Artful Dodger

Artful Dodger

Artful Dodger is a UK garage act from Southampton, United Kingdom, active from 1997 to 2006. The group works in 2-step and UK garage, and is associated with the British R&B and garage scene of the late 1990s.

Career

The act gains prominence in the late 1990s through a run of 2-step garage releases, including Re-Rewind, a collaboration with Craig David that reaches number 2 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1999. The group originally consists of producers Mark Hill and Pete Devereux. After Devereux leaves before the release of TwentyFourSeven, Hill continues to use the Artful Dodger name and later works with MC Alistair and producer Dave Low.

Name

The name Artful Dodger comes from the character in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. There are also anecdotal claims that the name had been used earlier by a DJ called Lee Haynes on pirate radio.