BIOGRAPHY - CJ Mackintosh
Look at the history of British clubland, and you’ll find the name CJ Mackintosh is woven inextricably into the tale. From house parties and illegal all-nighters through to British DJs beginning to create music of their own, from the acid house explosion to the British club scene coming of age with the Ministry of Sound, CJ has always been there, pushing things forward by playing the music he loves.
Born in Paris in 1965, CJ’s DJ career began at the age of 15 when he and his brother set up their own sound system and began playing house parties in South London, mixing up disco, jazz, funk, soul and early hip hop. He blagged his first professional gig at Flim Flam, an underground but influential night run by Coldcut’s Jonathon More. ‘There was a guy scratching and I knew I could do better. I hassled Jonathon for about a month, until he offered me a half-hour slot. I got Einstein, a rapper/MC on board and we started playing regular sets. Eventually I started getting paid. It wasn’t about the money though – I was doing what I’d always wanted to do’.
In 1987, he won the UK title in the DMC Mix Championship. Suddenly he was in demand as a remixer. Dave Dorrell, another DJ prominent on the London club scene, asked him to join Nasty Rox Inc – one of the first bands to mix rock and dance. Lauded by the style press, they toured extensively and recorded an album with Trevor Horn. ‘I learned a lot. It was a great experience being with the band for two years.’
Ironically, it was a one-off dance single made with Dorrell and members of indie bands AR Kane and Colourbox that proved to have real impact. An adrenaline rush of samples and beats that defied categorisation, ‘Pump Up The Volume’ by M/A/R/R/S topped the UK charts in September 87, charting in the US the following year. At a time when Britain’s national station Radio One barely recognised dance music, this success was a vital confidence booster for clubland.
Since then, CJ has continued his prolific career. Producing and remixing in excess of 100 tracks for artists including C&C Music Factory, Janet Jackson, Jungle Brothers, TLC, Sounds of Blackness, Whitney Houston, George Michael, De La Soul, Inner City, PiL, Coldcut and countless others. He has released several mix albums, and his Love Happy project charted with ‘Message of Love’.
He has travelled extensively as a DJ. This experience, his undeniable talent and his ability to span musical genres made him an obvious choice for residency at the Ministry of Sound in the mid-90s.
This year, CJ will be back in the studio to make a long overdue return to writing and producing. He still loves playing live and makes regular trips to quality clubs all over Europe. More importantly and recently, he has devotedly built his monthly residency at London club Turnmills, City Loud into a night that other DJs who care about music are clamouring to play – Roger Sanchez, Frankie Knuckles and David Morales to name a few.
As a DJ, CJ prefers to stay low-key, allowing the to crowd focus on the music. After more than two decades on the cutting-edge, he still has the same passion that fired him from the start. ‘I can understand why people used to cry in clubs in the early days. When you hear the right record, at the right time, in the right place, there’s no feeling like it.’