Greg Wilson (DJ)
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Greg Wilson (born 1960) is an English DJ and producer associated with both the early 1980s electro scene in
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and the current disco/re-edit movement. He is also a writer/commentator on dance music and popular culture.


Career


1975–1980

Growing up in New Brighton on Merseyside, Wilson lived above his family's pub during the years 1966–1973. The premises included two function rooms where he'd witness mobile discos featuring on a weekly basis at wedding receptions and parties. His main musical influences came from the record collections of his elder brother and sister, especially the soul music labels
Tamla Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...
,
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and
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
. Wilson began his career as a DJ in 1975 at the age of 15, having bought a mobile set-up from his schoolfriend Derek Kelsey (later known as DJ Derek Kaye). He held a residency at local nightspot The Chelsea Reach between 1975 and 1977. Further local residencies followed at The Penny Farthing (1976–1977) and The Golden Guinea (1977-1980), where he first built his reputation as a black music specialist, playing
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 ...
,
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
,
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 ...
and
jazz-funk Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat (groove), electrified sounds, and an early prevalence of analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creatio ...
.


1980–1984

Wilson left the Golden Guinea in 1980 and worked in Denmark and Germany (he’d previously DJ’d in Denmark and Norway for a few months in 1978) before returning to the UK to take a 4 night a week residency at Wigan Pier. In 1982, he became a full-time black music specialist, continuing Wigan Pier's Tuesday night jazz-funk session, which was voted the North's Best Club by ''
Blues & Soul ''Blues & Soul'' is a British music magazine, established in 1967 by John Abbey. ''The Independent'' has noted ''Blues & Soul'' as being the equal of magazines such as ''NME'' and '' Q''. ''Billboard'' magazine has called ''Blues & Soul'' "a r ...
'' readers, with Wilson collecting the North's Best DJ award. He controversially championed early electro records at Wigan Pier and, most notably, Manchester club Legend, where he took over their Wednesday jazz-funk night in 1981. As with Wigan Pier, people travelled to his nights at Legend from places including
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,
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...
,
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,
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
,
Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
,
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
,
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
and
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. Legend attracted a predominantly black crowd to listen to the new
electro-funk Electro (or electro-funk)Rap meets T ...
records, which were mainly coming out of
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 ...
. Wilson also began to take a serious approach to mixing around this point, and is regarded as one of the UK pioneers. In 1982, he began to present regular mixes of the music he was playing in the clubs on Manchester's Piccadilly Radio, and these featured on Mike Shaft's specialist black music show ''T.C.O.B'' (Taking Care of Business). These radio mixes are still talked about as being influential to this day, with the end of year ''Best of 82'' and ''Best of 83'' mixes regarded as classics. In February 1983, Wilson was invited to demonstrate live mixing on the
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 ...
TV show '' The Tube''. Interviewed by presenter,
Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...
, with Mike Shaft commentating, Wilson mixed between 2 copies of David Joseph's "You Can't Hide (Your Love from Me)", then a new release, but subsequently a UK top 20 hit. This was the first time a British DJ had mixed live on TV. Wilson was a fixture on the All-Dayer circuit in the North and Midlands during this period, regularly appearing alongside other black music specialists including Colin Curtis, Mike Shaft, John Grant, Hewan Clarke, Richard Searling, Kev Edwards, Pete Haigh, Jonathan, Trevor M and Cleveland Anderson. In 1983, Wilson began a Friday night residency at
The Haçienda The Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, North West England, which became famous during the Manchester years of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was run by the record label Factory Records. The club opened in 1982, eventually ...
club in Manchester, which had opened the previous year. This was the club's first weekly dance music night and would lay the groundwork for its influential Nude night, also held every Friday, which came to prominence in the mid-'80s with DJs Mike Pickering and Martin Prendergast. Wilson also put together the first UK 're-edit', Paul Haig's "Heaven Sent", in 1983, and taught Norman Cook (a.k.a.
Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...
), then a young aspiring DJ called Quentin, how to cut and scratch in December 1983 during a short Haçienda tour of the South.


1984–1987

At the end of 1983, aged 23, Wilson retired from DJing to focus on record production, as well as managing Manchester breakdance crew Broken Glass. They gained national exposure via TV appearances including a famous edition of ''The Tube'', filmed at The Haçienda in January 1984, on which Madonna made her UK live TV debut. Later in 1984, along with musicians Martin Jackson and Andy Connell, he co-wrote and produced all but one of the tracks on the Street Sounds ''UK Electro'' album, now seen as a seminal British dance album, the first to feature sampling. One of the tracks, "Style of the Street", a recording by Broken Glass, was sampled by The Prodigy on their 2004 hit “Girls”. However, the project was short-lived, Jackson and Connell going on to form the band
Swing Out Sister Swing Out Sister are a British pop group best known worldwide for the 1986 song " Breakout". Other hits include "Surrender", " Twilight World", " Waiting Game", and a remake of the Eugene Record soul composition "Am I the Same Girl?" Histor ...
, while Wilson, struggling for opportunities, would eventually re-locate to London in 1987.


1987–1993

In 1987, Wilson began to manage and produce Manchester's
Ruthless Rap Assassins The Ruthless Rap Assassins were a British hip hop group from Hulme, Manchester, England. The group was formed by MC Kermit La Freak (later simply Kermit - real name Paul Leveridge) and brothers Dangerous Hinds (real name Anderson Hinds) and Dangero ...
and sister band Kiss AMC. The Rap Assassins released two critically acclaimed albums via
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, ''Killer Album'' (1990) and ''Th!nk (It Ain't Illegal Yet)'' (1991). Their best known recording, "And It Wasn't a Dream", a minor chart hit in 1990, focused on the plight of West Indian immigrants coming to the UK in the 1950s and 1960s, and was named amongst ''
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s "50 Greatest British Tracks Ever" in 2006. In 2011, urban artist
Roots Manuva Rodney Hylton Smith, better known by his stage name Roots Manuva (born 9 September 1972), is a British rapper and producer. Since his debut in 1994, he has produced numerous albums and singles on the label Big Dada, achieving commercial succes ...
would hail their music as "the roots of grime". Moving back to the North, Wilson would make further records between 1990 and 1993 with Mind Body & Soul (MBS), Sensuround, Mana Loa, The 25th Of May and Intastella.


1993–2003

The following decade was something of a wilderness period for Wilson, but in 1994 he revisited his electro-funk past, compiling the ''Classic Electro Mastercuts'' album. This would generate a small number of DJ bookings, his first in 10 years, in promotion of the album, and in 1996, he was part of a collective of DJs and musicians who promoted a series of nights called The Monastery in
Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...
, Liverpool and London. A mix, ''The Monastic Mix'', was the last he ever put together on reel-to-reel.


2003–present


DJ comeback

Alerted by the lack of documentation of the specialist black music scene he’d experienced, Wilson announced the website electrofunkroots.co.uk in 2003. The site focuses on the early '80s era, what led up to it and what came out of it. Offers of DJ bookings followed and in December 2003 Wilson made his DJ comeback at a Music Is Better in Manchester club The Attic. This was the launchpad that re-ignited Wilson's DJ career 20 years on from his retirement. As his popularity increased, he appeared throughout the UK, Europe and the world, gaining newfound followers from a younger generation of clubbers. In 2005, his re-edits compilation ''Credit to the Edit'', released on the
Tirk Recordings Tirk Recordings is a UK record label created by Sav Remzi. It has signed a broad range of sounds from the Kraut Rock of Fujiya & Miyagi, to the disco re-edits from Greg Wilson, the "SoCal" sounds of Daniel Judd (aka "Sorcerer") and the New ...
label, was the catalyst for his international success, helping to establish him, once again, as a scene leader. Apart from working as a DJ, producer and remixer, Wilson has written on various aspects of dance / black culture with articles published in magazines / webzines including ''
Wax Poetics ''Wax Poetics'' is a quarterly American music magazine dedicated to vintage and contemporary jazz, funk, soul, Latin, hip-hop, reggae, blues, and R&B in the crate-digger tradition; the name of the magazine is itself an allusion to vinyl rec ...
'', ''Clash'', ''Grand Slam'', ''Strobelight Honey'' and ''Discopia''. His Discotheque Archives series for DJ Magazine ran for 25 editions between 2016 and 2018, and was published as a limited edition paperback in 2022, with an extended hardback following in 2022. Wilson's blog, ''Being a DJ'', ran from 2010-2020, his observations on various aspects of club culture becoming an online touchstone for dance music enthusiasts. Wilson has also been interviewed for a number of books, TV and film projects focusing on the history of club culture.


Musical output

''Credit to the Edit Volume 2'' in 2009 was accompanied by tour dates in the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia and the US, the series returning with Vol 3 in 2018. Wilson was also active with various remix and re-edit releases, both on his own and in collaboration with Derek Kaye, Peza, Henry Greenwood and Ché Wilson. His remix credits including Roxy Music, Groove Armada, Grace Jones, Gilberto Gil, Confidence Man and Gabriels. Wilson has produced a series of documentative podcasts, ''Time Capsule'', ''Random Influences'' and ''Early 80s Floorfillers'', as well as the long-running blog series, ''Living to Music'', where people were encouraged to listen to a monthly album selection in their home environment. This served to influence other related listening events, including Colleen Murphy's ''Classic Album Sundays'' audiophile sessions. In 2022 he launched his Early-‘80s Mixtape series on Worldwide FM. Commencing in 2009, Wilson has built a considerable following on SoundCloud with regular uploads of DJ mixes, mainly live recordings, with further uploads to Mixcloud.


Festivals

In August 2010, he co-curated, with Jack Hemingway, the Warehouse and Roller Disco areas at the inaugural Vintage Festival at Goodwood. It was named 'Best New Festival' at the UK Festival Awards, whilst Wilson, in his role of DJ, was nominated in the 'Best Feel Good Act of the Summer' category. He has appeared at festivals throughout the UK and Europe as well as in the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, Brazil and Mexico. In addition to his DJ work, Wilson has given talks on music and dance culture at numerous events including Afro Modern at
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, Vintage at London Southbank, Salon at Standon Calling and
Festival N°6 Festival N°6 (Festival Number 6) is an annual art and music festival held in and around Portmeirion, North Wales. The festival presents a wide range of music genres across multiple stages. It is advertised as a family-friendly festival, and as su ...
and alongside legendary figures
Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, record producer and composer. The co-founder of Chic, Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million ...
and
Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance mu ...
at
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in Amsterdam.


Super Weird Substance

10 years on from his DJ return, in 2014 he unveiled his new multi-media label Super Weird Substance, releasing the “Blind Arcade Meets Super Weird Substance in the Morphogenetic Field” mixtape before following it up with a series of 5 Super Weird Happenings in different locations across the UK. In 2015, the label released 8 vinyl singles, brought together on a 2 CD compilation, “Greg Wilson Presents Super Weird Substance”, including Wilson’s own “Summer Came My Way”, featuring The Reynolds. A sixth Happening followed at Festival No. 6 in Portmeirion. Collaborating with celebrated comic book writer Alan Moore, plus label artists, ex-Rap Assassin Kermit Leveridge and vocalists The Reynolds, a second mixtape, “Alan Moore's Mandrill Meets Super Weird Substance at the Arts Lab Apocalypse” appeared in 2017, followed by the 14 Hour Super Weird Happening at The Florrie in Liverpool, with Moore making a rare appearance. After a handful of further releases, the label was put into hibernation with the onset of covid. Diversifying, ‘Greg Wilson’s Discotheque Archives’ was issued during 2020 lockdown as a limited run paperback, with more books, both Wilson’s own projects and by other authors, now planned.


Awards and recognition

*1983: Voted 'North's Top DJ' by readers of ''
Blues & Soul ''Blues & Soul'' is a British music magazine, established in 1967 by John Abbey. ''The Independent'' has noted ''Blues & Soul'' as being the equal of magazines such as ''NME'' and '' Q''. ''Billboard'' magazine has called ''Blues & Soul'' "a r ...
'' magazine. *1983: The first British DJ to mix live on TV. *2008: Nominated by ''
DJ Magazine ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lat ...
'' for outstanding contribution, and also named amongst their top twenty remixers of all-time. *2010: As part of their ''
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 ...
'' 500 special,
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 ...
selected Wilson's ''Essential Mix'' as one of 10 classics that spanned the show's near 17-year history. *2015: Wilson's ''
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 ...
'' was selected as one of Rolling Stone magazine's 25 greatest internet DJ mixes of all time. *2015: Awarded ''DJ Magazines Industry Icon Award at The Best of British Awards.DJ Mag Staf
"BOB 2015: Greg Wilson (Industry Icon)"
''
DJ Mag ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lat ...
'', 16 December 2016


References


External links


Wilson's hub

Wilson's blog

Wilson's Electro website

Wilson's SoundCloud page

The Pool London - Greg Wilson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Greg 1960 births English DJs English record producers British hip hop DJs English electro musicians People from Wallasey Living people