Eddy James

About me:

Hi everyone, just discovered myspace ("after all this time ?" I hear you say). I am married to the loveliest kindest Girl anyone could wish to meet (Love you Tina xx). I'm also lucky enough to be blessed with two children (Dean & Danny) I'm a Christian and regulary attend my local Elim Pentecostal Church in Romford. I also play drums with the worship group. My DJ career goes back yonks having worked with Froggy, Chris Hill, greg Edwards to name but a few. Here's my DJ profile :- East end born Eddy started his love affair with music in the early 60’s when his elder Brother would come home virtually every week with a new Soul, Motown or Blue Beat single. It was at this tender age that Eddy realised his musical tastes were a bit different from the norm as he enthused at the quirky vocal style of Ernie K Doe with his latest single “Mother in Law”. A few years later aged 7 and earning pocket money for doing jobs around the house Eddy started his own record collection buying ex jukebox singles from the record stall at Whitechapel Market - mainly Stax, Motown, Trojan plus the occasional Small Faces track (a bargain at 5p to 20p depending on condition). This love of the soulful groove continued until the age of 14 when Eddy did the teenage trendy thing of the time and went through his Heavy Rock phase (ala Old Grey Whistle Test, visits to the Marquee, learning to play Drums etc). This lasted until 1974 when at his 18th Birthday party his friend Kevin Byrne took control of the record player replacing the Rock stuff and getting the Girls up dancing with tracks such as “Hollywood Swinging” by Kool & the Gang, Keep on Stepping by The Fatback Band and “Sex Machine” by James Brown. After the initial shock at his mate’s “frontage” and a few drinks later Eddy found himself enjoying the music and was up dancing all night having rediscovered his Soulful roots. The following week Eddy went on a spending spree at the then renowned record shop Paul for Music in East London’s Cambridge Heath Road (the same Paul who owned the juke box stall). At the same time Eddy was working for BT and back then they ran a monthly Disco in the massive ballroom of one of the London Offices where guest DJ’s such as Tony Blackburn, DLT, Noel Edmonds and Emperor Rosko would make regular guest appearances. It was here that Eddy became firm friends with a very young Froggy who did the support act and also supplied the sound system (even in those early days his Orange road show was something to be reckoned with). Having also discovered clubbing with his mates and visiting places such as Zero 6 in Southend, the Sundown and Global Village in the West End, Eddy was getting the DJ bug and was wanting to make the transition to the other side of the decks.. In the meantime Eddy’s record collection was building up nicely to DJ proportions and he part exchanged his drum kit (from his Rock days) for a set of decks. Work soon followed when he did his first gig at a family friends Wedding (talk about jumping in at the deep end) which turned out to be a great success and led on to more bookings. Eventually fed up of humping gear about, Eddy did a stint with a DJ Agency (crap money but good experience) doing Pub/Club gigs including the Swan & Sugarloaf (pre Special Branch days). It was the early 80’s and having left the Agency, Eddy successfully auditioned for a 5 day a week residency at the legendary Greyhound in Chadwell Heath Essex. Things were going really well for Eddy but he wanted to do something special with the Thursday night and asked his mate Froggy if he would be interested in doing a night at the club. Froggy not only agreed to do the gig but also brought in his monster roadshow and had Eddy as his support DJ. The night was an instant success and after a few weeks became a regulae “roadblock”. As they say the rest is history and the Greyhound was the start of many gigs they did together, such as Oscars, Flamingo’s, The Regency Suite, Epping Forest Country Club etc. Forward to the mid 80’s and Eddy decided he should be doing his own gigs and successfully managed to secure residencies in Clubs such as Legends and Maximus (Central London), Champs (South London), Dougies and Lipstick (East London), The Palm Tree Club (North London) and Elliott’s in Essex as well as the then named “Fun Pubs” in South London such as The Green Man and The Dun Cow in the Old Kent Road and The Royal Oak in Tooley Street. It was in 1982 that Eddy’s Radio career took off. Froggy was on a station called Skyline Radio and introduced him to the station manager. Eddy quickly secured a Sunday night show eventually taking over the Sunday lunchtime spot. He then left Skyline to join the legendary pirate station LWR working alongside the likes of Tim Westwood, Ron Tom, Daddy Ernie, Zack, Jasper the Vinyl Junkie and Barry B. After LWR Eddy first joined Starpoint FM (at that time on 94.3FM) and met certain young men called Carl Webster (DJC, who of course is now Starpoint’s owner) and Chris Phillips (now Choice FM) , Wilbur Wilberforce (now 1Xtra) and Maxi Jazz (Faithless). Eddy had a great time in those early Starpoint days, even interviewing Mike Tyler from The BB&Q Band (which was a scoop for pirate Radio back in the day). Then Starpoint went through a transition period of playing mainly Jazz and Rare Groove and Eddy decided to move over to Louie St Clair’s TKO where he met Ray Bradshaw, Mike Gee and hooked up again with Tony Bevans (ex LWR). Eddy then continued his adventures in Pirate Radio moving closer to home with the Essex based STOMP FM on 107.5 FM. Fast forward to the early 90’s when Eddy secured his first spot on legal radio doing a number of RSL Broadcasts with Essex based Active FM 107.5 (run by ex Stomp FM DJ’s), with the station eventually securing a full time licence. Eddy stayed with them for about 10 years presenting various shows (including a Saturday afternoon sports show). After Active FM Eddy worked on the now defunct Soul City again on 107.5 FM presenting a Friday night show for over a year. He then joined a radio project called Red FM again doing RSL Broadcasts and at the same time doing one off guest spots on Solar Radio. It was here that Eddy rekindled his friendship with Carl, and as they say again “the rest is history”. So Eddy’s back where he belongs with Starpoint, where he truly is one of the mainstays of the Starpoint family. Eddy’s show entitled “Soul Power” is on every Monday night from 9pm to 11.00 pm (GMT), repeated on Thursday and Friday mornings from 7am – 9am (GMT). Music wise it’s an eclectic mix of Soul, Boogie, Disco, original Garage (Paradise Garage style), Soulful/Funky/Jazzy House (mixed live by Eddy) Chilled Grooves, and Jazz. Eddy appreciates having your company on his show and would love to hear from you, whether it’s joining in with the banter on the Starpoint forum or emailing him at dj.eddy.james@ntlword.com Back to speaking as me, I'm VERY pleased and surprised to see profiles from some of the original Starpoint DJ's back in the day (circa mid 80's. Big Hi to Chris Phillips, good luck with your Sunday night shows on Choice FM.) as well as the current motley crew :-). I still like to go clubbing (even with these old legs) and can usually be found on the dance floor at the Caister Soul Weekenders at Great Yarmouth. Sports wise I still go and see my beloved Tottenham Hotspur from time to time. So that's it for the time being. Please feel free to join my friends list. Will add more info over the coming weeks/months. May God bless you Kindest Regards Eddy James