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Danny Rampling
A pioneer, an innovator, an ambassador for dance music, a truly globally respected DJ, a house music stalwart, a musical perfectionist, an accomplished remixer and producer, a passionate radio presenter…Danny Rampling has been cited all these in the dance music press over the years, and he is proud of what he has achieved, and the millions he has entertained over the years.Born in Streatham in 1961, Danny started his record collection, which amounts close to 40,000 now! By the time he was in his teens, Danny was carrying record boxes and playing hip-hop, funk and soul, at bars and clubs in Bermondsey, and across London, frequently helping out Nicky Holloway with his nights. Often Danny was playing alongside Gordon Mac, Kiss FM’s founder. “I was starting to get a reputation for my uplifting, feel-good party tunes and it wasn’t long before I had a weekly show on Kiss FM,” explains Danny.
Then in 1987, Danny and his young DJ friends; Paul Oakenfold, Nicky Holloway and Johnny Walker went on a lad’s holiday to Ibiza that was et to change the direction of music in the UK forever. They checked out Alfredo DJ’ing at Amnesia, who was mixing up early Chicago tracks from Marshall Jefferson, Frankie Knuckles and Larry Heard, along with soul, reggae and pop. They were awestruck, and hooked by the intoxicating Balearic sound of the energising Spanish island and were determined to bring that vibe back to grey London.
Spiritually inspired by this music, Danny launched Shoom in the gym of the Fitness Centre in Southwark in 1987. Those parties, which heralded the start of UK club culture, are now legendary, and spurned the global dance culture as he introduced many of the imported Phuture tracks from Chicago. It also started the innovative lifestyle that was to follow: the rest is history.
After breaking acid house at Shoom until 1990, and spreading the vibe on Kiss FM, as other clubs jumped on the bandwagon, Rampling then launched a more glamorous night; Pure Sexy at Nicky Holloway’s Milk Bar in Soho from 1990 until 1992.
The early 1990’s saw Danny embark on his prolific remix career (which amounts to over 40!) including Timmy Thomas ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’, The Beloved ‘The Sun Rising’, Hypnotone ‘Dream Beam’ and Love Corporation ‘Palatial’. He also remixed for the B-52’s, Erasure and the James Taylor Quartet to name but a few. Rampling started producing for the first time, under the guise Sound of Shoom, with a cover of Razzy Bailey’s obscure 70’s soul ballad featuring Steven Eusabe ‘I Hate Hate’.
Danny was then signed to Deconstruction in 1993 and launched a band called the Millionaire Hippies and released a few singles including the anthem ‘I Am The Music, Feel Me’ which crossed over into the mainstream. It featured the vocals of Gwen Dupree and Das Strachen and was given the remix treatment from Farley and Heller.
In November 1996, Danny got poached from Kiss to join Radio 1, and launched the Lovegroove Dance Party which continued weekly for almost six years until March 2002. His show was always reflective of the long journey he has travelled, and was a vehicle for him to spread the word of the deep vocal house, US garage sound and tribal grooves that are his passion. 1998 saw him sign to Distance in France with Community of the Spirit.
Rampling has also mixed many successful albums, including the third volume of ‘Journeys By DJ’ in 1992, a series of ‘Love Groove Party’ compilations on Universal, UK/USA with David Morales on React, and ‘Turntable Symphony’ in 2002, also on React.
In 2001, Danny started his monthly column in International DJ Magazine, and launched his monthly residency Metrogroove at Turnmills. He also got back in the studio and produced his song ‘How Good the Love Is’ as Il Padrinos with Dave Lee (aka Joey Negro) and featured the legendary diva Jocelyn Brown on vocals. The record was released in 2002 to universal aplomb.
2002 saw the start of his new residencies at Milk in Belfast, Rome and Milan. Danny also embarked on a series of tours which has always eluded him in the past because of his commitment to his weekly Radio 1 show, spreading the vibe in South America, Asia the Far East and most countries in Europe! His music has always been an extension of his character and personality and an extension of his spirit that goes out to the people creating an elevated vibe on the dance floor. Energising and spiritual, the music is a party soundtrack.
As Danny says, “As dance music and club culture continues to mutate, develop reinvent itself, we have to embrace this change in order to herald another renaissance and to keep the music that we all love underground… see you on the dancefloor.”
In 2005 the dance world was rocked by the news that after 18 years of turning the tables, Danny would be hanging up his headphones, and retiring from professional DJ’ing. Clubbers old and young descended upon Turnmills at 4am on a Sunday morning that December for Danny’s London farewell show, and some even made the journey to The Gecko Club, Bo Phut, Thailand for Danny’s last gig, on New Years Eve 2005, where he played classics from across his 18 year career, starting off with Candi Staton’s ‘You Got The Love’, and closing (appropriately) with Oasis’s ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’. Since then, Danny’s DJ performances have been a rare, and infrequent treat for those with their fingers on the pulse, and ear’s to the ground. So, it is with great pleasure (and more than a slight sense of accomplishment) that we can proudly announce that Danny Rampling, one of the original champions of Balearic music, will be DJ’ing on the Sanctuary Stage on Sunday night, at Eastnor 2007.
Written: 25th Jul, 07
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