Followers of our music take their stuff very seriously, and such a list is bound to raise contention, and cries of �why isn�t such-and-such in there�, or in some cases, �why aren�t I in there? The young South Londoner was a promising chef before going on to dominate the world.

WMMR Podcasts. BRINGING YOU THE STORIES BEHIND MUSIC + ESSENTIAL NEWS, REVIEWS AND INTERVIEWS... Home / Issue 1096 / Features / THE 40 ESSENTIAL DJs OF THE PAST 40 YEARS! Prior to this, though, they had worked individually for years, before hooking up and securing a radio show on Kiss FM off the back of their successful club nights. TERRY JONES Add to that his status as compiler of some of the best soul music albums known to man, and his position as co-founder of Expansion Records, and you have one hell of an influential figure. The Godfather of soul ... James Brown? RICHARD SEARLING FABIO & GROOVERIDER He still resides at Choice, but now as presenter of their successful weekend �Club Vybez� show. And yes, they really are twins!

It�s telling that in most DJ polls, he crops up very highly in both the �best� and �worst� DJ categories. His early stints with his own mobile disco soon got replaced by more trendy outings as Pete discovered the joys of soul/ jazz/ funk, and became adopted as the youthful member of the South East �soul mafia�, alongside much older peers like Chris Hill and Froggy.

Now hosting everything from the MOBOs, to Prince�s Trust concerts, to one of the last ever �Top Of The Pops� shows, Trevor shows a great versatility both in front of the camera and behind the mic. As for retirement? BOBBI & STEVE Forget it. Who would ever have believed that a DJ could get an MBE? Nicky Holloway was a founding member of the UK house music scene, bringing the Ibiza sound to a new audience. His shows on Freek led to guest appearances on Steve Jackson�s Kiss 100 show, and in late �99 he was subsequently given his own show on the station.

You�d expect the UK�s favourite black music magazine to attract some key players in this regard - and you�d be right.

By the time the Caron Wheeler-featuring â��Keep On Movinâ�� and â��Back To Lifeâ�� were released in â��89, it was game over. ROBBIE VINCENT Long before Trevor Nelson, before Pete Tong, even before Jeff Young, the first âspecialistâ black music DJ to earn a coveted slot on Radio One was Robbie Vincent. As well as attracting the most knowledgeable, passionate, and in some cases opinionated (!) PAUL OAKENFOLD Now into his fifties, he shows no signs of stopping, continuing to blaze up reggae dances at home and abroad. Some WMMR DJs such as Dave Herman and Carol Miller would later …

In a B&S mag tribute, columnist Bigger recounted the time he shared a gig with Swing where the crowd simply stood around the edges showing no signs of getting on the dancefloor.

WMMR became the preeminent Philadelphia rock station for many years, with DJs such as Ed Sciaky (1948–2004), Michael Tearson (b.

He brought his open-minded, but always jazz-tinged approach to music to bear with the formation of his own Acid Jazz label, and later, Talking Loud, which spawned hits for the likes of Young Disciples, Incognito, Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai and Galiano. His Groove Records chart run-down helped the Soho record shop of the same name become the only place to buy your import vinyl from. In fact, in some knowledgeable circles, George Power is deemed more important than even Chris Hill or Robbie Vincent! NORMAN JAY

Often under-appreciated and under-rated, George Power deserves major props for influencing so many of the original DJs on the black music scene to actually pick up a pair of headphones in the first place. Other spin-offs have included their Zoo Experience record label, and the very successful London club nights Soul Heaven and Garage City. Prime time slots followed, and EZ became a household name on the back of the release of the �Pure Garage� album series, and an ambassador for the UK garage breakthrough of the late 90s. If you�re a real soul bod, then the legendary venue Norfolk Village will pull at your heartstrings, as this was a clubbing institution for more than two decades. In 2001, WMMR threw a party at The Philadelphia Spectrum for Pierre Robert's 20th anniversary and gave him a 1972 Volkswagen Type 2 (T2) Westfalia to replace his old 1970 VW mini-bus. As an A&R man for Champion Records, he signed Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince and Salt �N� Pepa, and went on to work at Profile and Def Jam, before starting his own Perfecto label in �91. This new bus was named "Minerva 2" in honor of the original Minerva that drove him from California to Pennsylvania.

Robbie was an odd contender for such a role, not least in his appearance. TIM WESTWOOD GARY DENNIS His �Sound of Sunday Night�, (and latterly �Saturday Night�,) provided the audio inspiration for a generation of soul/ jazz/ funk/ black dance fans, and gave the entire nation a taste of what Londoners had been getting from Greg Edwards on Capital Radio. He started playing soul and rare groove in a Covent Garden bar in his spare time. We�re pretty sure that few would argue about the status of this lot as truly influential. Widely credited as being the first DJ in the UK to mix two records together, (properly! If you were a soul/ jazz/ funk fan in London in the 70s and early 80s, it was a given that you listened to his �Soul Spectrum� on Capital Radio.

As a club DJ at the forefront of the scene for more than 30 years, he�s seen and done it all. In the ensuing years, he was credited with launching the career of Maze, and was one of only a handful of UK radio presenters to have interviewed Marvin Gaye. Yes, Tony Blackburn, and no, it�s not a pisstake. When his Radio One stint ended in 1989, he took up a talk programme on London station LBC. Born in Blackpool in the 50s, Ian Levine started collecting Motown records at an early age, setting himself the ambitious task of obtaining every record released on the label in the UK. Spoony, Mikee B and Timmi Magic were at the forefront of the �speed garage� scene as it was known in the mid 90s.

This was followed by a stint on Galaxy Radio, before their big move to Radio 1 around the turn of the new millennium. As reggae dancehall, and particularly the more hip hop-styled �ragga� element gained major popularity in urban circles in the 90s, a vacancy for a high-profile DJ figurehead emerged.

Although Grenada-born and New York-raised, we count Greg as a British DJ because it was on these shores that he carved his niche, arriving in 1969, and becoming credited with launching the British careers of the Three Degrees and The O� Jays just a few years later. He could have been a professional footballer, but Steve Wren went down the music route instead, and started spinning at soul events in London and Essex in the early 80s. There are few who�d argue with his status as �legendary� as a result. (Oh, and did we mention that he worked as features editor on Blues & Soul from 1979 to 1983?)

Radio-wise, as associates with Kiss FM since its pirate days, their â��Zoo Experienceâ�� shows championed new uplifting garage grooves for many years, becoming one of the longest-running features on the station. Nothingâ��s happened overnight. They used to go by the slogan "The Big Murmur in the Heartbeat of Philadelphia.". The venue would soon become part of clubbing history, and Parky would go on to become a fully-fledged international superstar DJ off the back of it. Radio-wise, heâ��s enjoyed a long and progressive career, starting with the South London pirate Radio Invicta in the 80s, to his current â��Worldwideâ�� show on Radio One, with stops at Radio London, Jazz FM and Kiss FM en route. â�¦ Nah, donâ��t be silly, itâ��s Hilly! In the 1970s, during its early years as a free form "progressive rock" station the dominant slogan was simply "At 93 point 3 FM, You're listen… GILLES PETERSON Which is why B&Sâ��s Mark Devlin and Stretch Taylor garnered opinions from many different quarters, all of whom know their onions - to come up with the following.

CHRIS HILL The first thing many a London raver will think of is the Good Times sound system run alongside brother Joey, a main attraction at Notting Hill Carnival for more than 20 years.

RUSS WINSTANLEY Their catchphrase �a happy face, a thumping bass for a loving race� couldn�t be more relevant today. Equally celebrated was his High On Hope club night. Tottenham-raised EZ first emerged on Dance FM in the early 90s, playing a selection of hardcore, jungle and house. In Kiss�s most influential years, you�d be more likely to find Gordon broadcasting his own show than pen-pushing behind a big desk.

Gentlemen, take a bow. But it wasn�t until he joined another pirate, Freek FM, that people really sat up and took notice, as he became arguably the biggest DJ at the station. .

by Mark Devlin and Stretch Taylor. The facts speak for themselves - two peak-time Radio One weekend shows for the past twelve years, millions of compilation albums sold, �Pimp My Ride� on MTV and Channel 5, club bookings all over the country, legendary appearances at Notting Hill Carnival. Formed out of the London sound system movement of the 1980s, Soul II Soul took up residency at Covent Garden's legendary Africa Centre for a famed Sunday night session, and this became the catalyst to signing a record deal with Virgin. As for the sound system, that would later become used for the Caister Weekender, and as far as we know it�s still available for hire today. A pioneer of house music in the UK from its very earliest forms, Graeme Park claims he hasn�t had a weekend to himself in 20 years. As our recent B&S Spin Doctors feature assessed, �eclectic� is a word that could quite aptly be applied to Gilles Peterson�s musical style.

This was held at Wembley Arena over two days in July 1986, and featured Mantronix, DJ Cheese, Grandmaster Flash and Just Ice. His Wednesday �Loft� party in Camden ran for over ten years - a huge achievement in the ever-changing world of clubland.

Of course it worked, but it was a major gamble, and it�s hard to imagine any other DJ getting away with it. Pity his poor missus, then!

Besides releasing an early Northern soul-style single under the pseudonym Lenny Gamble in 1973, his enthusiasm for the genre first became apparent in the 80s, when he introduced healthy portions of soul music into his daytime show on BBC Radio London.

We have David Dye to thank for the acclaimed “World Cafe” program on WXPN, which is syndicated throughout the country. You might even remember him as B&Sâ��s very own jazz correspondent in the 80s, or a force behind the remixed Temptations hit, ironically called â��The Jonesesâ��. By the early 80s, heâ��d been heavily inspired by Larry Levanâ��s Paradise Garage in New York, and by â��87, had made â��thatâ�� famous visit to Ibiza with friends Trevor Fung, Nicky Holloway and Danny Rampling, inspiring him to bring the Balearic sound back to England. FROGGY Furthermore, as an important member of both the Caister and Southport weekender line-ups, young Mr. Dennis was able to push his style to the masses. In the case of Westwood, itâ��s impossible to accurately describe his status without using it. TREVOR NELSON