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Norman
Jay
A self confessed 'Beatle'
baby, born in Notting Hill of West Indian parents, the young
Jay had nurtured latent DJing ambitions even from the tender
age of 8. Encouraged by a very musical and gospel oriented
family, he had bought his first record and played at his first
gig, a 10th birthday party for one of his cousins. As young
as he was, the music scene, especially the powerful and exciting
R&B coming out of late 60s black America from the likes
of Sly Stone, Aretha Franklin and James Brown, was to have
a profound effect and cemented his love of all kinds of black
music forever. By the late 70s, Jay had become an avid collector
of American black music enthusiastically collecting the likes
of Motown, Stax, Atlantic, Jazz funk and Salsoul disco
including his passion 'The Sound of Philadelphia'. He had
experienced the rise of the disco phenomenon first time around,
having visited the American side of his family for the first
time (one of whom was an accomplished Brooklyn DJ himself)
in New York and staying for several months. He visited all
the clubs that mattered including the legendary Paradise Garage,
forging lasting friendships with the likes of the late Larry
Levan, Timmy Regisford, Tee Scott and latterly David Morales,
Tony Humphries and Louis Vega years before any of them were
ever heard of in the UK.
It was around this time, inspired
by that New York trip, that Jay decided to take his DJing
more seriously. He teamed up with his brother, Joey, and built
the now famous Good Times sound system playing out at the
Notting Hill Carnival to much acclaim. By now his reputation
as an underground DJ was beginning to steadily rise, attracting
crowds of up to a thousand people whenever he played out.
This led to an invitation from on of his old DJ friends, Gordon
Mac, to start up their own pirate radio station which they
called Kiss after its New York forerunner. Completely
untrained in any aspects of broadcasting, he presented his
first show in October 1985. The rest, as they say, is history.
Because of his influence on
the London club scene and the respect he was afforded from
fellow DJs alike, he became the catalyst for attracting to
the station the likes of: Jonathon More and Matt Black (Cold
Cut), Jazzie B. (Soul II Soul), Dr. Bob Jones, Radio One's
Danny Rampling and Trevor "Madhatter" Nelson, Talkin
Loud's Gilles Peterson (few of whom had much previous radio
experience before being recruited by Jay long before any of
them had become household names) including his original partner
and protégé, the ubiquitous Judge Jules, who now also broadcasts
on BBC Radio1.
It was this DJ partnership
that led directly to the emergence of the now cult 'Rare Groove'
scene. A term coined by Jay after his, now legendary, 'Original
Rare Groove Show' on Kiss FM. Affectionately known as the
'Godfather', his Shake & Fingerpop crew along with Judge
Jules' Family Funktion outfit were the leading purveyors of
this scene playing mainly funky black music from the 70s and
mixing it up with the best of what was then brand new music
coming out of Chicago and New York including the earliest
house records. They were responsible for the very first warehouse
parties ever staged in London - preceding the acid house explosion
by some three years and creating a huge impression on and
inspiring many of the UK's biggest club and radio DJs today.
The 90s dawned and it was now time to move on. On the 1st
of September, 1990, he hosted the very first legal broadcast
on Kiss 100 when they won their licence. He was also responsible
for establishing High On Hope, the very first Garage style
club in the UK with partner Patrick Lilley. They broughtover
the likes of Tony Humphries, Marshall Jefferson, Blaze, Ten
City and Adeva for the first time to the UK. He again was
responsible for reviving interest in old skool divas Jocelyn
Brown, Chaka Khan, Sharon Redd, Loleatta Holloway, Kim Myzelle
and the late Gwen Guthrie, all of whom appeared regularly
at his club to rapturous acclaim.
By now Jay had become a much
respected and household name on the UK dance scene. He was
headhunted by Polygram to launch a new label with Gilles Peterson
called Talkin Loud, signing amongst others, the likes of singer/songwriters
Omar, Bryan Powell, The Young Disciples, Galliano and Incognito.
After three successful years there and many happy years at
Kiss, he left both to pursue his increasing DJ commitments
around the world, annually touring places such as Australia,
USA, Canada, Japan, the Middle East and Europe and playing
a wide range of black and dance music. He has played in just
about every major city in Europe being one of the first ever
UK DJs to do so.
He is also the doyen of the
'stars', regularly playing for the likes of Mick Jagger (notably
at his 5Oth birthday party), Michael Caine, George Michael,
Will Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Jamiroquai (who affectionately
calls Norman the 'Godfather'), Paul Weller (who is often quoted
as saying that Jay is his favourite DJ), Lenny Henry (who
reputedly modelled his pirate radio DJ TV character on Jay),
Viviene Westwood, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Tommy Hilfiger and several
other high profile fashion and show biz parties. Additionally
he is often booked to play at big film premieres including
101 Dalmations, Judge Dred, Enemy Of The State, East Is East
and the multi million pound launch of Sky TV's new digital
cable channel. This year also saw him being invited to play
at the 52nd International Film Festival in Cannes, The first
DJ ever to do so.
With the rise of UK dance
culture, Jay has again found his niche, being extremely popular
with a new generation of dance fans up and down the country
and worldwide whether it's playing house/garage or plain old
funk, jazz or hip hop. He has still managed to maintain his
musical roots whilst being amongst one of the most popular
and credible contemporary DJs in the country, often cited
as a major influence by a host of today's top DJs who often
refer to him as "the deejay's DJ".
Recognition and Awards
Continually featured in the
upper echelons of Mixmag's top 100 DJs in the world
and one of The Face magazine's most influential club culture
figures of the decade, they refer to him as 'clubland institution',
feature amongst numerous other accolades, Jay's contribution
to the UK music scene is second to none. Featuring regularly
on various television,
radio and magazine programmes about black music or
dance culture, Norman Jay, a recognised authority on both,
is considered by many to be "The Peoples DJ"
because of the width and breadth of his DJ style.
Apart from a very punishing
DJ schedule playing house
and funky gigs worldwide, he was voted club DJ
of the year 96/97 by Blues & Soul magazine and is
the only DJ featured in The Face magazine's book of club culture
extracts from 1980-1997 called 'Nightfever'. In 1998 Jay was
a nominee for the Best Radio Personality category in GQ magazine's
annual Men Of The Year Awards.
Releases
As an in demand compiler he
has released a number of superbly crafted compilation CDs.
The latest of which is a fantastic double CD released by that
most glamorous of glamorous night clubs, Miss Moneypenny's.
CD 1 contains 13 of the most soulful garage tracks over the
last 12 months, deftly mixed by our man Jay while CD 2 contains
11 of the funkiest 'Good Grooves' 'Miss
Moneypenny's Presents...Norman
Jay' is available through K-Tel now on CD format
only from all good record shops. Other recommended releases
include Norman
Jay Presents Philadelphia 1973 -1981 - The Underground Anthems
and Norman
Jay and Gilles Peterson's Journey By DJs ' Desert Island Discs'
At present, he is spending time between the studio producing
material for his own imprint Good Times, which should see
an autumn/winter release and one of the busiest DJ schedules
ever, taking him to all four corners of the globe while continuing
a highly successful broadcasting career on London's GLR 94.9
with the hugely popular black music show, Giant
45 now extended to 3 hours by popular demand - Sundays
7-10pm).
Enjoy.
Contact details
E-mail:
normanjay@musiclinks.com
Exclusively managed
by Serious Artist Management.
All booking enquiries
to:
Dan DeSausmarez
Serious Artist Management
Phone: 44-208-7317300
Fax: 44-208-4580045
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