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Gemma Cairney (born 19 March 1985) is an English television and radio presenter best known for her work on
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, ...
and
BBC Radio 6 Music
BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...
. She most recently presented '' The Leisure Society'' on
BBC Radio 6 Music
BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...
where she interviewed cultural icons including
Goldie
Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is a British music producer and DJ.
Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musician in th ...
,
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Associate of the Royal Academy, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawi ...
,
Kelley Deal
Kelley Deal (born June 10, 1961) is an American musician and singer. She has been lead guitarist and co-vocalist of the alternative rock band The Breeders since 1992, and has formed her own side-projects with bands such as R. Ring and The Kelle ...
, Laurie Vincent from
Slaves
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
and
Cosey Fanni Tutti
Cosey Fanni Tutti (born Christine Carol Newby; 4 November 1951) is an English performance artist, musician and writer, best known for her time in the avant-garde groups Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey.
Tutti first performed under the name ...
. Previously she co-hosted ''
The Surgery
''The Surgery'' was a British radio show that aired on BBC Radio 1 weekly from 1999 to 2017.
It was most recently hosted by Katie Thistleton and Doctor Radha Modgil, prior to its merger in November 2017 with a new show entitled '' Radio 1's ...
'' alongside
Radha Modgil
Radha Modgil is a medical doctor and media personality.
Biography
Modgil studied at University of Cambridge gaining an MA and qualified as a doctor at Imperial College London. She worked for five years in hospital medicine in London and then ...
. She has also presented ''Gemma Cairney'' on BBC Radio 1 weekends 7am10am and later weekdays 4am6:30am, switching with
Dev. More recently she has regularly covered for
Lauren Laverne
Lauren Cecilia Fisher (née Gofton; born 28 April 1978), known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, model, television presenter, author and singer. She was the lead singer and additional guitarist in the alternative rock ba ...
,
Mary Ann Hobbs,
Chris Hawkins,
Steve Lamacq
Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio station BBC Radio 6 Music.
Early life
He attended The Ramsey Academy ...
,
Cerys Matthews
Cerys Matthews (; born 11 April 1969) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the "Cool Cymru" movement of the late 1990s.
Matthews programmes and ...
and
Craig Charles
Craig Joseph Charles (born 11 July 1964) is an English actor, comedian, television and radio presenter. He is best known for his roles as Dave Lister in the science fiction sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' and Lloyd Mullaney in the soap opera ''Coronation ...
on BBC Radio 6 Music. Cairney is also an
Oxfam
Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.
History
Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...
ambassador.
Early career and radio presenting
Prior to her career in radio, she was an assistant fashion stylist for multiple pop acts. Cairney was a presenter for the Channel 4 Produced Ad funded show called Bite for Ford Fiesta. Then, following a course at
Point Blank Music College
Point Blank is a global network of music production schools founded in London in 1994 by musician and producer Robert Cowan, offering a variety of courses in electronic music production, sound engineering, DJing, singing, songwriting, radio broa ...
Cairney fronted several radio shows for Channel 4's
4radio before landing the role of co-presenter for
Big Brother's Big Ears for Big Brother 2008 alongside
Iain Lee
Iain Lee (born Iain Lee Rougvie; 9 June 1973) is an English broadcaster, writer, and former television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show '' The Late Night Alternative'' on "pay to view" Patreon.
Lee's career began ...
. Cairney began her 1Xtra career co-hosting the Breakfast Show with co-presenter
Trevor Nelson
Trevor Ricardo Nelson, MBE (born 7 January 1964) is an English DJ and presenter.
Early life
Born in the London Borough of Hackney to a family of St Lucian heritage, Nelson attended Central Foundation Boys' Grammar School (now known as Central ...
.
Prior to starting on BBC Radio 1Xtra, she co-presented the Kiss FM breakfast show for two weeks in August 2008. She co-presented the BBC Radio 1Xtra breakfast show for 2 years before moving to a solo weekday afternoon show on the station from 14pm. In February 2012, it was announced that Cairney would take over Weekend Breakfast on BBC Radio 1.
Sarah-Jane Crawford
Sarah-Jane Crawford is an English television and radio presenter, actress, voice-over artist, and DJ best known for her radio work with Hits Radio and formerly with BBC Radio 1Xtra, and television work with E! Network (which she is curre ...
took over her slot on 1Xtra.
On 10 January 2014,
Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to:
*BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC
** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music
*CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...
announced a schedule change that would see Cairney and early weekday morning show host
Dev swap shows. They swapped on 29 March 2014.
In April 2015 it was announced that Cairney would take over The Surgery on Wednesday evenings from former presenter Aled Haydn Jones and that Adele Roberts would replace her as the early breakfast show host. These changes took effect in June 2015.
Cairney has presented a number of radio documentaries, including ''Amazing Grace'' (2015), ''What the F: the Story of Feminism'' (2014), ''Mali Music'' (2014),''Tempted by Teacher'' (2014) and ''Bruising Silence'' (2013).
In January 2015, Cairney started a production company called Boom Shakalaka Productions Ltd. The company specialises in making various types of content, including podcasts and theatre. Boom Shakalaka produced a successful punk musical about depression at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015 called ''My Beautiful Black Dog''. and a radio documentary for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''It's a Dogs Life''.
In autumn 2008 and spring 2010 Cairney was the roving reporter for
T4's
Frock Me
''Frock Me'' is a British fashion and music television series hosted by fashion icon Alexa Chung, designer Henry Holland (fashion designer), Henry Holland and style scout Gemma Cairney. The show has a fast-paced magazine format exploring the re ...
, hosting alongside
Alexa Chung
Alexa Chung (born 5 November 1983) is a British television presenter, model, internet personality, writer, and fashion designer. She wrote the book ''It'' (2013). Her fashion label Alexa Chung, stylized , launched in May 2017 and closed in 2022. ...
and
Henry Holland. Other TV appearances have included reaching second place on Pick Me
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
and a regular slot as a co-presenter of
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
's online series ''Bite''. In November 2010 she was a guest panellist on
ITV2
ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...
's
I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Now! Cairney also hosted the television coverage of 1Xtra's live music events and contributed to the BBC's
Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...
coverage.
In October 2010 Cairney fronted the Turn Up The Style, Turn Down The Heat campaign for green organisation
Global Cool
Global Cool was a green living campaign run by the Global Cool Foundation, a registered climate change charity in the United Kingdom. As well as running the Global Cool lifestyle magazine website, Global Cool Foundation also worked with corporate ...
at Britain's Next Top Model Live in London.
Television
Since 2008 Cairney has presented the BBC's Glastonbury festival coverage and in 2015 she co-hosted BBC1's New Year's Eve coverage alongside Nick Grimshaw. Cairney has also presented TV documentaries including ''Riots: The Aftershock'' (2012), ''Dying for Clear Skin'' (2012) on
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...
and ''Books That Made Britain'' (2016) on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
.
Book
On 9 March 2017, Cairney's debut book, ''Open: A Toolkit for How Magic and Messed Up Life Can Be'' was published by PanMacmillan with an accompanying podcast series.
The Paperback, ''Open Your Heart: Learn to Love Your Life and Love Yourself'' was published by PanMacmillan on 11 January 2018.
Writing
Cairney has a weekly column in
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
magazine, Gemma Cairney on Make-Up.
Awards
Cairney won the
Rose D’or Award for Best Music Programme and the Silver Winner for Best Music Special at the New York's Festivals World's Best Radio Programs for ''Amazing Grace'' on
BBC Radio 6 Music
BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...
presented by Gemma Cairney & produced by Jax Coombes. She is also a Silver Award Winner for Best Music Special at the New York's Festivals World's Best Radio Programs for
BBC Radio 6 Music
BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...
's ''Mali Music'' presented by Gemma Cairney & produced by Jax Coombes. In 2014 Gemma was given A Women to Watch Under 30 Award at Red Magazine's Women Of The Year Awards.
She was awarded Sony Gold awards at the
Radio Academy Awards
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 ...
for documentaries ''Tempted by Teacher'' (2014) and ''Bruising Silence'' (2013).
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cairney, Gemma
Living people
Black British radio presenters
BBC Radio 1 presenters
1985 births
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
People from Horsham
BBC Radio 1Xtra presenters
Fashion stylists
English people of Kenyan descent