Bonafide Studios: Two decades of hits for studio owner who grew up in war-torn Belgrade
Brian and Deanna Bogdanovic at Bonafide Studios Muswell Hill. Picture: Polly Hancock. - Credit: Archant
Muswell Hill music mogul Deanne Bogdanovic will follow Kylie’s lead and “step back in time” when she celebrates the 20th anniversary of her BonaFide Studios – where Ms Minogue herself has recorded.
Brian and Deanna Bogdanovic at Bonafide Studios Muswell Hill. Picture: Polly Hancock. - Credit: Archant
Deanne opened the studios in Shoreditch in 1999, after two years finding the money to follow her dreams as a teenager growing up in Belgrade.
BonaFide moved to its current home in 2012 and in the last two decades has also hosted the likes of Iron Maiden and One Direction.
“I got a law degree, but I loved music,” she said. “It has always been really important to me, since I was a child. I was also fascinated with the London scene, so I visited for a few months, finished my degree, and came back.”
She said that growing up in a Belgrade torn apart by war meant she appreciated music more.
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“Nobody was coming to play, and that was crushing. It sounds so bratty and selfish, but to have no culture was depressing.”
When she opened the studio, she said there was a “beautiful environment” in Shoreditch with “people hungry for art.”
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After 12 years, in 2012, she moved to Muswell Hill where the studio runs from a railway arch along the Parkland Walk. “I live here, and Shoreditch was getting very expensive,” she said.
“I wanted to engage more with the community – now I walk to work and hear the birds singing in the morning. Instead of networking at 4am at parties, I network with parents on the school playground at pick-up time. It gave us a new lease of life.”
Having worked with some of the country’s best known artists, she only recalls two occasions where she got really starstruck.
“Early on when I was in a department store in Oxford Street, I heard a song on the radio that we had worked on and it was the most amazing feeling,” she said. “I just wanted to tell everyone it was our song.
“Iron Maiden have also recorded with us, and when I first came to the UK I was a member of the Iron Maiden fan club. I had even been to where it was based and met one of the band members there. So when they came to record with us it was incredible. It’s always your childhood heroes that get you.”
The studio will be holding a birthday open day from 10am on May 1.
