James Hamilton (25 December 1942 – 17 June 1996) was a British DJ and dance music columnist for ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...

'', and later for ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'', where he worked until his death in 1996. He is recognised as a pioneering advocate of disco mixing in the UK and the addition of beats per minute (bpm) calculations to record reviews. Hamilton started as a DJ in his early 20s, playing rhythm & blues in a nightclubs in London. He then headed to New York to work for

Seltaeb Seltaeb was a company set up in 1963 by Nicky Byrne (''né'' Douglas Anthony Nicholas Byrne) to exclusively look after merchandising interests on behalf of Brian Epstein, who managed NEMS Enterprises and The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, ...

, the US company who’d acquired the merchandising rights for

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

, becoming a talent scout for their newly formed music division. After returning to the UK, he adopted the DJ name Doctor Soul, and also compiled an album with this title for

Sue Records ''Sue Records was also the name of a Louisiana-based record company which owned Jewel Records (Shreveport record label).'' Sue Records ("The Sound of Soul") was an American record label founded by Henry 'Juggy' Murray and Bobby Robinson in 1957. ...

. He set up as one of the first mobile DJs, and began writing US reviews for ''Record Mirror'' in 1964. In 1975, he began the magazine's weekly ‘Disco’ column, named ''James Hamilton's Disco Page''. He pioneered several features that was copied by other dance music based publications, like a club chart calculated on returns from disco and club DJs, as well as ''Hot Vinyl'' reviews of import and promotional records. In 1979, he introduced another innovation by giving beats per minute (bpm) calculations of record tempos, thus helping working DJs catch up with the new Americon innovation of mixing and blending records together. In the eighties he, with Les Adams of L.A. Mix, made New Year's Eve mix shows on

Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...

. The show continued until 1994. In April 1991, his column became a part of ''

''s ''RM'' Dance Update. Hamilton's 'jiddery stuttering, hi hat driven, throbbing 120-130bpm' style of writing was loved throughout the music industry. His reviews were regarded with almost blblical zeal by the DJ fraternity, many of whom would buy records sight unseen on the basis of his reviews. He died on 17 June 1996 in Blyth,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

, due to

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

of the colon. DJ, music producer and radio presenter

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...

said after his death, "No-one has ever got close to him in terms of respect as a journalist. I think the reason he had authority was that because he'd been around for so long, he was drawlng on such a wealth of knowledge that even if you didn't agree with what he said you had to respect his opinion."

References

External links

James Hamilton's Disco PageJames Hamilton on AllMusicJames Hamilton on DiscogsJames Hamilton Public Group on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Hamilton 1942 births 1996 deaths British DJs British music critics British music journalists Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from colorectal cancer