Winning a Brit was amazing, probably among my proudest moments

May 9 2008 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

WHAT a difference a year makes. Last time I interviewed Mark Ronson, he was this cool record producer/DJ type living the NY-Lon life.

At the time, the world was just coming to realise it was his skill in the studio which had created that heartbreaking 60s sound on Amy Winehouse’s smash hit album Back to Black, he was fresh from playing Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’s Italian wedding, and he was nervous about the forthcoming release of his first solo album – Version.

Fast forward 12 months and he is a Brit Award winner and the recipient of a bunch of Grammys. And if Ms Winehouse ever manages to get her head together, it could yet be his musical masterpiece that introduces the latest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

Thankfully, there has been no change to Ronson’s casual demeanour and laid-back charm. Success, it seems, has not gone to his head. He may be “the man” right now, but he is fully prepared to have it all snatched away at any moment.

“I worry that when people say man of the moment then your moment will go. Hopefully I will have more than a moment. I would like to be the man all the time,” he offers sardonically, as he prepares to board yet another plane.

Given that, in addition to the on-off Bond theme – seemingly off at the moment, given Amy’s current troubles (Ronson has been reported as saying she is "not ready to record any music") – he is also producing the Kaiser Chiefs’ forthcoming album and has been recruited by 80s stars Duran Duran to plan a live summer spectacular with them, I think Ronson can assume that will be the case for the foreseeable future. “It is an honour, man," he says of the gig with Duran Duran. “I used to collect the Smash Hits sticker book of Duran Duran and I idolised them when I was a kid. They were the first band that I wanted to be in – so I am going to do a good job!”

For the time being, Ronson, who got his first big break after being booked to play P.Diddy’s 29th birthday bash, is still coming to terms with becoming the first ever non-singer to win a Brit Award for Best British Male.

“That was a surprise,” he says. “It was amazing, probably one of the proudest moments of my life.

“Just coming back to England, being able to work on this record and then to be acknowledged as a British artist was amazing. I never even thought this album would come out, so it is insane.”

Granted, the notion of having current chart stars like Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse and Robbie Williams re-work old hits from the likes of The Smiths and Radiohead – as Mark did on Version – sounded a little insane itself. However, the album went on to become one of the biggest hits of the past 12 months and made Ronson a household name on both sides of the Atlantic.

It also made the 32-year-old a tabloid favourite. “That is kind of bizarre, I don’t really know how that happened, but anyway . . . I guess it just kind of comes with it,” he says. “It’s not like Lily Allen, though, where the paparazzi tail me every time I leave my house.”

If he sounds relaxed about the press attention, it could be because Ronson is not exactly new to the whole idea of being in the spotlight. As the son of Southport-born socialite Ann Dexter-Jones and band manager Laurence Ronson, he pretty much grew up in it.

The pair split when Mark and his twin sisters Charlotte and Samantha were only young, with Ann going onto marry Mick Jones of rock band Foreigner and, by all accounts, life for the family, who moved from London to New York city when Mark was eight, was a showbiz whirl where the likes of Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda, would pop round for tea.

These days, Ronson still can’t help but be at the centre of the cool kids action. John’s son, Sean Lennon, is one of his best friends, while Ronson’s DJ sister, Samantha, is famously the party pal of Hollywood wildchild Lindsay Lohan.

Then there are the girlfriends. Formerly engaged to Quincy Jones’s daughter Rashida, Ronson is now said to be dating Agent Provocateur model Daisy Lowe, the 18-year-old daughter of former Britpop star Pearl Lowe, and Bush’s Gavin Rossdale . . . who to complete the showbiz family tree is now married to Gwen Stefani.

“That is actually the first true one I have read about myself,” he laughs of the rumour. “We have only been together maybe a month. So far so good.”

CATCH Mark Ronson alongside Kissy Sell Out, The Cuban Brothers and The Troubadours tomorrow night for Bandstand at the Carling Academy, Liverpool. See www.bandstandevents.co.uk