Samantha Ronson

Samantha Ronson - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Samantha Ronson

Samantha Judith Ronson (born 7 August 1977) is an English DJ, singer, and songwriter.

This profile of Samantha Ronson covers Early Life and Family Background, Early DJ years (2002–2010), Chasing the Reds (2011), Ocean Park Standoff (2016–present) and Legal actions.

Early Life and Family Background of Samantha Ronson

Ronson was born in Camden, London, England, as the daughter of writer and socialite Ann Dexter-Jones, and one-time music executive and real estate entrepreneur Laurence Ronson.

When she was six years old her parents divorced, and she moved with her siblings, her mother, and her mother's new boyfriend, Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones, to New York City. Later, her mother married Jones, who contributed to Ronson's childhood being surrounded by music.

Ronson is the niece of property tycoon Gerald Ronson and is related to British Conservative politicians Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Leon Brittan, as well as to Odeon Cinemas founder Oscar Deutsch. Ronson's older brother, Mark, is a music producer and musician and her fraternal twin sister, Charlotte, is a fashion designer. Ronson has five younger half-siblings: Kenneth and Annabelle (through her mother's remarriage to Mick Jones) and Henrietta, David, and Joshua (by her father's marriage to model Michele First). Ronson also has two stepbrothers, Roman and Chris Jones, from Mick Jones' previous marriage.

Ronson was educated at the Chapin School on Manhattan's Upper East Side. She then studied creative writing and philosophy at New York University. Her parents are of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, with ancestors from Austria, Russia, and Lithuania, and Ronson was brought up in Conservative Judaism. Ronson's family name was originally Aaronson, but her grandfather, Henry Ronson, changed it to Ronson.

Early DJ years (2002–2010) of Samantha Ronson

Ronson has stated that she fell into DJing by chance. "I got a call one night from a club that I used to hang out at, and they were like, 'Do you want to DJ?'" Ronson remembered. "I was like, 'No way,' my friends were like, 'Come on, just do it.' I was always in the club; I figured I might as well make money off it." Ronson took the gig and quickly started to make a name for herself; eventually becoming a full-time DJ.

She has spun live for MTV's New Year's Eve show, the Super Bowl, Pan American Games, Sundance Film Festival, amfAR, Cannes Film Festival, American Music Awards, and MTV Video Music Awards. She has played private events for celebrities including Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Kimmel, Nicole Richie, Lionel Richie, Jessica Simpson, Ellen DeGeneres, Natalie Portman, Lindsay Lohan, and Jay-Z.

Ronson was the official DJ for Hennessy's Hennessy Black in 2011. In 2009, 2010, and 2014, Ronson designed her own set of sneakers for the company Supra. She appeared in a 2011 campaign for the cult fashion label Boy London in collaboration with The Cobrasnake. She was a co-owner of the New York City nightclub The Plumm, along with actor Chris Noth, film producer Noel Ashman, and others.

Ronson became the first rock act signed to Roc-A-Fella Records. In 2002, it was announced that Duncan Sheik would be co-producing an album for Ronson that would be out in the spring; but given poor timing and the dissolution of the Roc-A-Fella Records, her first album was never released.

She released four songs on Roc-A-Fella Records: "Pull My Hair Out," "Fool," "If It's Gonna Rain," and "Built This Way," and wrote and recorded her first album, Red. "Built This Way" was featured in the movie Mean Girls. "Pull My Hair Out" was featured on the soundtrack of the movie The Woodsman. "Wanted," by Rhymefest featuring Samantha Ronson, appeared in the movie Half Nelson. In 2004, she opened for JC Chasez on his Schizophrenic Tour.

Chasing the Reds (2011)

In November 2011, Ronson released the album Chasing the Reds on her own label, Broken Toy Records. The album showcased her songwriting abilities, drawing inspiration from events in her life. In an interview with an American Songwriter, she stated, "I grew up in the studio with songs. My stepdad wrote some pretty incredible songs. My brother [producer and musician Mark Ronson] made his records because he likes making songs. So, the standard was set pretty high for being true to what you want to do. I'm not just going to hand my song over to a producer; I want to be there every step of the way. I feel like when you're doing what you love, instead of fitting yourself into somebody else's box, that comes across".

Guest stars appear on the album, including Wale on "Summer of Sam," Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet on "Captain Jack," and Slash on the track "Love Song.". The album was produced by former Goudie guitarist Jimmy Messer, with Ronson herself sharing co-production credits. Her brother Mark produced one track, "Skyscrapers", which was co-written by the siblings with Santigold.

Ocean Park Standoff (2016–present)

In 2016, Ronson, Pete Nappi, and Ethan Thompson formed the band Ocean Park Standoff. The members first met at a songwriting session in 2014. Their debut single "Good News" was released on 7 October 2016, along with its B-side, "Photos & Liquor.". Ocean Park Standoff toured the US in 2017, and their debut EP was released on Hollywood Records on 3 March 2017.

Legal actions

In May 2007, American actress Lindsay Lohan crashed her Mercedes-Benz in Beverly Hills. Police found a "small amount" of cocaine in her car, and blogger Perez Hilton posted on his blog that the drugs belonged to Ronson, using another celebrity gossip blog as a source for the story. Two weeks later, he started selling "Blame Samantha" T-shirts and called Ronson a "lezbot DJ.". Ronson hired Martin Garbus to start a defamation suit against Hilton and the original source for the story, Celebrity Babylon. Celebrity Babylon agreed to issue a retraction and apology on the understanding that Ronson would drop the claim; Hilton's lawyers asked the judge to throw out the case as an assault on his free speech rights. Garbus thought that it would be impossible to produce evidence that Hilton had acted with malice and reached an agreement with Hilton that would have kept Ronson from paying his legal fees. Ronson wanted Hilton's retraction and vetoed the proposal. Around the same time, Garbus presented a $100,000 bill after the $25,000 retainer had been accounted for. Garbus withdrew from the case and neither he nor Ronson appeared at Hilton's hearing, where the judge ruled in Hilton's favour, dismissing the case and ordering Ronson to pay Hilton's $85,000 legal fees.

Two weeks later, Garbus sued Ronson in New York for close to $142,000 in fees and services. He later dropped that suit. In May, Ronson filed a suit against Garbus in Los Angeles County Superior Court, contending that his incompetence had lost the case against Hilton and asking for damages in excess of $300,000. Among the allegations was that Garbus failed to fulfill his duties as her attorney because he was focused on collecting his fees. In response to Ronson's malpractice suit, he countersued to recover his fees.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Ronson), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.