Chris Sheppard (also known as DJ Dogwhistle) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

born former DJ and

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

. One of the leading figures in the Canadian

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

scene in the 1980s and 1990s, he was active as a club and radio DJ and as a musician with the bands BKS and Love Inc.

Career

Sheppard's career began in the early 1980s as a DJ and host of several warehouse parties in the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

area. In 1985,

David Marsden David Charles Marsden (born in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian radio broadcaster. Initially operating under the on-air name of Dave Mickie, with much fast-talking patter, he was a notable Toronto DJ of the 1960s who attracted critical attention fr ...

hired him as the host of a Saturday night alternative dance music show, ''Club 102'', on

CFNY CFNY-FM (''102.1 the Edge'') is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 102.1 MHz in the Greater Toronto Area, licensed to the suburb of Brampton. CFNY plays an alternative rock format. Owned by Corus Entertainment, its studios are in Downtown ...

. this later expanded to a live broadcast from various Toronto nightclubs on Friday nights, a type of broadcast which was later copied by many other radio stations. Sheppard later moved to Energy 108 and later Z103.5 where he launched his program, ''Pirate Radio'' later renamed ''Groove Station'', into

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Sheppard also launched the

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

-winning

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

groups BKS (Quality Records) and Love Inc.(BMG Canada), with whom he had several charting pop and dance hits. Sheppard launched his own record label, Pirate Records, to release

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s of dance music from around the world in Canada. His compilation album series included ''Pirate Radio Sessions'', ''Destination Dance Floor'', ''Groove Station'' and ''Club Cutz''."Summer of Love tour grooves into Cowboys". ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The ...

'', June 14, 1998. During the late '80s and early '90s when Toronto's rave scene was at its peak, Sheppard would often attend as a guest DJ under his rave alias "Dogwhistle". Sheppard released two CD compilations under the Dogwhistle alias, entitled ''2 Hi 4 Humans'' and ''The Life and Times of an After Hours DJ''. Sheppard retired from DJ'ing in the late 90's and claims to have a

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

Molecular Science Molecular physics is the study of the physical properties of molecules and molecular dynamics. The field overlaps significantly with physical chemistry, chemical physics, and quantum chemistry. It is often considered as a sub-field of atomic, m ...

from the University of Toronto, a Ph.D in Neuroscience from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

, and gave lectures on occasion at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. Since 2022 it has been rumoured that Sheppard now lives in Costa Rica.

Discography

*''Techno Trip'' (1992) *''Sheppard's Revenge'' (1992) *''Still Trippin'' (1992) *''Trip to the Moon'' (1993) *''Have a Nice Trip'' (1993) *''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol. 1: The Underground Collection'' (1994) *''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol. 2: Club Culture'' (1994) *''The Life and Time of an After Hours DJ'' (1995, as Dogwhistle) *''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol. 3'' (1995) *''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol 4: The Best of 1995'' (1995) *''Destination Dance Floor'' (1995) *''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol. 5'' (1996) *''2 Hi 4 Humans'' (1996, as Dogwhistle) *''Destination Dance Floor 2'' (1996) *''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol. 6'' (1996) *''Destination Dance Floor 3'' (1997) *''Kwikmix 2938'' (1998, as Dogwhistle) *''Groove Station 4'' (1998) *''Club Cutz 101'' (1998) *''Club Cutz 201'' (1999) *''Groove Station 5'' (1999) *''Club Cutz 303'' (2000) *''Groove Station 6'' (2000) *''Club Cutz 404'' (2001) *''Euphoria: Hard House & Progressive Anthems'' (2001) *''Club Cutz 505'' (2001) *''Club Cutz 606'' (2002) *''Euphoria 2: Deep, Dark & Underground'' (2002) *''Loud Ass Mother Fucker'' (2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppard, Chris Canadian DJs Canadian radio personalities Living people Year of birth missing (living people)