Two proud, potless idealists, Eddie 'Ears' Gordon and Steve 'Wolfie' Wallis with American Soul singing star Major Harris of 'Love Won't Let Me Wait' Grammy Fame in the Soul Bowl, 69 High Street, Gravesend 1983. We brought a great deal of real talent to that town over those years folks...Thank you Howdi Binning for believing in our ideas and promises.

In 1983 I started a company called CAMPAR, with Steve Wallis, which stood for Creative Agency Management Promotion And Representation. We soon got tired of repeating that mouthful every time the phone rang so abbreviated it to CAMPAR. We should have added the word 'Ideas' at the end to then have CAMPARI, but seriously we were full of ideas and that company soon had a roster of DJ's including Radio London's Robbie Vincent, Radio London's Jeff Young, Radio Kent's Rod Lucas. Flicks DJ Colin Hudd and a local Radio wanna-be Pete Tong who personally requested my services after I beat him in a local Poll for Best DJ by five times more votes. I always was the people's choice because I kept my feet on the ground amongst everybody, still going back 26 years later to DJ at reunions with many of them.

With CAMPAR we created the first dance DJ Agency which as a business now 24 years later is a very profitable way of earning a living if you have the right talent. I went on to manage Jeff Young until he retired from DJ'ing. Jeff became BBC Radio 1's first dance DJ from '87 to '93. He started the real push of dance into mainstream media and deserves the credit for being the original ground-breaking pioneer. The guy who many people should thank.

Pete Tong was managed by me from 1984 until 2004 - 20 years. We were both passionate about seeing how far we could push the boundaries of dance music around the world, something that we succeeded with beyond all our expectations with the BBC Millennium crossing the globe. I personally persuaded Jeff Young to recommend Tong to Radio 1 when Jeff was stepping down in '93, I drove Tong around the UK to every possible dance music club in every town to build his Radio 1 audience, then put him on international Radio in Ibiza which he is still doing some 13 years later and then on the World stage with a company I formed in 1999 called IMD.

I still look after some very good DJ's today but in an advisory sense they include Pete Gooding and DJ Pearl from India, both excellent DJ's check them out on Google & Youtube. I also played a significant part in the careers of DJ's Judge Jules, Paul Oakenfold, Carl Cox, Danny Rampling, Fergie and Seb Fontaine in my BBC Radio 1 capacity of finding new talent for the station plus new ideas including the Essential Mix Show and BBC Radio 1 live broadcasts from clubs around the world which lead to the Ibiza explosion from '95 to today, the One World Millennium and the UK Love Parade events introduced by myself (more info on these on the site).

Having started the world's first Dance DJ Agency with Steve and to go on to build one of the world's biggest DJ's with nearly 20 years loyalty, taking him from $200 a gig to $300'000 for one nights DJing - I'm satisfied with my work in that field. The cut and pasted information below is from one of the many Tong career CV's posted on the world wide web...............

"When Invicta Radio started up in Kent in 1984, Tong joined them to host a regular soul show, where assisted by local Kent journalist/promoter Eddie Gordon of The Kent Messenger he built up a big county profile.Tong stayed at Invicta until 1987. He was then hired by Capital Radio in 1988 at the suggestion of DJ Jeff Young to present a weekly dance program. DJ Jeff Young having initially been offered the slot by Capital went to BBC Radio 1 to broadcast a weekly Friday night show called The Big Beat.

In 1991 Tong returned to national radio after his manager Eddie Gordon talked the then departing DJ Jeff Young into suggesting him to BBC Radio 1 as the ideal replacement for the"hot' Friday night slot. Tong began his long stint as the host of the Essential Selection.

The Essential Selection was a BBC Radio 1 show on Friday nights from 6:00pm-9:00pm in the UK, although this has now been changed. The show is now simply known as Pete Tong and its new time slot is 7:00pm-9:00pm on Fridays. It showcases the latest dance music, with the focus being on house, and informs listeners what club nights are on around the United Kingdom that weekend. It is endorsed by Radio 1 as the official start to the weekend. It attracts one of the highest audiences for a dance radio show in the UK. Pete Tong also hosts a one hour show on Radio 1 on Thursday nights 9:00pm-10:00pm called Pete Tong's In New Music We Trust. Since 1993 Pete has been associated with Radio 1's Essential Mix which airs 2:00am-4:00am on Saturday night/Sunday morning. He is now the station's second longest serving DJ (after Annie Nightingale)."

My very important chat with my main client DJ Jeff Young, the departing BBC Radio 1 DJ, about passing the Baton on to Pete to protect the ground-breaking work he had established on the National Radio Station was indeed an essential bit of work for Mr. Tong's career!