About Me
To begin with Chrissy T’s biography reads much like any other budding, young DJ. From the very first time he took a needle to a record back in 1980, at just twelve years of age, Chrissy became completely hooked on the music. His first experience of playing to an audience was the inevitable school disco and from then on hours of his free time was spent in specialist record shops searching for that latest must have hip-hop, funk, revival, disco or early house track.
However, twenty years later and Chrissy T is one of the UK’s most well known and respected DJ’s. Famed for his uplifting soulful house & garage and classic disco sets, Chrissy can be found spinning regularly at some of the country’s most renowned clubs including the Ministry of Sound, Fabric, Pacha (London & Ibiza), Turnmills , Hard Times (Leeds), Studio 33, Bar Rumba, Vertigo @ The Cross, Indulge @ Mass, Heaven, The End, The Loft, Hanover Grand, l’America (Cardiff), Bed (Sheffield), Sunday Best (Sheffield), The Escape Club (Brighton), The Manor (Bournemouth), Brunnell Rooms (Swindon), Goodly Wednesday (Cambridge) and Angel Delight (Manchester). Internationally he is a regular guest at leading House nights in Switzerland, Jersey, Belfast, France, Helsinki and Finland. He also took part in the 1997 Ministry of Sound Showcase Tour of Nigeria, playing to crowds of up to 75,000 people as well representing the UK DJ’ing at the Miami Winter Music Conference over the last six years.
Back in the late 80’s Chrissy was a regular figure on the warehouse party movement and club circuit and had began to make a reputable DJ name for himself playing his favourite disco grooves and championing the more soulful and gospel influenced side of the music. Around this time he hooked up with the legendary Bobby & Steve (of Zoo fame) and was an obvious choice for the warm up slot at the twins new Friday night venture Klub Zoo @ Munkberry’s in London’s west end, a night inspired from the twins recent trip to New York’s legendary Paradise Garage. For five years Chrissy controlled the crowd, setting the vibe for the likes of Paul ‘Trouble’ Anderson and Radio 1’s Fabio. Famous for its mix of disco and early house music, Klub Zoo and its DJ’s became instrumental in planting the roots for what would later become known as garage music.
With the garage sound now in full flow the Zoo crew launched the now notorious Garage City, with resident DJ’s Bobby & Steve and Chrissy T playing the best in uplifting house and garage alongside some of the biggest names from the house and garage spectrum. Taking place until recently every Saturday night at Bar Rumba, W1, Garage City’ was the capital’s most seminal soulful house night out having seen visits in the past from the likes of Masters at Work, Jazz n Groove, Tony Humphries, Eric Morillo and Todd Terry and Garage City parties also taking place in Ibiza, Aiya Napa and Miami. On Saturday 27th September 2003, Garage City, bid its final farewell to its home of the last seven years, Bar Rumba, to a sentimental crowd. However the story doesn’t end there, the Garage City vibe is as much alive today as it has ever been and the party continues through a series of exclusive Garage City tribute events at various venues throughout the UK, freshening up the format and keeping that special Garage City spirit going.
The past few years especially have been busy but successful for Chrissy T, one high point being his residency at Zoo’s own Soul Heaven @ Ministry of Sound. The launch night in 2001 saw Chrissy joined by Masters at Work’s Kenny ‘Dope’ playing to over 2500 party people and bringing back the vibe to the Ministry with a further 1000 queuing outside. Every bi-monthly party since was even more successful than the last with Chrissy playing alongside guest’s such as DJ Spen, Terry Hunter and the legendary Louie Vega. The night created such a buzz it even had Radio 1’s Pete Tong, DJ Mag, Capital Radio’s Ali B, XFM’s James Hyman, Jazz FM’s Mark Doyle, Mixmag, Muzik, The Daily Star, The Face, Company Magazine and The Evening Standard all quoting it the hottest place to be.
The Ministry of Sound must have been impressed too. Soul Heaven become a monthly fixture from January 2002. Guests ranged from The Paradise Garage’s David Depino, Timmy Regisford from New York’s Shelter, The Basement Boys and Madonna producer Jellybean Benintez.. Away from the Ministry of Sound, other Soul Heaven parties included the Pacha closing party in Ibiza and a weekly Sunday night the at Ibiza’s El Divino, the Miami Winter Music Conference and a UK tour including dates in Birmingham, Bristol, Scotland, Cardiff, Brighton, Bournemouth, Sheffield and Manchester. Even Defected Records jump aboard the Soul Heaven express and released a Soul Heaven compilation co-compiled by Chrissy and included an album launch party at New York’s Central Fly club! However, all good things must come to an end and Chrissy ended his Soul Heaven residency earlier this year and is now set to set club land alight with a brand new venture- Zoo Groove Stereo - but more of that later.
Away from his busy DJ schedule Chrissy has always played an instrumental part of dance music behind the scenes also. As part of his association with the Zoo name, Chrissy co-produced (and regularly hosted) The Zoo Experience radio show on London’s Kiss 100 FM every Friday night for over ten years, as well as featuring regularly as a guest on radio shows for Galaxy FM, Capital FM, Jazz FM, NRG (Bournemouth) and Juice FM (Brighton) to name a few. More recently Chrissy can now be found producing and often presenting the new prime time Saturday night Zoo show on Choice FM, since the departure of Danny Rampling from Radio 1, the show is considered the main catalyst for Soulful House music in the UK.
As part of the Zoo team Chrissy was an integral role in various guises within the company. Instrumental in all Zoo connected events. High points have included signing Overjoyd who enjoyed success at the 1997 MOBO Awards where they were nominated for Best Gospel Group, he also co-compiled The Sound of Garage City album on Telstar Records and Soul Heaven - the album - for Defected Records.
These days, everything is looking just as prosperous. During the day you will find Chrissy now holding the fort at Dave Lee’s Zedd Record imprint, helping out in all aspects of running the label and Dave’s studio. Lee, a world renowned DJ, better known to many under his various guises including Joey Negro, Sessomatto, Akabu and Raven Maize, has enjoyed over a decade of success having produced hits and remixes for an array of famous names including Diana Ross, The Sugerbabes, Royksopp and Lisa Stansfield, he even made Robbie Williams and the Take That boys sound cool! More recently, under his Jakatta moniker Lee scored a Number One hit with ‘American Dream’, for which he beautifully sampled the soundtrack from Sam Mendes Oscar storming movie American Beauty.
For Chrissy, there is his new residency on the horizon as the Zoo crew launch their new Zoo Groove Stereo record label and club night. Already creating a major buzz in club land from just a couple of one-off events, the new night is set to settle into a new home in a major London venue from January next year. Garage City also continues, now monthly, but just as impressive.
Most at home playing his first love of soulful and straight up house music but just as capable throwing down a classic disco and rare groove set, Chrissy’s twelve year residency at a leading US house night as reputable as Garage City should prove his worth alone, but anybody lucky enough to catch this non-egotistical turntable master in the act will never fail to be bowled over by his genuine love of all things soulful and a set always played straight from the heart, which makes this star shine brighter than the rest.
