My mum also told me she bought my first piece of vinyl when I was around three years old: Max Greger’s ‘Sha La La Oh Oh’. Apparently I loved it so much I would sing it all day. The DJ seed was obviously being sown, but I really can’t recall either the guitar or that track!

As the youngest of five children, music was all around me as I grew up. With Jamaican heritage, reggae music was my biggest influence, along with whatever was blaring from my older brother’s room or his Rover V8 car. Seven years my senior and the oldest of my siblings, my brother practically lived inside a sound system. Bassline would shake our house, my mum and sisters shouting at him to turn it down. Although I loved all types of music, by this point I was being wooed by the sweet sounds of artists like Dennis Brown, Alton Ellis and John Holt. I also loved listening to the radio, as I heard a variety of different sounds that went beyond the joyful sounds of reggae.
I used my cassette recorder to record all my favourite songs, so I could play and memorise them to my heart’s content. I would sing and dance until I dropped. I even attempted to write my own lyrics and held frequent singing competitions with friends. Growing up on a housing estate, everyone has something to showcase. Like I said, I really thought I was vocally in line with Chaka Khan. Of course, no one else agreed!

At junior school I learnt the recorder to a high standard and could play any song from my growing radio collection by ear. But I got to the point where the instrument’s range was limiting; the notes wouldn’t go as high or low as I need them to, so I stopped playing. I wanted more, flirting briefly with the piano. But that was it. Listening to music felt like I was entering my very own secret place, somewhere I would get lost in my own little world of sounds and words. It gave me a sense of freedom to dream. The lyrics would take me on a journey of endless possibilities, and where the lyrics ended, my imagination would take over.

The beats and chords were like an unexplainable explosion going off inside me. Music spoke to me and although I couldn’t articulate it then, I would explain it now as the music connecting with me on a soul level. This was the beginning of a lifelong love affair.
Aged 12, I bought a piece of vinyl with my pocket money. It was ‘Southern Freez’ by Freez – a track I absolutely love to this day. I even bought it as a Christmas gift for my mum, certain she would love it too. I felt so crushed when she gave a simple “thank you,” not really listening as I played it for her and bobbed around to the music. How could she not feel what I felt when the groove kicked in? I was confused. I wanted to share my joy. Looking back, this was obviously the first sign that there was a future DJ lurking somewhere within me.

The 80s was a great time for music and a fun time to be a music-hungry teen. When the movie Breakdance came out it was game on – my friends and I were popping and locking all over the place. My popping wasn’t the greatest, but I could do the caterpillar really well so that was me set: I was a dancer! This was also when I sharpened my musical tastes. We would go to South London’s Saxon Sound System’s weekly roller-skating park jam and the Hammersmith Palais All-Dayer parties, listening to DJ Steve Walsh. I was in complete musical heaven.

There are too many great artists from that era to list them all, but Surface (‘Falling in Love’), Barbara Fowler (‘Come And Get My Lovin’’) and Active Force (‘Give Me Your Love’) are certainly up there. Meanwhile, ‘Silver Shadow’ by Atlantic Star is one of my all-time favourites; the lyrics feel like a personal letter to me and years later, during a difficult time, they gave a whole new meaning to my life. The words spoke directly to my heart and soul in response to an internal discussion I’d been having with myself. This profound and pivotal moment changed the way music worked for me. From then on, whenever I needed encouragement, this track was my go-to.

In my late teens, I started making compilation tapes to play on my Walkman, something that went everywhere with me. When I started working in retail I would play my tapes on the store system. I got loads of compliments about my music selection and that’s when I learnt how good it felt knowing people liked the music I chose. I was often asked to make copies for my colleagues, which in turn inspired me to make tapes based on what I thought others would like, rather than just myself.

Still being led by music, but not sure where it was trying to take me, I decided to try dancing. I attended dance classes all over London and even landed a place at the Laban Dance School. Unfortunately, I didn’t qualify for funding, so I was unable to accept. However, I did enrol on a foundation course in dance at Lewisham College.