Greg Wilson

Greg Wilson is a DJ and producer associated with both the early 80’s electro scene in Manchester, and the current disco / re-edit scene, for which he’s acquired a global following. He was born in Wallasey on Merseyside in 1960, and began his career as a club DJ at the age of 15 with a schoolfriend Derek Kelsey (later known as DJ Derek Kaye.) To begin with, Wilson was known for playing funk, soul and disco records with residencies in clubs in New Brighton between 1975 and 1980. At the start of the eighties, Wilson moved to a residency at the legendary Wigan Pier, making his mark as a jazz-funk specialist via their weekly Tuesday night session that would subsequently pick up the Blues & Soul award for the North’s best club (Wilson would also be named best DJ). With his primary interest being black music, Wilson's nights at the Wigan Pier covered a spectrum of black music styles. But it was in his championing of the early electro records that he became known nationally - whilst working at Wigan Pier, he was offered an ailing Wednesday night residency at Legend in Manchester and was soon pulling in a predominantly black crowd to listen to the new electro-funk sound of groups like the Peech Boys, D-Train and Afrika Bambaataa. One of those in attendance was Mike Shaft, a DJ fronting a black music show on Manchester's Piccadilly Radio. Shaft wasn't a big fan of the new electro music, but he recognised its popularity and asked Wilson to record some mixes to play on the show. These mixes soon developed a popular following, and are still talked about as influential to this day.