July 11, 2001 11:38

ARTFUL DODGER CONFIRM SPLIT

As revealed yesterday on NME.COM, the massively successful two-step pioneering duo are to part company...

ARTFUL DODGER have finally confirmed they are to split, as revealed by NME.COM yesterday afternoon (July 10).

In a statement released this morning the split is described as amicable and one half of the duo, Mark Hill, will continue to operate as Artful Dodger. No reason is given for the split.

The statement reads:

"Successful UK Garage duo Artful Dodger have announced that the two full time members Mark Hill and Pete Devereux will be parting company as from today. The split is totally amicable and comes only weeks before new single 'TWENTYFOUR/SEVEN' featuring guest vocals by (former) All Saint Melanie Blatt.

"In the short term Mark will continue to write, produce and remix.

"There will be a continuation of the project, and a new album has been tentatively scheduled for Summer 2002 release.

"Pete is currently producing and writing tracks for his new projects. He will continue to DJ under his own name, and is looking at furthering his radio career after winning a Sony Award earlier this year for the Artful Dodger's Capital Radio show.

"In the five years that they have worked together, Mark and Pete have had enormous success, changing the face of the UK music scene with the break through 'Re-Rewind', which introduced the multi-million selling Craig David to the world. Since then they have racked up a further four top ten hits, a platinum selling debut album, and have sold in excess of two million singles in an 18 month period, won Producer Of The Year awards, and were recently awarded Ivor Novello awards for songwriting."

A spokesperson for the pair refused to be drawn on a report in this morning's Sun newspaper claiming that Hill paid Devereux off with £200,000 to get him out of the band.