DJ Spoony (born Johnathan Joseph; 25 June 1970) is a British DJ and

radio presenter A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a ra ...

. He is a member of the

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It ...

production trio, the

Dreem Teem The Dreem Teem are a United Kingdom, British Disc jockey, DJ, Record producer, music production and remixing trio consisting of DJ Spoony, Mikee B, and Timmi Magic. They formed in 1996 through pirate radio, and were instrumental in developing the ...

Early career

Dj Spoony was born in Hackney, East London to British West Indian parents. His career started on

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

(a leading pirate radio station in the mid-nineties), forming the trio the

with Mikee B (of

Top Buzz Top Buzz are a British breakbeat hardcore and jungle DJ/ MC duo. History Top Buzz were originally formed in 1988 by MC Patrick Jarrett ("Mad P"), DJ Mikee B and DJ Jason Kaye. All originate from areas in north London, Tottenham and Enfield re ...

) and Timmi Magic. With the Dreem Teem, he joined

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 ...

in December 1997, followed by bringing

nationally to

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, ...

in January 2000. They went on to win a prestigious

Sony Award 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 ...

in their first year. DJ Spoony was a resident DJ at the UK's top garage and R&B club night 'Twice as Nice' for 7 years, mixing and compiling three gold selling compilation albums for the brand. He has had residencies in Ibiza and

Ayia Napa Ayia Napa ( el, Άγια Νάπα tr, Aya Napa, ), officially romanised Agia Napa, is a tourist resort at the far eastern end of the southern coast of Cyprus. Etymology The name Ayia Napa is derived from a Venetian-era monastery of the sam ...

for over 10 years as well as making annual visits to many other Mediterranean islands.

Solo radio work

He went on to host the Weekend Breakfast show on Radio 1 between October 2003 and September 2006. Listeners could join the Early Doors Club, play Judge Fudge, and become a Local Legend. Another long-running feature was Mills & Spoon (a nameplay of the

Mills & Boon Mills & Boon is a romance imprint of British publisher Harlequin UK Ltd. It was founded in 1908 by Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon as a general publisher. The company moved towards escapist fiction for women in the 1930s. In 1971, the ...

books), in which Scott Mills read out love stories every Sunday. On 31 July 2006, the BBC announced that Spoony was to leave Radio 1 after six years with the station to concentrate on Five Live work. His early breakfast slot was replaced by

Fearne Cotton Fearne Wood ( Cotton; born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author''.'' She began her career in the late 1990s presenting various children's television shows for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. In 2007, she presented '' The Xtra Factor'', a ...

and

Reggie Yates Reginald (Reggie) Yates (born 31 May 1983) is a British writer and director with a career spanning three decades on screen as an actor, television presenter and radio DJ. Yates played Leo Jones in ''Doctor Who'' and has worked at the BBC in ra ...

. Spoony presented his final Radio 1 show on 17 September 2006. He then commenced hosting ''

606 __NOTOC__ Year 606 ( DCVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 606 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...

'' on

Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcas ...

as well as 'Spoony Meets...', a series of shows in which he interviewed various personalities from British football, including Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and David Beckham. Between 2014 and 2017, he hosted a

show on

Rinse FM Rinse FM is a London-based community radio station, licensed for "young people living and/or working within the central, east and south London areas". It plays garage, grime, dubstep, house, jungle, UK funky and other dance music genres pop ...

. Spoony joined Radio 2 with a new show in February 2019. On 25 October 2021, he stood in for Steve Wright for one day only. He regularly deputises for Ken Bruce, Trevor Nelson and Craig Charles.

Television work

In 2006, Spoony took part in the fourth series of '' Strictly Come Dancing'' partnering with

Ola Jordan Aleksandra "Ola" Jordan (''née'' Grabowska; born 30 September 1982) is a British-Polish professional ballroom dancer and model. She appeared as a professional on the British TV show ''Strictly Come Dancing'' from 2006 to 2015. After winning a ch ...

. They were eliminated in the third week of the competition. He also appeared on ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...

'' and ''

A Question of Sport ''Question of Sport'' (previously ''A Question of Sport'') is a British television sports quiz show produced and broadcast by the BBC. It is the "world's longest running TV sports quiz". Following a pilot episode in December 1968, broadcast on ...

'', and was a winning contestant on the celebrity version of quiz ''

Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of th ...

'', choosing "The Life and Times of Ray Charles" as his specialist subject. He is a host for Premier League TV's ''Fanzone'' as well as ''Weekend Warm Up'' broadcasting worldwide from the UK. He has been a part of the presentation team for 7 years.

Other media work

According to Spoony, he has hosted 'many red carpet' movie premières in London, interviewing the cast of films such as ''SpiderMan'', ''Bad Boys 2'', ''Hancock'', ''Rambo'' and ''Men in Black 3''. His love of sport has earned him roles working alongside the organising committee for the Olympic Games 2012 in football (soccer) and basketball. In June 2008, he was one of the celebrities who took part in a " six pack in six weeks" challenge for the magazine ''

Men's Health ''Men's Health'' (''MH''), published by Hearst, is the world's largest men's magazine brand, with 35 editions in 59 countries. It is also the best-selling men's magazine on U.S. newsstands. Started as a men's health magazine by Rodale, Inc. ...

''. Spoony has played DJ sets at rugby league events such as the

Magic Weekend The Magic Weekend (known as the Dacia Magic Weekend for sponsorship reasons) is an annual event organised by the Rugby Football League in which an entire round of Super League matches is played over a weekend at a single stadium to promote the ...

and

Super League Grand Final The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League Play-Off series. The winning team receives the Super League Trop ...

. For the

2015 Super League Grand Final The 2015 Super League Grand Final was the 18th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XX season. It was held on Saturday 10 October 2015, at Old Trafford, Manchester, with a 6pm kick-off time. Th ...

at Old Trafford (the home of Manchester United), self-confessed

Liverpool FC Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

fan Spoony played their famous anthem "

You'll Never Walk Alone "You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Carousel''. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and enco ...

" as part of his set. He was the stadium DJ when Carl Froch fought George Groves at Wembley Stadium in 2014. He has hosted the Annual P.F.A Awards and in 2021 the M.I.Ts awarding a Life Time Achievement award to Pete Tong.

Personal life

Spoony enjoys playing golf and is a big fan of sport in general. He supports

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

He has played several times in the Gary Player Invitational charity golf series to raise funds for children around the world, and won the competition in 2009. Spoony is also good friends with golfer Ian Poulter and DJ'd at his wedding at Woburn Sculpture Gallery in 2007. He has combined his love of golf and enjoyment supporting worthwhile causes by organising an annual golf tournament at Stoke Park Club, Buckinghamshire, for The Golf Roots Foundation. This event has been running since 2002 and is always shown on Sky Sports. In 2009, Spoony became the first patron of the Jude Brady Foundation; the foundation was set up by a friend to help raise awareness of still birth in the UK after his son was still born in June 2006. Spoony has worked tirelessly since becoming a patron and helped organise a charity golf day and gala ball for the foundation in 2010. He has two daughters.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

Garage Classical ''Garage Classical'' is a compilation album by British disc jockey DJ Spoony with Katie Chatburn and the Ignition Orchestra, released on 18 October 2019, on the Since 93 label. The album contains orchestral covers of classic UK garage tracks an ...

'' (

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainme ...

, 2019)

Mixes/compilations

* ''Twice as Nice / Twice as Nice Ayia Napa'' (React, 1999) * ''Twice as Nice pres. Essential Grooves'' ( Warner, 2003)

References

External links

*
''The Good Groove with DJ Spoony''
(BBC Radio 2) {{DEFAULTSORT:Spoony 1970 births Living people People from Hackney Central English radio DJs English record producers Black British radio presenters Black British DJs BBC Radio 1 presenters BBC Radio 2 presenters English people of Grenadian descent UK garage musicians Electronic dance music DJs