Andrew J. G. Kershaw (born 9 November 1959) is a broadcaster and
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...
, predominantly on radio, and known for his interest in
world music.
Kershaw's shows feature a mix of
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
,
blues,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
,
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
,
African music, spoken word performances and a wide variety of other music from around the world.
Early life and education
Kershaw was born in
Littleborough,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, on 9 November 1959. His older sister is broadcaster
Liz Kershaw
Elizabeth Marguerita Mary Kershaw (born 30 July 1958) is an English radio broadcaster. She is the second longest serving female national radio DJ in the UK (after Annie Nightingale), celebrating 30 years on national BBC Radio in 2017.
Career
Af ...
. A headmaster and headmistress, Kershaw's parents instilled in him the ethics of education and self-improvement at an early age.
As a party trick aged two, he would name the whiskered military men in his father's history books of the
Great War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, but he never felt the love or pride from his parents that he got from his grandparents, who provided a home from home.
[Kershaw, Andy. ''No Off Switch". Serpents Tail, 2011.]
He was educated at
Hulme Grammar School
Oldham Hulme Grammar School, formerly Hulme Grammar School, is a private grammar school in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England.
History
Oldham Grammar School was founded in 1611 by several charitable individuals including Laurence Chadeton, b ...
in
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...
where he took
A-Levels
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...
in History, Economics and Spanish. He left the Economics examination halfway into the allotted time in order to attend a
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
concert but still achieved a Grade A pass in the subject.
He then studied politics at the
University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
from which he failed to graduate, his decision to apply for a place there being solely with an eye on the position of Entertainments Secretary for
Leeds University Union
Leeds University Union (LUU) is the representative body for the students at the University of Leeds, England.
It is led by a group of student sabbatical officers known as the Student Executive, and supported by around 140 full-time staff membe ...
.
Kershaw was elected Entertainments Secretary in 1980, midway through his second year. A full-time commitment to a non-sabbatical office, he booked bands including
Ian Dury
Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 27 March 2000) was a British singer, songwriter and actor who rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer and lyricist of Ian Dury and the Blockheads ...
,
Dire Straits,
the Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...
,
Elvis Costello,
Iggy Pop and
Duran Duran - the latter were paid £50 from Kershaw's own pocket to support
Hazel O'Connor.
Life and career
Kershaw's first engagement after the University of Leeds was to oversee backstage operations of the
Rolling Stones' epic 1982
Roundhay Park
Roundhay Park in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is one of the biggest city parks in Europe.Only Richmond Park (London), Phoenix Park (Dublin) and Silesian Culture and Recreation Park ( Chorzów, Poland) are larger. It covers more than of park ...
concert in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
.
Music broadcasting
Kershaw began work for
Radio Aire as Promotions Manager, a position he used - with station presenter
Martin Kelner - to ruthlessly promote the UK's third-largest town without city status,
Northampton. Unintentionally, at Radio Aire, he helped to launch the media career of
Carol Vorderman
Carol Jean Vorderman, HonFIET (born 24 December 1960) is a Welsh media personality, best known for appearing on the game show ''Countdown'' for 26 years from 1982 until 2008, as a newspaper columnist and nominal author of educational and diet ...
, and made his broadcasting debut, fronting a late night alternative show and a weekly blues programme. After being made redundant from Radio Aire in 1983, Kershaw was employed as a driver, tour manager and
roadie
The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This ca ...
by the singer
Billy Bragg.
His big break came in 1984, when he was asked to present BBC TV's flagship rock programme, ''
The Old Grey Whistle Test
''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music show. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. ...
'', by its producer
Trevor Dann
Trevor John Dann (born 6 November 1951) is an English writer and broadcaster best known for his radio and print journalism with BBC Radio, ''Q magazine'', ''Mojo'', and ''The Guardian'', and his critically praised 2006 "Darker Than the Deepest Se ...
, whom Kershaw had met when filming with Bragg the previous week. He subsequently recorded a television interview with his hero
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
, and a loud session from the
Ramones. He co-presented BBC television coverage of
Live Aid in 1985. In July 1985, Kershaw began life as a
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
DJ, ear-marked by the station as a possible successor to
John Peel.
Room 318 of
Egton House
Egton House in Langham Street in Central London was home to BBC Radio 1 for many years from 1985 until 1996.
Radio 1 moved to Yalding House on Great Portland Street in 1996, and Egton House was demolished in 2003 to make way for the Egton Wing o ...
was to house Kershaw, Peel and their mentor, producer
John Walters, whose
Reithian motto was, "We're not here to give the public what it wants. We're here to give the public what it didn't know it wanted." His weekly Radio 1 shows were characterised by their high levels of enthusiasm and musical eclecticism.
Kershaw's "boredom" with Anglo-American rock led him to seek out sounds from further afield, especially Africa. Fellow DJ
Charlie Gillett
Charles Thomas Gillett (; 20 February 1942 – 17 March 2010) was a British radio presenter, musicologist, and writer, mainly on rock and roll and other forms of popular music. He was particularly noted for his influential book ''The Sound of t ...
introduced him to Stern's African Records shop in London, and
Lucy Durán exposed him to musicians like
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine describe ...
and
Toumani Diabaté
Toumani Diabaté ( ; born 10 August 1965) is a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles. ...
, playing impromptu sessions in her London front room. Peel and Kershaw discovered Zimbabwe's
Bhundu Boys
The Bhundu Boys were a Zimbabwean band that played a mixture of chimurenga music with American rock and roll, disco, country, and pop influences. Their style became known as jit, and is quite popular across Africa, with some international success ...
simultaneously; the band began to feature heavily on their playlists. The Bhundus' singer Biggie Tembo became Kershaw's great friend.
This first year of broadcasting won Kershaw his first gold
Sony Award
The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...
in 1987. Kershaw was the first to play
Ali Farka Touré on mainstream national radio, and the documentary they made together in
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
was the first ever to be broadcast simultaneously on Radios 1 and 4.
Kershaw's contract with Radio 1 ended in 2000. His last months on the network featured sessions by
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...
,
Warren Zevon
Warren William Zevon (; January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician.
Zevon's most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", " Lawyers, Guns and Money", and " Roland the Headless Th ...
and
Lou Reed. He then worked at
BBC Radio 3 the following year, where he soon completed a musical tour of the so-called
Axis of Evil
The phrase "axis of evil" was first used by U.S. President George W. Bush and originally referred to Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. It was used in Bush's State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, less than five months after the 9/11 attac ...
:
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
,
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
and
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
.
From July 2007 Kershaw was absent from his
BBC Radio 3 show for an extended period, returning in 2011 with ''Music Planet'', co-hosted with Lucy Durán.
In September 2020 Kershaw returned on air on
BBC Radio 3 presenting a two episode Sunday Feature
The Kershaw Tapes
Broadcast journalism
Kershaw has worked as a journalist for
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's ''
From Our Own Correspondent'', the
''Today'' programme and ''
The World Tonight
''The World Tonight'' is a British current affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4, every weekday evening, which started out as an extension of the 10 pm news. It is produced by BBC News and features news, analysis and comment on domes ...
''. He reported from the 1994
Rwanda's genocide,
Angola's civil war in 1996,
Sierra Leone in 2001 and repeatedly from
Haiti. Kershaw covered the
2010 Red Shirt Revolution in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
for ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
''.
In his 1998 documentary for Radio 1, ''Ghosts of Electricity'', Kershaw tracked down and unmasked, 32 years after the event, the heckler who
shouted "Judas!" at Bob Dylan in 1966. In June 2005 Kershaw criticised
Bob Geldof over the choice of artists due to play at ''
Live 8
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 200 ...
'', which included few black performers and even fewer Africans. Kershaw has put together two compilations, ''Great Moments of Vinyl History'' (1988) and ''More Great Moments of Vinyl History'' (2004), which document his wide musical taste.
Writing
Kershaw's autobiography, ''No Off Switch'', was published in July 2011 by
Serpent's Tail
Serpent's Tail is London-based independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It specialises in publishing work in translation, particularly European crime fiction. In January 2007, it was bought by a British publisher Profile Book ...
and was praised by
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...
among others. It received a negative review from
Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke (born 1969) is a British journalist and writer.
Early life
Cooke was born in Sheffield, and is the daughter of a university lecturer.
She went to school in Jaffa, Israel, until she was 11, before returning to Sheffield, and atten ...
in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', who says "He is always right, and those who disagree are always stupid".
Personal life
Kershaw had a 17 year relationship with Juliette Banner, with whom he has two children. They moved to the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
, where the relationship broke down; he repeatedly harassed her. In October 2007 he was convicted of breaching a
restraining order which required him not to contact her, and of
driving under the influence, and in January 2008, he was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for repeatedly violating this order.
He was arrested a few days after his release, and at the end of that year he was given a six-month suspended sentence
A much-advertised
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
interview with him, ''On the Ropes'', was cancelled the day before transmission in April 2009 "over fears it would impinge on the privacy of his former girlfriend and their children". In August 2010 he was due to return to working at the BBC.
Recognition
In July 2003, Kershaw was awarded an honorary doctorate of music by the
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...
, and in 2005 he was similarly honoured by his old university, the University of Leeds.
In March 2007, Kershaw appeared on ''
Desert Island Discs
''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.
Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...
''.
References
External links
*
*
Andy Kershaw on ''Desert Island Discs''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kershaw, Andy
1959 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Leeds
BBC Radio 3 presenters
English radio DJs
People from Littleborough, Greater Manchester
People educated at Oldham Hulme Grammar School
BBC Radio 1 presenters
BBC television presenters
Record collectors
People convicted of stalking