s a name I grew up with around my childhood friends. I live in Birming-ham and have been there all my life. I loved listening to music, some of my favourite artists being Akon, Jay Sean and Imran Khan. People told me I had a good voice, and that sort of got me into singing and making tracks.

What did you do to get yourself into the music industry? Tell us your story.

When I was younger I used to have rap battles with my friends and I found out I was sick after demolishing many of them. I then started writing lyrics at the age of 16 with an Indian theme to them, a bit like Imran Khan who was my inspiration. Some of his songs that I got ideas from were Amplifier and Pata Chalgea. I wanted to adopt his sort of style but be even better. I recorded my first two tracks by 18 and gave them out to my friends as free CD’s,

and even put them on YouTube to make myself aware to people. Every-one loved my music, even Imran Khan himself! He contacted me and told me he’ll manage me and get me to the top. I signed up with Prestige Records who took me on, and I wrote three more songs by the age of 20. I published them all in an album and sold them as CD’s in many shops, while also offering them for free streaming on YouTube and also selling them on iTunes. It was very successful and the money started rolling in. Now, I’m being asked by many companies to per-form live on stage, which

I am currently sorting out so you may see me live soon.

An article was published in the Birmingham Mail recently about your charity work, however it was very brief. Can you explain more?

I really don’t like it when someone leaks a story like this and it goes pub-lic, because not everyone can give charity and I don’t want to show off – however at the same

time, I want to show that I am doing what I’m doing purely because I love mu-sic, not money. BRMB are holding a live concert in Birmingham City Centre, and they want me to be one of the performers. I’ll probably do two songs – and get paid a heck of a lot. I am keeping aside some for me, my family and my parents, and giv-ing a big chunk to poorer places around the world such as Gaza. I believe that music is worth a lot in the eyes of fans, but to me it’s something I just love, so why have that extra money when I can make a better use of it?

How is your friendship with Imran Khan going along ever since you have taken all the plau-dits away from him and brought them to you?

That’s one question that is probably on so many minds. We’re best friends, now and forever. He knows that my music has overtaken his, but there are still millions who adore his music. We’ve both got the same genre of music but our style now is different and people go for what they prefer. Most prefer me, but that doesn’t mean Imran and I aren’t getting on well as we did before. He understands I’ve just beaten him – he even

dared me to try a few years ago! And I’ve done it. But my inspiration was Imran and really, my music and my success is partly down to him.

What are your plans for the future up until you retire?

Well I plan to go on for a really long time, releas-ing many tracks along the way and performing live as much as I can to raise a lot of money. My aim is to be on everyone’s iPod, and create awareness to the whole world that Western music and Asian music can mix, as I have probably already proven. It’s going to take long, but I believe within a few years I can be the big-gest hit in the UK rather than the biggest amongst Asian people. That’s my aim. I also hope that peo-ple can listen to me, and pay for my music rather than illegally download it, as all the extra profits are going to a very good cause. For me, music is about the money!

This months special interview comes with Sheriff. He’s risen to the top quicker than expected and has already attracted millions of fans in the UK - and even more worldwide. His

music is being called ‘The Real East Meets West’ because of his mixed Asian and Western style music - and he plans to

become even more bigger this year!

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amplifierSpecial Interview

interview conducted by Roman

My success is partly down to

Imran Khan

The money started rolling

in