Greg Wilson
Video
Biography
Greg began DJing in 1975 and is regarded as one of the most important figures on the UK dance scene. He enjoyed hugely popular residencies in the early eighties at Wigan Pier and Manchester's majorly influential Legend. He was a pioneer of mixing in the UK and in 1983 he became the first ‘dance music’ DJ hired for a regular weekly session at Manchester's now legendary Hacienda club. Greg was instrumental in breaking the new electronic, post-disco records coming out of New York, a sound he has dubbed ‘Electro-Funk’.
In 2003 he set up his own website electrofunkroots to document this crucial era in the evolution of dance culture and, having retired from DJ work at the end of 1983, Greg returned to spinning tunes two decades later, receiving plaudits for his red-hot appearances at renowned nights including Electric Chair, Horse Meat Disco, Fabric, Back To Basics, Ministry Of Sound, Asylum, Melting Pot and the Sub Club, to name but a few. Before long he was picking up an ever increasing amount of bookings throughout Europe and, more recently, worldwide.
In 2005 Tirk Records released ‘Credit to the Edit’, a compilation of re-edits spanning Greg's entire career, some even original tape edits from way back when (Greg still uses his trusty old Revox B77 reel-to-reel tape machine when DJing out). This wasn't his first compilation either, having collaborated on most of the tracks to appear on the Street Sounds ‘UK Electro’ LP in 1984, as well as being the selector behind the ‘Classic Electro Mastercuts’ LP in 1994.
Other firsts for Greg include being the first DJ to mix live on British TV (The Tube in 1983), putting together the first UK radio mixes of their type for Piccadilly 261 in Manchester (beginning 1982) and showing a certain Norman Cook, then a young aspiring DJ called Quentin, how to scratch (Dec ’83). Greg has written for magazines / webzines like Wax Poetics, Clash, Grand Slam and Discopia, and presented a monthly online radio series, ‘Time Capsule’, on Samurai FM.
2008 saw Greg go truly global, embarking on an end of year tour that literally took him right around the world, with dates in Japan, Australia and Brazil, following-on from a series of gigs in the US (a return to New York and his San Francisco and LA debuts). Now a firm favourite on the festival circuit in both the UK and Europe, he also played Ibiza for the first time in the summer of 08, including a terrace appearance at the famous We Love Sundays session at Space.
Nominated by DJ magazine for outstanding contribution, and also named amongst their top twenty remixers of all-time, Greg’s edits and mixes continue to feature on the playlists of DJ’s in every continent.
In January 2009 Greg’s reputation was further enhanced when his Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 became something of an instant classic, receiving almost universal acclaim and, in the process, providing the perfect way to commemorate the 5th anniversary of a remarkable renaissance.
Credit To The Edit Volume 2 was released in November 2009. With tour dates throughout the following months, in the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia and the US, to promote the release.
In April 2010, as part of their Essential Mix 500 special, Radio 1 selected Greg’s Essential Mix as one of 10 classics that spanned the show’s near 17 year history.
Greg’s Blog, ‘Being A DJ’, was launched in June 2010. He describes it as “not a DJ blog as such, but more a blog by someone who happens to be a DJ”. www.gregwilson.co.uk
In August 2010 he co-curated (with Jack Hemingway) the Warehouse and Roller Disco areas at the inaugural Vintage Festival at Goodwood, which proved to be an overwhelming success, being named 'Best New Festival' at the UK Festival Awards (Greg also being nominated in the 'Best Feel Good Act Of The Summer' category).
Audio
Reviews
History often has it that the dancefloors of Manchester were filled with little but tumbleweed before the late 80s, when acid house turned the Hacienda into Ground Zero for dance. The story of Greg Wilson, however, says otherwise. A DJ spinning at Manchester's Legends club back in the early 80s; Wilson mixed together sets of early New York electro-funk, whilst putting together pioneering mixes for Piccadilly Radio, editing them up on his Revox B77 reel to reel. Wilson quit the scene in '83, but found his way back to DJing a couple of decades later, his classic electro-funk / disco sound finding a new generation of obsessives, and bringing him international recognition in the process...
