Pete Tong

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2 votes, 8.50 avg. rating (87% score)

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Peter “Pete” Tong (born July 30, 1960) is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is known worldwide by fans of electronic music for hosting programs such as Essential Mix and Essential Selection on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for his record label FFRR Records, and for his own performances at nightclubs across the globe. Tong has also worked as a record producer.
The phrase “It”s all gone a bit Pete Tong”, where the name is used as cockney rhyming slang for “wrong”, was reputedly first coined by Mark Radcliffe. However, on his show of 28 November 2005, Mark Radcliffe credited his erstwhile sidekick Marc “Lard” Riley with inventing the term. It”s All Gone Pete Tong is also the title of a 2004 film which portrays a DJ”s experiences as he realises he is becoming deaf. Tong appears briefly in the film as himself.
[edit] Early years
Pete Tong was born in Hartley, Kent during July 1960 and was educated at King”s School, Rochester, Kent.
Tong”s original musical interest was in drumming, but he soon moved on to DJing. He played his first public gig at a friend”s wedding aged 15. While at school he and a couple of mates earned some extra money by promoting a couple of local bands, booking halls for gigs etc. He also worked as part of the Kent “Soul Mafia” bringing soul weekenders to seaside towns like Caister-on-Sea and Prestatyn.
Initially after leaving school he set up a mobile disco based in a transit van, but he soon started his own club in Baker Street called Family Function. He also booked bands for an alternative night, the first of which was the then unknown Culture Club.
In 1979 he became a staff writer for Blues & Soul Magazine [1]. After a year he was promoted to features editor, a position he would hold until 1983. He left Blues & Soul to join London Records as an A&R manager.
Through his connections in London Records Tong was exposed to the newly emerging house music sound from Chicago. In 1986 Tong organised a compilation album, The House Sound of Chicago, Vol. 1, the first British release to gather and expose this genre.