Norman Jay MBE (born Norman Bernard Joseph on 6 November 1957) is a British

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and sound system DJ. He first came to prominence playing unlicensed "warehouse" parties in the early 1980s, and through his involvement with the then-pirate radio station

Kiss FM Kiss FM, Kiss Radio or variants may refer to: Asia-Oceania * Various Kiss FM-branded stations in the Philippines ** 95.1 Kiss FM, Lucena, Quezon ** 102.3 Kiss FM, Tagbilaran, Bohol * Kiss92 FM, Singapore * KISS 969, Sri Lanka * Kiss Radio Taiwan ...

. He is commonly attributed as having coined the phrase "

rare groove Rare groove is music that is very hard to source or relatively obscure. Rare groove is primarily associated with funk, R&B and jazz funk, but is also connected to subgenres including jazz rock, reggae, Latin jazz, soul, rock music, northern soul ...

Background

Jay was born in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

, London, to

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

parents. He played his first gig aged eight at a 10th birthday party, influenced by his father's record collection of

blue beat Blue Beat Records is an English record label that released Jamaican rhythm and blues (R&B) and ska music in the 1960s and later decades. Its reputation led to the use of the word ''bluebeat'' as a generic term to describe all styles of early Jamai ...

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

and jazz. He soon "developed a love for anything soulful – particularly the sounds of black America".

Music career

Sound system

In the early 1970s, Jay set-up a sound system with his brother

Joey Jay Joseph Richard Jay (born August 15, 1935) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from through , Jay played for the Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves (1953–, –, 1966), and Cincinnati R ...

, originally called "Great Tribulation". Following a trip to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1979, he decided to take this in a more serious direction. In 1980, it was renamed to "Good Times" after the

Chic Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Pronounced Chick. Etymology '' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English diction ...

track, and made its

Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean festival event that has taken place in London since 1966

debut. Good Times was seen as "pioneering" at this time for introducing

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

music into a Carnival set, despite some opposition in the early days. The sound system became a notable destination at Carnival for the next 30 years, with it located on the corner of West Row and Southern Row,

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove () is an area and a road in West London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, passing through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also a name given to ...

since 1991. Since the 1990s, the sound system has been hosted from its London Transport bus. In 2014, due to regeneration in the area, Good Times lost its original spot and has not appeared at Carnival since. Instead, Good Times has hosted its sound system at events and nights around the country.

Radio

Jay established himself through being a founding member of the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

station

in October 1985, on which he presented shows alongside its founders Gordon Mac and George Power. As a pirate, it was his "The Original Rare Groove Show" that led to the coining of the phrase "

". When

Kiss 100 Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network. It is primarily aimed at the 15-34 age group and broadcasts nationally to the UK on DAB Digital Radio, as well as on FM in London, Bristol an ...

was launched legally in September 1990, Jay hosted the first of what would become his "Musiquarium" shows. He left the station in October 1993. In April 1997, Jay joined

BBC London BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London and parts of the surrounding area. Its output includes the daily '' BBC London News'' and weekly ''Sunday Politics'' on television, ...

with a radio show named "Giant 45". The show broadcast until February 2008. Throughout 2006 and 2007, Jay presented a series called "The Funk Factory" on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

. More recently, he has hosted regular shows on

Soho Radio Soho Radio is an independent online radio station that broadcasts over two channels, Soho and NYC + Culture. The studios are based in Soho, London, and on Lexington Avenue in New York It was founded in 2014, with the New York branch opening in N ...

Warehouse parties and club nights

In addition to appearing on radio, Jay was involved in hosting the sound system at illegal warehouse parties in venues across London, under the name "Shake 'n' Fingerpop". Jay co-founded the first

Paradise Garage Paradise Garage, also known as "the Garage" or the "Gay-rage", was a New York City discotheque notable in the history of dance and pop music, as well as LGBT and nightclub cultures. The club was founded by sole proprietor Michael Brody, and o ...

-style club in Britain – "High On Hope", at

Dingwalls Dingwalls was a live music and comedy venue adjacent to Camden Lock, Camden, London, England. The building itself is one of many industrial Victorian buildings that were put to new use in the 20th century. The original owner of the building, ...

in Camden. Between 1989 and 1994, he also ran a night at the

Bass Clef A clef (from French: 'key') is a musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical stave. Placing a clef on a stave assigns a particular pitch to one of the five lines, which defines the pit ...

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. I ...

. In addition, he was a regular in the early 2000s at

The Big Chill Big Chill can refer to: *The Big Chill (music festival), an annual music and comedy festival held in England * ''The Big Chill'' (film), a 1983 American film directed by Lawrence Kasdan *The Big Chill at the Big House, a 2010 U.S. college ice hock ...

festival.

Record labels and productions

Jay established the

Talkin' Loud Talkin' Loud was a record label, originally founded by Gilles Peterson in 1990 after he left Acid Jazz Records. The label name is based on Peterson's Dingwalls club night "Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Something", itself a reference to James Brown and ...

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

with its founder DJ

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner. He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brown ...

in 1990, spearheading the acid jazz scene. In 2000, he released the first of five

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 called "Good Times" in conjunction with the sound system. This led to a number of other 'spin-off' compilations. He remixed the 2004 track "

Lola's Theme "Lola's Theme" is the debut single of British house duo the Shapeshifters, featuring soul singer Cookie on vocals. It was released on 12 July 2004 as the lead single from the Shapeshifters' debut album, ''Sound Advice'' (2004). The song became ...

" by

the Shapeshifters The Shapeshifters is the current alias of English house producer Simon Marlin and a former duo comprising Marlin and Swedish producer Max Reich, from Gothenburg. The Shapeshifters have been signed to Defected Records since 2008, and the duo we ...

, and featured in its video.

Discography

Compilation albums

*''Good Times'' ( Nuphonic, 2000) *''Good Times 2'' (Nuphonic, 2001) *''Good Times 3'' (

React REACT or React may refer to: Science and technology *REACT (telescope), a telescope at Fenton Hill Observatory, New Mexico, US Computing * React (JavaScript library) , a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, from Facebook ** React Nati ...

, 2003) *''Good Times 4'' (Resist, 2004) *''Good Times 5'' (Resist, 2005) *''Giant 45'' (React, 2004) *''Skank & Boogie'' (Sunday Best, 2015) *''Mister Good Times'' (Sunday Best, 2017)

Singles

*"Message in a Dream" (High On Hope Records, 1996) - affiliated to Resolution Records

Notable remixes

Azzido Da Bass Azzido Da Bass (born Ingo Martens, 29 August 1971) is a German DJ and record producer based in Hamburg, Germany. Early life Over the years, Martens was influenced by a wide range of music genres: as a youth, he first became interested in hip ho ...

- "

Dooms Night "Dooms Night" is the debut single by German DJ and producer Azzido Da Bass, first released in 1999 in Germany. In the UK, the song missed the top 40 until a remix of the song by Timo Maas was released on 9 October 2000; it was this version wh ...

" (Club Tools, 2000) *Los Jugaderos - "What You Doing to This Girl" (

Junior Boy's Own Junior Boy's Own is an English record label specialising in electronic dance music. Underworld, The Chemical Brothers and X-Press 2 are its most successful artists. History The origins of the label go back to 1987, when a group of young club ...

, 2003) *

The Shapeshifters The Shapeshifters is the current alias of English house producer Simon Marlin and a former duo comprising Marlin and Swedish producer Max Reich, from Gothenburg. The Shapeshifters have been signed to Defected Records since 2008, and the duo we ...

- "

" (

Positiva Records Positiva Records is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and concentrates on releasing dance music in the United Kingdom, UK. The record label was set up in 1993 in music, 1993, by Nick Halkes, who previously ran XL Recordings. Its headquar ...

, 2004)

Notable mixes

*Journeys by DJ - ''Desert Island Mix'' (with

) (

Journeys by DJ Journeys by DJ originated as a UK dance music record label, which started as a series of DJ mix albums or mixtapes on the Music Unites label in 1992, and moved from London to New York City in 2000. Journeys by DJ was the first record label to focus ...

, 1997) *Miss Moneypenny's Presents... - ''Norman Jay'' (Miss Moneypenny's Music, 1999) *

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, ...

- ''

Essential Mix The ''Essential Mix'' is a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 currently broadcast between 0:00 and 2:00 a.m. UK time on Saturday morning. Originally broadcast on 30 October 1993, the ''Essential Mix'' features contemporary DJs and music producer ...

'' (BBC, 1994/1999/2000)

Honours

Jay was awarded an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

for services to music in 2002.

References

External links

* *
Archived Website
at

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jay, Norman 1957 births Living people Black British DJs English radio DJs DJs from London Black British radio presenters Members of the Order of the British Empire Remixers