Steve Walsh (20 September 1958 – 3 July 1988) was a British

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 personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

. He died on July 3, 1988 while in Ibiza, Spain.

Life and career

Walsh began his

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 ...

career at the first

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

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, Radio Invicta, alongside his friend,

Bob Tomalski Bob Tomalski (7 February 1953 – 13 January 2001), was a journalist, "gadget guru", broadcaster and longtime proponent of radio broadcasting freedom. He founded ''Home Cinema Choice'' magazine and contributed to many other magazines on the subject ...

. From there he moved on to JFM, a London soul pirate station. Walsh also guested on Dave Brown's soul show once a month on

BBC Radio Medway BBC Radio Kent is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Kent. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Great Hall in Tunbridge Wells. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience o ...

, which later became

BBC Radio Kent BBC Radio Kent is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Kent. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Great Hall in Tunbridge Wells. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of ...

. He then decided that if he was to further his career he would have to be completely legal, and leave pirate radio. An opportunity came up at the new

independent local radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...

station,

County Sound County Sound Radio was an analogue commercial radio station covering Surrey and north-east Hampshire in the United Kingdom. One of its closing forms in 2012-2014 formed Eagle Extra occupying 1566 MW following an internal split between older an ...

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

. He returned to

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 ...

with the launch of Radio London's ''Soul Night Out''. At the same time he was approached by

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. I ...

, having covered one Saturday on Greg Edwards's ''Soul Spectrum'' when Edwards was ill. This led to six months on Capital Radio with a slot in the small hours of Sunday. The two stations became uneasy about sharing the same DJ, and eventually Walsh went to

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM broadcasting, FM frequency, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, ...

to host the Sunday 7-9pm show, later adding a second slot on Mondays. Although he made an impact in the radio world, Walsh will be best remembered for his live work in

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

s. His 1987

version Version may refer to: Computing * Software version, a set of numbers that identify a unique evolution of a computer program * VERSION (CONFIG.SYS directive), a configuration directive in FreeDOS Music * Cover version * Dub version * Remix * ''Ve ...

of the Fatback Band's "

I Found Lovin' "I Found Lovin'" is a song first released by the Fatback Band in 1983 by Master Mix Records and was included on their album ''With Love''. The song reached number 49 on the UK Singles Charts in 1984. The song was re-recorded and released by Impo ...

" was archetypal of the genre of 'South London Soul'. Walsh worked with

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC L ...

to bring

to a wider audience, and shortly before his death he co-presented the dance programme ''Boogie Box'' on

Music Box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'') ...

, alongside

Michaela Strachan Michaela Evelyn Ann Strachan (born 7 April 1966) is an English television presenter and singer. Early life Born in Ewell, Surrey, Strachan grew up in Hinchley Wood and attended Chadsworth Stage School, then Claremont Fan Court School, both i ...

. On 29 June 1988, Walsh was injured in a car crash in

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

, where he was filming a music video. He returned to London where he underwent surgery on his broken leg, and died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

on 3 July following the surgery, leaving a wife and three children.

Discography

Singles

References

External links

* 1959 births 1988 deaths Deaths from congestive heart failure English radio DJs English record producers {{DJ-stub