Gary James

I started my DJing career, not in a disco or on the road, but in the back of the Art class at Bellemoor School, Southampton, in 1968, where the teacher, the brilliant Mr Holt, let us bring in our own records to play. His only stipulation was, that we played some Bob Dylan. My mate, Marc White, now lead singer with Madison Heights, used to play Jimi Hendrix and the Love Affair and all of the hits at the time.

In 1972 I started a mobile disco with a friend from college. He was older than me, so he could drive, and we had great fun going around Hampshire doing our gigs with the Garrard SP25 decks and a speaker cabinet borrowed from my brother. We called ourselves the KG Disco Roadshow. It was all the glam rock back then, with Slade, T Rex, Sweet, The Glitter Band & you-know-who!

1974 saw my first appearance as a club DJ at the 'Birds Nest', where I was introduced by a friend to the Manager, Brian Mesher, who was very well connected in the business, and I played alongside 'Diddy' David Hamilton and Paul Burnett from Radio Luxembourg.  George McCrae was in town and came to the club and gave me his whiskey. What a nice man…

I was 'poached' from the Birds Nest in 1976 to be the main DJ at 'Fridays', the most popular venue in Southampton at that time. I played there for 2 years, and then worked for 'Avenue Artistes' doing virtually all of the clubs in the area: Top Rank, Centre Inn, Sextons, Floaters, and finally I had the honour to be the last resident DJ at 'The Pier'. What a great place that was!

My last residency was at the prestigious 'Concorde Club' 1982 -93. I had a few years away from the industry, joining Skyline Gold in 2012. I like to describe my show with a line from 'Forest Gump': The Gary James Show is 'like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get'! 

Favourite films: The Goodbye Girl, Back to the Future, any James Bond.  I like to cycle, and I play golf when I can. Also, I am a big fan of doing DIY.

Cheers for now! Gaz…