Soul Providers arrived on the house music scene back in 1999 with the release of “Tango” on Basement Boys Records. But it wasn’t until the following year when their song “Rise”, with the incredible Michelle Shellers on the vocals, that the world truly knew it. The song was licensed to numerous labels, including Azuli in the UK.

The duo was comprised of Ian Carey and Jason Brooks. A few weeks ago, I reported the sad news that Ian Carey had died at the age of 45 – he was found dead in his house, but no further details are currently known. And now, I have to report the sad news that the other half of Jason Brooks has also passed away.

Although it’s already a matter of public knowledge that Brooks had some ongoing health problems relating to his kidneys, his death has nonetheless come as quite a surprise. I don’t know a great deal about the man personally, but I do know he was extremely opinionated and left you in no doubt on what he thought.

In particular, he often decried loudly the state of house music today, arguing ways needed to be found to bring more money into the genre. But from what I could see, he was still making the music he loved – indeed, he recently revealed one of the older Soul Providers releases was being remastered and released digitally soon.

My condolences go out to his family and friends at this time.

The Saturday Recap will appear at 12:30pm today, followed by the Six On Saturday column at 4pm UK time.