For Pete Tong, whose consummate involvement in all areas of dance music has made him a genuine household name in the UK, these are exciting times: every aspect of his considerably varied career is currently undergoing either consolidation, change, or creation anew. As a DJ, Tong is enjoying increasing international popularity, especially in the USA, and is launching a residency at Pacha in Ibiza this summer with fellow pioneer Paul Oakenfold. And as a broadcaster who brought dance to the masses via his Essential Selection show at Radio One, he has just agreed a new three-year contract which
… More will keep him on the BBC airwaves through to 2005. The record executive who founded the seminal ffrr label in 1988, overseeing the careers of Orbital, Goldie, Brand New Heavies, Salt n Pepa and Artful Dodger, Pete Tong is returning to his A&R roots with the company. The DJ behind many an Essential Mix compilation, he has a triple CD set Tune In, Turn On, Chill Out lined up for the summer; he has also just assembled the music for 24 Hour Party People.
Such a range of high-profile activities seems a long way removed from Tong's beginnings as a wedding DJ in Kent during his teens. But for all his current fame and acclaim, you'd be hard put to find someone whose progression has been more organic. In fact, in many ways, Pete's story runs parallel to the growth of dance music in the UK.
When he was at school, hard rock ruled the roost, and Pete tried playing in bands, but after seeing a DJ playing actual records at a school disco and deciding "that looked like much more fun," he never looked back. "DJing just seemed to be my vocation." Initially, Pete followed that vocation to Soul Weekenders in otherwise quiet sea-side towns like Caistor and Prestatyn, where he "was always the young boy" who ran with a crowd of old-school DJs known as the Soul Funk Mafia.
His involvement in that scene landed him a day job at Blues & Soul magazine where he soon became features editor and began making appearances on BBC's Radio London and Radio Medway. Out in club land, meanwhile, he quickly learned a maxim that still holds true today: "the only way to do it is to run your own club, create your own scene." So Tong DJ'd a club in Baker Street called [Family] Function, and simultaneously booked bands for a weekend alternative night: the first one he hired was the then-unknown Culture Club.
An ability to explain what was then considered a fringe genre found him presenting a dance music segment on Radio 1's Peter Powell show. But noticing that daytime DJs had no control over the music they played, Tong eschewed national radio opportunities, launching a soul show on Kent's newly-launched Invicta station instead. By this time, his growing reputation for recognising new talent saw him leave Blues and Soul for an A&R position at London Records, a job he has held, in one manner or another, for almost twenty years.
In the mid-eighties, the old guard was swept away, as first the hip-hop and electro sounds from New York, and then house music from Chicago, techno from Detroit and the 'Baleiric Beat' in Ibiza, were embraced by a new set of young London promoters and DJs. Pete Tong and his friend Nicky Holloway DJ'd in Ibiza for the first time in 1986. The following year Holloway went with Oakenfold and Danny Rampling, and upon return to London, succeeded in emulating the Ibiza experience across clubland. The house generation was born.
Tong, in the thick of it all, was hired by Capital Radio to broadcast to the new clubbers, which helped give him the clout to start a 'label within a label' at London. Ffrr Records was born in 1988: hitting the charts immediately with Salt n Pepa's 'Push It', Tong and ffrr became famous for conducting lightning raids on the latest underground hits and propelling them up the charts. "I've been lucky," says Tong. "I grew up at a time when the whole scene exploded, and I worked with a bunch of people for a long period of time who empowered me to be able to change things."
The biggest change came in 1991, when Radio One recognised that it needed to cater for the new, and permanent, youth culture. Pete was hired away from Capital to host a brand new Friday evening show, the Essential Selection, which gave him one of the most influential jobs in the business - broadcasting to the nation's record buying, club-going youth and, unlike his daytime predecessors, choosing the music too.
Tong's success as a broadcaster, clubland DJ and A&R man has been predicated on a precarious but successful balance between credibility - "I look for originality and records with a lot of spirit and soul," - and commerciality. "You can have good taste in your own world and be very obscure," he says of those DJs who ignore the crowd. This means that he's not afraid to drop the hits onto the decks. "People forget it's entertainment," Tong explains. "You've got these DJs coming on, and they'll inflict two or three hours of music on the audience, and sometimes it's torture because it's all unknown. It doesn't really work, and the music they're picking isn't really that good anyway. It's supposed to be fun."
This readiness to entertain, tempered by a constant search for the next big thing, enabled Tong to thrive throughout the 1990s. Ffrr grew from a singles-based label to an album artist's breeding ground. The Essential Selection spun off a show called the Essential Mix, enabling DJs worldwide to showcase their mixing talents on national radio, and together these led to the Essential compilations, with Tong producing several best-sellers himself. In the mid-nineties, Radio 1 sought Tong's advice on revamping their roster, and with the arrival of Judge Jules, Danny Rampling and co. to the national airwaves, the revolution was complete. Success, though, can bring complacency, something Tong is adamant to avoid. "When you're on the radio for so long your audience stays the same age but you get older. The new people come in and think of you as a radio DJ and not a club DJ." Tong's new contracts with both ffrr and Radio 1 allow him more time on the road, searching out new music as he plays across the globe, broadcasting from select cities en route.
Biography taken from the BBC Radio 1 website
Pete's mini Autobiography
I started DJing really early on; my first booking was for a friend's wedding when I was 15! Me and a couple of mates also promoted a few local bands, booking the village hall for gigs themselves. It went alright - we were making about £300.00 a time!
I got into 'blacker' music throughout my teen years, I used to listen to Robbie Vincent's Soul Show on Radio London. Robbie used to play tracks by the likes of Evelyn 'Champagne' King & Crown Heights Affair. So the whole soul thing was a massive influence on me. As part of the Kent 'Soul Mafia', I worked at various local discos and after leaving school I set up a mobile disco based in a transit van!
I got involved in radio soon after. I had some cool slots - guesting on Radio Medway in the 'Soul Mafia', and doing occasional mixes on Radio London during the early 80s. When Invicta Radio started up in Kent in 1984, Pete hosted a soul show there until 1987 when I returned to Radio London for a few months, before moving to Capital Radio where the show attained cult status amongst the London clubbers.
OK! onto label stuff now. Step back a bit now to1979 when I got my first proper job at Blues & Soul magazine, working as their staff writer and then features editor until 1983. When London Records started up in 1983 they got in touch with a view to becoming A&R manager. London were a big pop outfit back then and they've always had their eye on the ball. Dance was looking like the new big thing so I signed the contract and suddenly found myself looking after Bananarama! Five years later I set up my own dance imprint - FFRR, which was conceived to concentrate on dance acts like Salt n Pepa, The Cookie Crew, Steve 'Silk' Hurley, L'il Louis & D Mob. FFRR has grown into one of the world's most highly respected labels...even if I say so myself ;)
I suppose I'm best known for my work at and on Radio 1. My first job there was in 1981 when I had a year's slot on Peter Powell's show, playing the new tracks, chatting about all the gossip and spilling the latest news from the dance world. Some things haven't changed then! In January 1991 I was moved up to present the Friday night dance show.
Autobiography taken from trustthedj.com
