Now at the age of 31, Oli Lazarus is a successful label boss, DJ and producer, heading up London based labels Papa Records and Reel People Music. Oli is also the man behind the wonderful London Soul outfit Reel People.

Oli’s love for ‘soulful’ music started when he dug deep into his father’s record collection and discovered the wonders of artists such as Gil Scott-Heron, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan and The Isley Brothers. It was Oli’s desire to discover more groundbreaking music, from the 70’s through to contemporary bands, that led him into London’s record shops for the first time. Soon Oli was working for one of London’s finest specialist independent record stores, Flying Records, and before long he was managing the shop. During this time, Oli began Djing, and started to develop his own sound, playing tracks by the likes of Blaze, restless soul, Masters At Work and Mood II Swing.

At the start of 2001 Oli left Flying and formed Papa Records with his main aim being to create a platform to release his early Reel People recordings. Over the next few years the label released music from the likes of Blaze, Osunlade, Jon Cutler, DJ Spinna and of course Reel People.

In 2002 Oli met the multi talented Mike Patto and invited him to join him in making the debut Reel People album and in July 2003 they released ‘Second Guess’, the first long player released on Papa. Second Guess really captured the imagination of the soulful public, with the singles ‘Can’t Stop’, ‘Second Guess’, ‘Butterflies’ and ‘The Light’ causing mayhem with radio and club DJs alike.

From the success of ‘Second Guess’, Oli and Reel People hit the road in 2004 and saw sold out performances at London’s Jazz Café, Southport Weekender and the Tokyo Jazz Festival amongst many. With less time being spent in the studio also Oli got the chance to start Djing more and alongside his DJ sets he also debuted ‘Reel People Soundsystem’, combining Oli on the decks with the live compliment of some of the Reel People vocalists and musicians.

In the summer of 2005 with Reel People touring across the globe, Oli found time to unleash a new house project called ‘The Realm’. Combining forces with long time friend Toni Economides and also Pete Kuzma (of Jill Scott and A Touch Of Jazz fame). To date The Realm have released 6 singles with amazing featured artists such as Choklate, Tony Momrelle & V.

In late February 2006, Defected Records re-released ‘Second Guess’ with three new original songs ‘The Rain’ , ‘In The Sun’ and a remake of the classic Thelma Houston track ‘You Used To Hold Me So Tight’ which featured another collaboration with US soul star Angela Johnson.

After more stunning performances at the Java Jazz Festival & Ronnie Scotts in the early part of 2007, Reel People set to work on their highly anticipated 2nd album, ‘Seven Ways To Wonder’. Finally released in February 2008 on Papa, the album received a wonderful response from fans, peers and the world’s media. Delving more into the classic soul sound that had inspired Oli all those years before, the album featured stalwart Reel People vocalists Vanessa Freeman & Dyanna Fearon. With the addition of new works from US soul man Darien, Incognito stars Tony Momrelle, Imaani and Joy Rose, plus a special track with UK legend Omar.

The album was quickly followed by ‘Seven Ways To Wonder – The Remixes’ which featured dance floor hits by the likes of Dennis Ferrer, Bugz In The Attic, 4hero, Jon Cutler & The Realm.

In December 2009, Oli with new music & business partner Tony Momrelle launched new label Reel People Music. This allowed Papa Records to develop the more deep house sounds and for Reel People Music to concentrate on the more soulful live organic music of Reel People and other artists.

PReel People Music released gem after gem in 2010 including ‘Choklate – The Tea’, ‘BSTC feat. JL – Love It’ & ‘The Layabouts feat. Shea Soul – Perfectly’. These were carefully wrapped around new Reel People songs ‘Star’ & ‘It Will Be’ both featuring the heavenly vocals of Tony Momrelle.

Papa Records also continued to grow from strength to strength with quality house music from Andre Lodemann, Matthew Bandy, The Layabouts & Aki Bergen all contributing to a very successful release schedule for 2010.

2011 has started with a bang and April see’s a new RP album released ‘Reel People Presents Golden Lady’.
‘Golden Lady’ is a collection of new “spine-tingling” songs including a beautiful cover of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Golden Lady’ plus exclusive new material from London vocalist Shezar plus superb efforts from Renn and US Soul stars Choklate and Darien.