Giles Peterson

Giles peterson

I listen to his radio show every week....I highly recommend it to anyone that likes good music.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/gillespeterson/

Gilles' Biography

Gilles joined Radio 1 in 1998. Not only does he 'join the dots' between artists, producers and styles, but he's a DJ who places equal legitimacy on a Max Roach album and a Jig Master's 12-inch. With WorldWide now broadcast in 15 countries from New Zealand to Croatia to Nigeria to the USA to Cyprus, his popularity and message can only grow.

Brought up among the South London suburban soul scene in the early eighties, Gilles would avidly listen to listening to Level 42, Earth Wind & Fire, Central Line and the heavier, deeper pirate stations such as Radio Invicta.

This inspired him to set up his own station - literally an aerial suspended between a tree and a phone box - playing an eclectic mix of jazz, funk, reggae, soul and early electro. By a stroke of luck, Radio Invicta needed a new transmitter, so Gilles swapped his for a regular show on the station.

At the same time, Gilles was a regular shopper at DJ Paul Murphy's Palladin Records. Murphy also DJ'd at Camden's Electric Ballroom, and his knowledge of rare, killer power jazz tunes and rare Afro-Cuban fusion was further inspiration for Gilles, who took over the decks in a baptism by fire when Paul left.

Once ensconced upstairs in the Electric Ballroom, Gilles' understanding and insight into jazz, funk and soul grew exponentially. The music he played attracted an increasingly loyal following from a friendly, mixed crowd and his reputation grew.

Gilles soon began to play at Nicky Holloway's Special Branch night at The Royal Oak. He says 'the scene I was building was a cross between the casual soul-boy scene and the London trendy. I'd play upstairs with Chris Bangs and downstairs it was Rampling, Oakenfold, Holloway. That lasted three, four years, a very important weekly club that that scene would all go to. Out of that scene came nearly everything that we have today in the UK.'