Whilst visiting the New York side of his family in Brooklyn for the first time, he was amazed to discover that one of his uncles was also an accomplished DJ and sound system operator himself. Jay stayed for several months frequenting all the clubs that mattered including the legendary Paradise Garage, forging lasting friendships with the likes of DJ icons Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles and latterly David Morales, Tony Humphries and Louis Vega years before most of them were ever heard of or known in the UK.
Inspired by what he'd discovered and experienced during that inaugural Big Apple trip, Jay decided to take his DJing more seriously. He then teamed up with his brother Joey and built the now famous Good Times Sound System playing out at the Notting Hill Carnival to critical acclaim. By now his reputation as an underground DJ of some repute was beginning to grow, often attracting crowds of up to a couple of thousand people whenever he played out at one of his itinerant warehouse parties. This led to an invitation from old pal DJ Gordon Mac to start up their own pirate radio station, which they called Kiss FM after it's New York namesake. Completely untrained in any aspects of broadcasting, he presented his first live show the day after they debuted on air back in October 1985. The rest, as they say, is radio history.
Because of his influence on the various London club scenes and the respect he was afforded by fellow DJ's alike, he became the catalyst for attracting the likes of Coldcut's Jonathon More and Matt Black, Soul II Soul's Jazzie B, Dr. Bob Jones, Radio One's Danny Rampling, Talkin Loud's Gilles Peterson and MTV's Trevor 'The Lick' Nelson and many more to join the fledgling pirate station. Few had previous radio experience before being recruited by Jay and now all have gone on to become household names in popular dance culture including his original partner and protégé, the ubiquitous 'Judge' Jules who's nickname Jay is also credited with coining.
It was this initial DJ partnership in 1986, which led directly to the emergence of the then cult 'rare groove' scene. A term coined by Jay after his now legendary weekend show called 'The Original Rare Groove Show' on Kiss FM. Affectionately known as the 'Godfather', his much loved Shake 'n' Fingerpop party crew along with Judge Jules' Family Funktion collective were the leading purveyors of this funky underground dance scene playing mainly black music from the 70's and 80’s mixing it up with the best of what was then a new sound coming out of Chicago and New York, namely the first house records. Together they were responsible for the very first (illegal) warehouse parties ever staged in London - preceding the acid house explosion by some three years, creating a huge impression on and inspiring many of today's leading UK DJ's and club promoters.
The Nineties dawned and it was time for Jay to seek new challenges. On September 1st, 1990, he hosted the very first legal broadcast for Kiss 100 after they won their licence. He was also responsible for establishing the very first 'Paradise Garage' style club in the UK called High On Hope, with ex partner Patrick Lilley playing deep US house mixed with original disco classics, bringing over the likes of DJ's Tony Humphries, Marshall Jefferson, Blaze, Ten City and Adeva for the first time ever to the UK. He again was responsible for reviving interest in former dance divas such as Jocelyn Brown, Chaka Khan, Sharon Redd, Loleatta Holloway, Kim Myzelle, En Vogue and the late Gwen Guthrie, all of whom appeared regularly at his ground breaking club to rapturous acclaim.
By now Jay had become a much-respected household name on the UK dance scene. He was headhunted by Polygram to launch a new label with close friend and DJ Gilles Peterson called Talkin Loud signing amongst others the likes of singer/songwriters Omar, Bryan Powell, Young Disciples, Galliano and Incognito. After three successful years there and many more happy years at Kiss, he quit both to pursue his first love - DJing. With increasing DJing commitments around the world including regular tours to countries such as Australia, USA, Canada, Japan, Southern Africa and the Middle/Far East playing an eclectic mix of black and dance music, Norman has precious little time to do much else. He has played in just about every major city in Europe being one of the first ever UK DJ's to do so.
He is also the doyen of the 'stars'. The DJ choice of the rich and famous. He is without doubt their favourite 'celebrity' DJ, playing for the likes of Mick Jagger at his 5Oth birthday party, Robert Di Nero, Michael Caine, George Michael, Will Smith, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Jamiroquai who affectionately calls him the 'Godfather'), Paul Weller (who has been quoted as saying that Jay is his favourite DJ), actor Lenny Henry (who reputedly modelled his pirate radio DJ TV character on Jay), Viviene Westwood, Gaultier, Tommy Hilfiger and more recently for MTV (at Pierre Cardin's magnificent space age villa overlooking the Mediterranean up in the hills outside Cannes) all of whom have danced their asses off to a Norman Jay set. He is also often booked to play at big film premiers including 101 Dalmations, Judge Dred, Enemy Of The State, East Is East and the multi million pound launch of Sky TV's new digital cable channel at Battersea Power Station.
He was the first ever UK DJ to be invited to play at the celebrated Cannes Film Festival and in recognition of his lifelong DJ achievements and involvement in club culture, Jay himself is the subject of a full length film. 'Good Times' is a semi autobiographical account of the man, directed by London based independent filmmaker Terry Walshe (using some rare archive footage from Good Times) documenting Jay's early struggles to follow his musical passion and achieve his dream. It highlights his influence on, and his importance to, the modern dance scene as it stands today since he embarked on his illustrious DJ career back in the early eighties. Following the DJ icon from Africa to America, from The Big Chill to Notting Hill, the film finishes with fantastic footage of Carnival 2000.
Norman produced the soundtrack for the full length Good Times film 'Good Times- A Notting Hill Story' which premiered in 2001 in central London on the big screen with runs at local cinemas throughout the UK in 2001/2002. After a successful run in independent cinemas, Channel 4 eventually picked up on the film which it later broadcast nationally in December 2002.
With the global rise of UK DJ and dance culture, Jay has once again found his niche being extremely popular with a new generation of dance fans worldwide as well as playing at clubs and festivals nationwide. Whether it's playing upfront disco fuelled funky house in the nations main rooms or old skool funk, jazzy hip hop or chilled out beats in the back, he still manages to maintain his rich musical heritage and quality in every set he plays. Whilst being amongst one of the most popular and credible contemporary DJ's in the country, he is often cited as a major influence by a host of today's leading DJ's who often refer to him quite simply as 'The DJ's DJ'.
Recognition and Awards past and Present
Continually featured in DJ’s top 150 DJs in the world and one of the Face magazine's most influential club culture figures of the decade amongst numerous other accolades attributed to him, Jay's contribution to UK music scene is second to none. Featuring regularly on various television, radio and magazine programmes about black music or dance culture, Norman Jay, a recognised authority on both is considered by many to be 'The Peoples DJ' because of the width and breadth of his DJ style. A 'Clubland institution' the Face once called him.
Apart from a punishing DJ schedule over the year, playing funky house and various other styles at gigs worldwide, he was voted club DJ of the year 96/97 by Blues & Soul magazine and is the only DJ featured in the Face magazine's book of club culture extracts from 1980-1997 called "Nightfever".In 1998 Norman was a nominee for the Best Radio Personality category in GQ magazine's annual Men Of The Year Awards.
THE QUEEN HONOURS NORMAN JAY IN 2002
Norman has been rewarded for his achievements and dedication to his passion of Music, he was named in the Queens birthday honours list with an MBE for “services to dj’ing and music”. Norman now sits with only a select few djs who have been given an award of this magnitude and is the first to be given an MBE for “services to music and dj’ing”.
CD RELEASES
As an in demand compiler he has released a number of superbly crafted compilation CD's. The latest of which is a fantastic double CD called Good Times 3, to be released in the UK only at the Ausust 2003, again compiled with his brother Joey Jay on React Records. This is the follow up release in the massively popular series 'Joey and Norman Jay Presents...Good Times' and showcases more eclectic Carnival favourites old and new from the 'Bud' brothers, also currently available from all good record stores. Since Nuphonic’s demise, who originally released Good Times 1 and 2 ( which had been deleted), React records realised the need to re-release 2 such important compilations in the series. The whole series is now out in the shops (Good Times 1 and 2 from October). His next project “Giant 45” will come out in February 2004 featuring the differing music styles from Norman’s hugely successful weekly radio show on BBC London 94.9 FM called “Giant 45”. Look out for “Good Times 4” next summer 2004.
Also available is the double CD released by that most glamorous of UK glamorous niteries Miss Moneypenny's. CD 1 contains 13 of the most soulful garage tracks from 1998/99 deftly mixed by our man Jay while CD 2 contains eleven of the funkiest 'Good Grooves' ever! 'Miss Moneypenny's Presents...Norman Jay' is still available through K-Tel, Tower Records, Virgin, HMV or Amazon.com on CD format only. Other recommended releases include Norman Jay Presents Philadelphia 1973 -1981 - The Underground Anthems. Norman Jay and Gilles Peterson's classic Journey By DJS 'Desert Island Discs' has been re-released due to popular demand
after the original release reached cult status worldwide out on Journey by Dj US.
He is also working through one of his busiest DJ schedules to date taking him to new parties, clubs and festivals the world over whilst continuing to host his massively popular 'Giant 45' radio show, a weekly black music based programme broadcast every Sunday night on BBC London on 94.9 FM between 7:00pm - 10:00pm. You can listen live online or on demand from www.bbc.co.uk/london or there is a link from Norman Jay’s own website www.normanjay.com
