Colin Curtis (DJ)
| Colin Curtis | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Colin Dimond |
| Born | 1952 (age 64–65) |
| Origin | Madeley, Staffordshire, England |
| Genres |
R'n'B Northern soul Disco Jazz funk Jazz fusion Electro Hip hop House |
| Occupation(s) | DJ |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Website | Colin Curtis Connection |
Colin Curtis (born Colin Dimond, 1952) is an influential British DJ whose career spans several decades and musical developments. He was born and grew up in Madeley in Staffordshire, UK. Although he is most closely associated with the 1970s Northern soul scene, he has been described by the author and musician Mark 'Snowboy' Cotgrove as:
...one of the most important black music tastemakers there has ever been in the UK
As a teenager in the 1960s, Curtis developed a passion for music through listening to offshore radio stations such as Radio Caroline and through a friend’s sister who would listen to Tamla Motown records at their house. He then became interested in collecting black American music through attending Northern soul all-nighters at clubs such as the Twisted Wheel in Manchester and, later, the Golden Torch in Tunstall, Stoke. He began DJ-ing in the late 1960s, firstly at the Crystal Ballroom in Newcastle-under-Lyme but later became part of the resident DJ line-up at the Golden Torch all-nighters, which included Tony Jebb, Ian Levine and Keith Minshull.
In 1973, after the closure of the Golden Torch, Curtis began a weekly residency at the Blackpool Mecca’s Highland Room soul nights and was joined by fellow DJ and collector Ian Levine in a partnership which lasted until 1978. Hitherto, the Northern soul scene had been a revivalist movement built around obscure US recordings from the 1960s which conformed to a certain rhythmic and vocal template. However, the Curtis/Levine duo are noted for successfully introducing contemporary styles of African-American music such as disco, funk and jazz funk onto their Highland Room playlists and, as a result, the creation of a split in the Northern soul movement which led to the parallel modern soul subgenre. Levine and Curtis are also credited with being amongst the first DJs to introduce mixing to British nightclubs. This technique, which had been pioneered by DJ Francis Grasso in the clubs of New York City, enabled the DJ to create a non-stop sequence of records.
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