So how did you get into DJing? Was it through influences, say your parents’ love of music, by accident, or did you just know that was what you wanted to do? For me it was none of the above! It certainly wasn’t my father who passed on a love of music to me.
The poor guy was tone deaf, as was ably demonstrated when he bought an accordion and proceeded to make the worst sound imaginable that sent the local neighbourhood cats running for cover! It wasn’t by accident, as you will find out as the story develops, and it wasn’t, at first, something that was planned. So when and where did it start? That would be way back in March 1967.
Sandie Shaw had just won the Eurovision song contest and I had just had my birthday, which meant that I had money in my pocket as I found myself wandering through Fawcett Street Market in Sunderland. As I passed by the record stall I experienced an urge to spend, so I arrived home an hour or so later with my very first record. I headed for the Dansette (a record player that had one of the earliest versions of auto-play if you are curious) and out of the speaker came the sound of music, ‘Puppet on a String’ to be precise.
Well that was it, my love of music was born and as soon as I could it was back to the market stall. This time I bought ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ , as it was like getting two records for the price of one. Over the next few years my tastes and purchases gradually gravitated to the rockier side of things. ‘Steppenwolf 7’ was the first album I ever bought, but my favourites were Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Free. ROBBIE COLLINS DISCO INFERNO 17PROFILE: ROBBIE COLLINS came it went down an absolute storm.
I was paid by a happy client and, more importantly, gave loads of cards out which led to more parties and thus began my career as a DJ. As I did more gigs and earnt more money doing birthday parties, weddings and other functions, I bought more gear and also started getting gigs in the City of London from my daytime contacts there. However, something didn’t feel quite right in my burgeoning DJ career. I was struggling to balance my daytime job in a City bank with mobile discos and I was convinced that the way forward was to become a club DJ (as I was also getting a bit fed up of lugging a ton of gear around by myself!).
As we were regulars at Charlee Brown’s, my girlfriend at the time knew the manager quite well and persuaded him to give me an audition. I arrived and the manager, who already knew me, threw me by asking for my name so the other DJ could introduce me. I quickly realised that he was looking for my ‘DJ name’ , which I hadn’t even thought about! I blurted out the first name that came to mind, which was Robbie Collins.
So there you have it, Robbie Collins was born in 1977! I was introduced by the other DJ, did my set, absolutely nailed it, and secured my first residency. It was for every Wednesday and Friday, which was great, as I could still do mobiles on Saturdays. Most clubs back then had two residents each night, so when I turned up for my first Wednesday slot I was introduced to the other DJ I would be working with who was called Dale.
Although pretty much unknown at the time, he went on to become a household name. Yes, it was none other than Dale Winton! Even then he always knew exactly what he wanted, and that was to be a star. This guy was “WITH NO WEBSITES OR SOCIAL MEDIA IN THOSE DAYS, GETTING GIGS WAS ALL DOWN TO LEGWORK. ” Every Friday our local Methodist church used to run a youth club and one of the things that attracted people was the music.
They had two Dansette record players (an early twin deck setup) and one of the guys used to bring his records down and play them. Of course the songs were mostly his friends’ choices, who liked soul and Motown, which didn’t go down too well with us rockers! Then it happened, one Friday he didn’t turn up and, as I lived closest, I was sent home to get my records… rock records! So for that blissful evening my friends and I played rock all night; it went down a storm with the rockers but the soul-heads were not too impressed!
Unfortunately, they were in the majority so the next week it was back to normal. Even then I had no thoughts of ever becoming a DJ, although that one night was lots fun. Fast-forward a few years and I was back living in Walthamstow, East London, and began to experience the local nightclub scene. The first place my friends and I went was the Cambridge in Edmonton on a Sunday night as you only had to be 16 to get in.
Of course you weren’t supposed to drink until you were 18 but that didn’t stop us: “lager and lime please!” We progressed to places like The Sundown in Edmonton and The Royal & Charlee Browns in Tottenham, and it was at this time I started to take notice of the DJs and began thinking to myself, “I could do that” . I still preferred rock, but by now didn’t mind a bit of soul or funk, James Brown being the best of that bunch. In the summer of 1974 the boys went to Torquay on holiday.
We were well into David Bowie by this time and so were most of the clubs. However, on a night out, I also heard a DJ play a track that made such an impact I just had to ask what is was. The song in question was ‘Rock Your Baby’ by George McCrae and I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say it changed my life. It began my conversion to the soul, funk and disco side of things.
I was soon buying those records by the bucketload and going to concerts to see the likes of The Fatback Band and Parliament. Meanwhile my father got wind of my interest in music and, after retiring from British Rail with a nice pension, he offered to finance my budding DJ career. The next thing I know we’re at Disco Supplies in Chadwell Heath buying a Gold Glitter system; in those days it was very impressive and, if my memory serves me correctly, cost around £650 for the console and speakers.
We then spent another £200 or so for some lights and a microphone, and I was ready to go. Ready to go where? You might ask. Ah yes, I had to get a gig somewhere… So, with no websites or social media in those days, getting gigs was all down to legwork.
I took out an ad in the local paper, had a load of business cards printed, put them in every shop window I could find and gave them to absolutely everyone I met. Lo and behold, a couple of weeks later someone called and asked for a disco for their birthday party. Now at that point I hadn’t actually done a gig or even used a microphone in public, but over the previous couple of years I had listened to radio DJs, watched DJs in clubs and practised over and over, albeit mostly in my head!
Fortunately, when the big night : ROBBIE COLLINS the consummate professional and, knowing I was just starting out, showed me the ropes and helped improve my microphone technique. After about a year at Charlee Brown’s I felt ready for something bigger. “Go west young man,” I thought, and so I started looking for gigs in Central London. My Friday night resident partner, John Holly, also worked at the Global Village in Charing Cross and suggested I give the manager a call.
I was duly offered an audition and soon found myself on the roster along with John and a DJ called Norman Scott. At first I was backup, although John and Norman quite often did other things so I still worked most weekends, until John left and I became the resident alongside Norman. We would alternate between the downstairs and upstairs rooms every Friday and Saturday. Having a Saturday residency meant I consigned my mobile disco to history as being a club DJ was much more fun and you didn’t have to lug gear around and setup/take down every night!
I worked there for almost two years in 1978 and 1979. As the Global Village was an out and out Soul, Disco and Funk club, I had to have the latest tunes. This meant you would find me several lunchtimes a week (I was still in the City of London in the day) at City Sounds in Holborn grabbing the latest US imports as they arrived. In my opinion they were the best two years for soul, funk and disco, and playing this to up to 2000 people every Friday and Saturday was a dream come true.
A couple of guys called George Power and Nicky Price hired the Global Village for a series of alldayers and, being the residents, they included Norman and myself on the line-up. To this day they are amongst the biggest, most exciting gigs I have ever done. The atmosphere was through the roof and the music was just amazing, the buzz and adrenaline was unreal. George and Nicky went on to open their own weekly club night, intended to be London’s answer to Studio 54, which they called Centa City and held at the Sundown in the Charing Cross Road.
They made me resident, along with George, and the opening night was a roadblock as it also featured Anita Ward and McFadden & Whitehead doing PAs. “Whoa, this is the life,” I thought; fame and fortune beckoned, but unfortunately everything started to unravel very quickly. The Global Village’s owners had financial problems which meant the club was going downhill fast and the early promise of Centa City didn’t continue. In July 1979 the Global Village shut, as it had been sold (and would later become Heaven), while Centa City ended shortly afterwards.
This was quite a shock to the system. I was still young by DJ standards and relatively unprepared for this fall from grace and, what with the ‘Death of Disco’ , I found myself out of work and unable to play the music that I loved as nobody really wanted a soul and disco DJ anymore. I moped around for about a year or so before I got my arse back into gear and decided to reinvent myself. It was 1981 and the new romantic movement was the new big thing and I had a few contacts from the disco era who were now moving into the new romantic arena.
Most of the DJs playing that genre were enthusiasts and the promoters needed someone who could perform and use a microphone. I found myself doing some big all-dayers in Central London playing at The Venue in Victoria and The Lyceum Ballroom. I also got some regional residencies (Central London was a closed shop outside of the all-dayers), the best being at Alexandra’s in Slough where my biggest coup was to book Depeche Mode to play a gig which coincided with the week that ‘New Life’ entered the charts. “I CONSIGNED MY MOBILE DISCO TO HISTORY AS BEING A CLUB DJ WAS MUCH MORE FUN AND YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO LUG GEAR AROUND AND SETUP/TAKE DOWN EVERY NIGHT!” 19PROFILE: ROBBIE COLLINS The second part of my reinvention was to go mainstream, which meant playing anything and everything.
Getting into this was pure leg work and persistence: sending audition cassettes to clubs, phoning managers and turning up in person to badger them. Eventually my determination paid off and I got an audition at The Room At The Top in Ilford and next thing I knew I was back in the game. This was where I met one of the true gents and legends of the local scene, Larry Foster. Working with him was great fun and, even though he moved on the following year to The Villa, we always kept in contact.
We still do to this day, and have since worked together on many occasions at other venues. The early to mid ‘80s years were a golden period for me. I worked all over the Greater London area, sometimes up to five nights a week, whilst still holding down a job in the City. The funny thing is I never ever considered going full-time as a DJ as I managed to balance both nicely, although sleep was always at a premium.
I averaged 3.5 hours a night when I was gigging! A couple of years later I found myself joining Larry at the Villa and also met another DJ who was to become a lifelong friend, Steve Goddard. We worked together all over the place, promoted all-dayers and had so much fun. In decided to enter the DJ of the year competition which was totally against my better judgement but every now and again you have to do things that take you out of your comfort zone!
It was held at the Epping Forest Country Club, a rather notorious Essex establishment. To everyone’s surprise I won and got my picture on the front page of the local paper. I didn’t progress through any further heats, which confirmed what I thought first, competitions were not for me. However, the competition was not without its silver lining.
Sometime later The Epping Forest Country Club was going through some hard times and was up for sale. Off the back of the competition they called me and asked me to join their team as resident DJ. Apart from the famous Sunday nights around the pool, the rest of the nights were badly attended, so, along with the manager, I set about breathing life into the old dog. It was hard work but after about six months we got there with Fridays and Saturdays.
A new owner was then found, who had big plans for the club, and before we knew it we had a brand new shiny nightclub bristling with gear and lights and the place was rammed every night. I had a great four years there but, as with all good things, it eventually had to come to an end. My relationship with the owner became increasingly acrimonious so eventually it was off to pastures new. Around became interested in music technology and wanted to move my DJing on by making megamixes and edits.
I bought some kit, including a Tascam 244 4-track, and started experimenting. I spotted a remix competition being run by DMC to remix Pia Zadora’s ‘Dance Out Of My Head’ and decided to enter. I created the remix (or re-edit) by taking sections “THE EARLY TO MID ‘80S YEARS WERE A GOLDEN PERIOD FOR ME. I WORKED ALL OVER THE GREATER LONDON AREA, SOMETIMES UP TO FIVE NIGHTS A WEEK, WHILST STILL HOLDING DOWN A JOB IN THE CITY” : ROBBIE COLLINS Order code: EQLED024 Visit for full details Equinox - A Prolight Concepts Group Company 3 concentric circles of LEDs create stunning colour & pattern effects 19 x 12W quad-colour LEDs (RGBW) 6°- 50° motorised zoom Pixel zone mapping DMX, auto, sound active & master/slave modes Pan/tilt auto correction 16-Bit pan/tilt positioning Pan: 540°, Tilt: 270° FUSION 260ZR SSP inc VAT £_ProMobile_ProLight_Fusion2260ZR.indd 1 04/10/2019 09:57 of the song and rearranging them on two sets of stereo tracks on the 4-track.
To my surprise I was one of the runners up and received a limited-edition Pia Zadora leather jacket, which I wore for about 10 years. The remix bug had bitten! Over the following years I collected all sorts of kit: sequencers, samplers, drum machines and so on. I started sending mixes to DMC but was getting nowhere, however replying to an advert in Loot from a musician/producer looking for a DJ to help with dance productions changed all that.
His name was Kris Murrell, a talented multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer, who had a studio in Southall. He had a song called ‘Blow The Speakers’ that he needed help on. Together we came up with a radical remix, got it pressed on white label and promoted it through Impulse Promotions, it did quite well so we went for a follow up. This time we brought in a session singer to do the vocals, an American called Debbie Sharp.
We started hawking the demos around the record companies and got a call from Simon Dunmore at Cooltempo records. He was very interested in the track and had a few suggestions on how to improve it. So, off we went, made the changes and sent it back. Now, when I look back at my career, one area in which I probably failed was not pushing myself hard enough and getting myself out there, maybe if I had I would have gone a lot further.
Because of this I was content to let things ride and was simply disappointed that we never heard back from Simon. Kris and I continued with remixes and sent a Whitney Houston rework to DMC and, this time, also to the Music Factory. Music Factory called to say they loved the mix but, try as they did, they couldn’t get clearance for it, so they asked for something else. We quickly knocked together a remix of Midnight Star’s ‘Midas Touch’ and next thing we knew it ended up on Mastermix Issue 71.
This was followed up with a remix of Taylor Dayne’s ‘Tell It To My Heart’ and a Utility remake of ‘Zorba The Greek’ . For years I had always wanted to work for Rank Leisure. Playing in huge clubs appealed to me, but try as I might, I failed audition after audition so just couldn’t get in. That is until 1991 (I think, it might have been 1992).
Rank had just opened up the Ritzy in Romford so I went up there and asked the manager for an audition and was finally given the gig after so after many years of trying (moral of the story, never give up!). This opened doors in other Rank venues and over the next eight years or so I found myself at the Ilford Palais, The Event II in Brighton, The Ritzy in Dunstable, and The Zone and Ethos in Gillingham. So much gigging, doing remixes and productions and holding down my job in the City started to take its toll and something had to give.
My now wife of 30 years, Julie, was very patient and understanding through the early to mid ‘90s. But in ’96, with our first child on the way, something needed to change. First to go was the remixing and producing; to be fair it wasn’t really going anywhere despite plenty of near misses (my own fault as I didn’t push as hard as I should have). Next up, as a family, we decided that my wife would stay at home to look after our son so I had to find a better job in the City as we weren’t prepared to leave the earning power to chance in the entertainment industry.
A few years of very lucrative contracting in the City led me to a new permanent job at a bank that had some big international projects lined up. Alongside that our second child arrived (a daughter) and together they put the final nail in the DJ coffin. My new bank wanted to send me around the world so there was no way I could commit to residencies anymore.
My last gig was the Thursday dance night at Time in Norwich. Their dance nights were amazing, close on 2000 people on a Thursday night and one of the most knowledgeable and upfront crowds I had ever played for, it was a fitting way to go out. Despite a considerable hiatus, I never lost the DJ itch. So, in 2013, with the kids now teenagers and the international travel easing off, I decided it was time to go back to DJing, back to where I originally started, mobile discos.
A lot of friends had been asking me to play their birthday parties, so that seemed like the ideal place to start. The tech had improved no end during my years out of the game. The gadgets, oh boy, it was heaven to this tech-head, and the new lighting and sound systems no longer weighed half a ton, which was great news! However, it was clear that getting back up and running would take some investment, which meant getting my wife onboard.
I planned it all out – how I could get the business up and running whilst not letting it take over my life again and also live alongside my job in the City – and then brought it up with my wife. “How much do you need,” was her first question. I replied, “about three grand,” and to my surprise she agreed, although there were conditions attached. One gig a week maximum with a blank week every few weeks, no gigs to clash with important dates and “Don’t let it take over our lives again” .
Good, we were both on the same page. Next it was time to research what was needed and with that information in hand it was off to DJkit. I bought a JBL and Yamaha sound system, some LED lights including a couple of movers, an Ultimax 1.7m booth with overheads, a Chauvet Motion façade, six miles of cabling and something called DMX lighting software! (I bust the three grand budget by the way, although I’m sure you’re not surprised!) Now to get myself back out there!
No business cards in shop windows and ads in the local paper nowadays, times had changed. I realised that I had to join the 21st Century so opened Facebook and Twitter accounts to promote the business. I also found lead generator websites plus put the word out with friends and other contacts. So, along with the friends’ parties already booked up, I just needed to wait for the gigs to roll in, and they did.
The business steadily grew over the next couple of years, maybe not as quickly as I would have liked, but it meant I wasn’t tempted to cross any of the wife’s red lines! During this time Steve Goddard was looking to put together an Essex reunion and asked me if I would be interested. When he told me that Larry Foster would be there too, I jumped at the chance and so it was back to the soul and funk gigs, which turned out to be just what I needed. Steve also ran events called Soul Funky and a series of monthly Sunday afternoon gigs in Bexley called Soulphisticated and he invited me to join the guest DJ roster. “THE TECH HAD IMPROVED NO END DURING MY YEARS OUT OF THE GAME.
THE GADGETS, OH BOY, IT WAS HEAVEN TO THIS TECH- HEAD, AND THE NEW LIGHTING AND SOUND SYSTEMS NO LONGER WEIGHED HALF A TON, WHICH WAS GREAT NEWS” : ROBBIE COLLINS
