Sapphirecut
Sapphirecut is the alias of singer Megan Taylor, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The name was used originally for the progressive trance sound she formed with keyboardists Dave Shaffer and Jake Knights. Music career. In December 2001, Taylor brought dubplates of the group's track "Free Your Mind" to the Winter Music Conference in Miami and handed them out to all of the DJs she admired. She picked up the phone months later, and it was superstar DJ Danny Tenaglia looking to license the track for his Back to Basics collection. The track was an underground dance classic being played  by Tiesto, Paul Oakenfold, Ferry Corsten globally in concerts and on club floors around the world. The Free Your Mind track was signed by Rob DiStefano of Twisted Records(America) and the "Free Your Mind" single which was released in 2003 quickly climbed the dance charts where it was a top 10 dance track in Billboard magazine. Sapphirecut made the news when Taylor contacted the popular and electronica oriented file-sharing network, Soulseek, in an effort to stop the group's music from being shared amongst users. She was concerned that the label she signed the track to would not get  any revenue and was concerned for fellow artists. When Soulseek's server host Verio became aware of the situation, they dropped the network and it was unavailable for weeks. Sapphirecut's actions soon became a hot topic on forums across the Internet. Taylor has told interviewers that she choose the Sapphirecut name when she realized that a sapphire needle is used to create a dub plate at a friends new dub plate press Scrunch Recordings in 2001. She found this out when she was helping physically balance his new dub plate press and learned these were used as the original  template of vinyls. She decided to be released as a sound globally carried by these type of cuts and named the original sounds that were created in her studio in Philadelphia, Sapphirecut. Sapphirecut has produced many original and remixed releases. She has albums and singles released on various labels including her own label OSP. Sapphirecut is digitally released by Ingrooves and Isolation network. Her album is a mixture of electronic songs written and mixed by Sapphirecut and played by various co artists. Sapphirecut was one of the pioneers opening the airwaves in the Northeast US, California and Maui to club  and electronic music with her 2-hour weekly FM/AM/Internet radio program where electronic and dance music played openly from around the globe and DJ/Producers and Electronic Musicians were featured weekly with interviews with fresh shows running for 5 years until 2012. Sapphirecut created the show in her home studio where she used international calls or her recording booth when artists were in town to create the interview content. She mixed the weekly 2 hour show with fresh announced music and served as a talk host, distributing the show for no compensation as a global community service. Reruns  have played at various stations since that time. She has had various artists like Markus Schulz, Dfuse, Infusion, David Guetta, etc. as featured artists and created separate heading for each station the show ran was on. In 2006, Sapphirecut co created Videohouse Live with local video and fine artists in Philadelphia which served as a creative visual and musical exchange. The show was a visual original film/fine art program running as both a dinner and late night club event. It was viewed in digital and 3 D forum using submitted works from the art community in Philadelphia. Sapphirecut DJed  the event and played at this VJd event in the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia working with the various artists such as the Art Institute of Philadelphia's Instructor Brian Yetzer, as well as visual artist and VJ's Lauren Galante and Masa. Sapphirecut also DJ'ed other Videohouse events at Emerald City in Philadelphia with other VJ's and artists. Sapphirecut asked for no personal compensation for this community service. Money collected was for venue only. Discography. 2001 "Free Your Mind Sapphirecut Clubmix" Artists-Sapphirecut, Dave Shaffer, Jake Knights, Paul Atkinson Vocals Sapphirecut "Twisted Records (America), Vinyl" 2001 "Free Your  Mind Vocal Mix" Artists Sapphirecut and Dave Shaffer, Vocals Sapphirecut and Sapphirecut "Free Your Mind Sapphirecut Clubmix" "Single Twisted Records with Intergroove UK, CD" 2003 Free Your Mind Full CD: Tracks: "Twisted Records (Vinyl)" 2004 Together Single CD Track List includes 4 versions of "Together" Sapphirecut and Dave Shaffer, vocals Sapphirecut Bonus tracks 2004 Together Sapphirecut Original and Omid 16B Remix Twisted Records,Vinyl Nov. 2005 Archives of Sound Full CD produced by Sapphirecut with various coartists, Sapphireccut vocals Track listing "Released on CD by OSP(Our Soundfront Publications) and digital distribution by Ingrooves 2005." June 28, 2005 "Passport:Kingdom of  the Netherlands" Mixed Compilation of Ferry Corsten including "Sapphirecut and Jake Knights Epic Mix of Free Your Mind" Thrive Records 2006 "Dreamdreamland" Single Sapphirecut and Jake Knights, vocals Sapphirecut 1." Dream Dub Mix" Sapphirecut and Jake Knights 2." Dancing Dreams Mix" released digital distribution by Ingrooves 4/26/2007 "There's a Reason" Single Justin Paul Original Re-Mix of Sapphirecut's vocals Playloop records CD compilation Get Into the Loop Playloops Record CD and Digital 2008 "dPen ft Sapphirecut Dirty Love", 2 versions vocal by Sapphirecut mix by dPen digital Pistachio Records 2008 "Losing Hope Sapphirecut ft. dPen" Multipack single Track  Listing: In addition Digital: 1. Original Vocal 2. Original Instrumental 3. Apologist Vocal 5. "Apologist Instrumental" "PyCairo Records distributed by Astral Music" Remixes. 10/2003 "Solar Plexus" Sapphirecut and Dave Shaffer Re- Mix, Sexonwax for Omid 16b and Desyn Masiello Vinyl and Digital 11/2003 "Pornorama and Louise Carver - I'd Say Yes", Sapphirecut with Dave Shaffer, Club Mix and Dub Mix Illustrious Records Vinyl and Digital 4/2007 "Yoko Ono - I Don't Know" Sapphirecut, Shaffer and Bowie released on Yoko Ono's Open Your Box CD and digital 8/2007 "Sleepthief ft. Kirsty Hawkshaw's -Chauffeur" Sapphirecut and Dave Shaffer Re-Mix  on Compilation of Mixes Chauffeur, which made the Top 40 charts- Album and Digital Neurodisc records 2010 "Loverush UK ft Shelley Harland Different World Sapphirecut Atmospheric Mix" Sapphirecut with Dave Shaffer's Loverush UK Digital