What Do You Call It? 30 Years Of UK Garage

This event will take place in the British Library Knowledge Centre Pigott Theatre and will be simultaneously live streamed on the British Library platform. Tickets may be booked either to attend in person (physical) or to watch on our platform (online) either live or within 48 hours on catch up. Viewing links for the online version will be sent out shortly before the event.

As UK Garage celebrates it’s 30th anniversary, we mark this milestone with a star studded conversation. 

Joining Heartless Crew’s Bushkin are some of the people who were at the forefront of the scene that reshaped the relationship between Britain, black music and popular culture. From making Ayia Napa their own, to topping the charts, these youngsters paved the way for more than just music. It’s a story of business, taking on the music industry of innovation and success.  

With DJ & Producer DJ Spoony, vocalist Kele Le Roc, producer Zed Bias and Mega Man – leader of So Solid Crew.

Doors and Bar open at 18:00 and the event will begin at 19:00. Please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event.  

Half price tickets available, Students, Under 26 and other concession groups. Discounts available for British Library Members.

Event Produced by The Playmaker Group & Bush Bash Recordings for the British Library.

Explore the full events programme for the British Library exhibition Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music (26 April – 26 August). 

MC Bushkin is a North London MC, songwriter and recording artist who established the UK garage group Heartless Crew with DJ Fonti and Mighty Moe in 1992. The crew has been credited with paving the way for UK grime music, along with So Solid Crew and Pay AS U Go. Taking inspiration from artists like Rory from Stone Love Movement, KRS-One and Shabba Ranks, the collective ran a mobile sound system playing hip hop, R&B and ragga, before focusing on UK Garage. MC Bushkin and the crew became well known for their performances in both clubs, on pirate radio and on BBC Radio 1Xtra. In 2002, Heartless Crew released their debut album, and were nominated for a MOBO Award.

DJ Spoony
John St John Joseph, AKA DJ Spoony is a British DJ, radio and television presenter. He is a member of the Sony Award-winning UK Garage production trio Dreem Teem, who were instrumental to the UK Garage sound through pirate radio, Kiss 100 and BBC Radio 1. DJ Spoony was a resident DJ at the UK's top garage and R&B club night Twice as Nice for 7 years, mixing and compiling three gold selling compilation albums for the brand. He can now be heard every Friday evening with his show ‘The Good Groove’ on BBC Radio 2. Spoony was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 2023 New Year’s Honours services to charities through music during Covid-19.

Kele Le Roc stage name of Kelly Biggs, is a British singer, songwriter and actor. She began singing at the age of three and found widespread acclaim in 1995 with the underground hit ‘Let Me Know’. She scored two top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart with ‘Little Bit of Lovin’ and ‘My Love’ in 1999, when she also won two MOBO Awards for Best Newcomer and Best Single. Among those she has collaborated with are Basement Jaxx, Coolio, Cortney Pine, Shy FX and Omar Lye-Fook. Kele was among the artists selected to take part in a music project called Routes to Roots, connecting West African and English talent to create an album, book, and documentary for MTV.

David Jones, better known as Zed Bias, is a British electronic musician based in Manchester. A producer and DJ within the UK garage/2-step, broken beat and UK funky genres, he is one half of duo Phuturistix. He is known for his single ‘Neighbourhood’ which reached number 25 in the UK charts in July 2000. He collaborated with various artists like DJ Spatts of The Criminal Minds. Zed Bias started to record under the name of Maddslinky in 2001 resulting in the album Make Your Peace in 2003, and a second, Make a Change in 2010. Bias’s releases, which explore a more experimental or progressive side of the 2-step garage sound, have been hailed as a crucial element in the establishment of dubstep as a definable sound or genre.

Dwayne Vincent, AKA Megaman, is a songwriter and rapper, and one of the founder members of So Solid Crew, the phenomenally succesful UK garage and hip hop collective from London. They achieved success in the early 2000s, with the release of their debut album They Don’t Know, and the single ’21 Seconds’ which was the first of five consecutive top 20 hit singles for the group.  Megaman, along with other members of So Solid Crew, including Asher D, (Ashley Walters) Lisa Maffia, Harvey and Romeo, are pioneers in the UK music scene: they took UK Garage from a dance-genre to one that was darker and more MC-oriented and on to mainstream success. Inspiring other young artists to experiment with sounds, this directly led to what would become known as grime music.

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