Gilles Peterson

The show always presented a combination of new, older and often very rare records from the late 1950s to 1980s.

Every three months or so, Peterson dedicated a whole show to older vinyl releases in a special version of his show he subtitled as Brownswood Basement; two associated compilation albums with the same name containing older personal classics have been released on the United States label Ubiquity Records's offshoot Luv N' Haight.

Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson, is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner.

He went on to host Mad on Jazz on BBC Radio London in 1986–87, and became known on the London circuit as a DJ specialising in the new breed of "acid jazz", drawing on the jazz, funk, Latin fusions and Brazilian music of the 1970s.

Upon leaving BBC London in 1987, Peterson took up a new Sunday afternoon residency at Dingwalls in Camden.

It was around the same time that he'd started BGP Records, a sub-label of Ace Records focused on soul, funk and jazz dance, together with DJ Baz Fe Jazz.

In March 1990, Peterson joined London's first-ever dedicated jazz station 102.2 Jazz FM at its launch.

The three-hour show was stripped into sections including the "Samba 60" and the "Vibrazone".

Artists as diverse as the Freestyle Fellowship, Sérgio Mendes and Leon Thomas would all appear on the same playlist.

He was dismissed from the station after playing anti-war songs and making anti-war comments during the first Gulf War.

Peterson would then join Kiss FM in 1991, the station having become legal the year before.

In his "Vibrazone" shows on Kiss FM he played acts as diverse as Josh Wink, Gang Starr and Horace Silver in the space of a single programme.

Features included the "Herbie Sessions".

In 1998, he was hired by BBC Radio 1, and in 2012 he began hosting a three-hour Saturday afternoon programme on BBC Radio 6 Music.

He hosts a syndicated radio programme that is broadcast in seven European countries.

From 1998 to 2012, through his BBC show Worldwide – which was originally produced by longtime collaborator Benji B, Karen P (Folded Wing), Ben Cave, Beccy Grierson, Alex Kenning, and Dave O'Donnell – Peterson continued to present a wide range of music that may be new to its young audiences.

He was awarded an honorary MBE in 2004, the AIM Award for Indie Champion and the Mixmag Award for Outstanding Contribution To Dance Music in 2013, the PRS for Music Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music Radio in 2014, and The A&R Award from the Music Producers Guild in 2019.

Throughout his career, Peterson has played a pivotal role in promoting genres such as jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music.

He started his career on pirate radio stations Radio Invicta and K-Jazz, later joining legal stations in London, first the newly founded Jazz FM, and then onto the dance music station Kiss FM.

In August 2004, the show moved from Wednesday (midnight till 2 am) to an earlier Sunday slot (11 pm to 1 am), with a spectacular live outside broadcast from The Big Chill at Eastnor Castle Herefordshire, featuring Bugz In The Attic performing a DJ set, and interviews with house DJ Tom Middleton and Mr. Scruff.

One of the highlights of the changed format BBC Radio 1 show was the special sessions from the BBC's Maida Vale Studios.

These included artists such as Roots Manuva, Björk and Floating Points.

Since 2005, he has hosted the annual Worldwide Awards in London and Worldwide Festival in Sète.

He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brownswood Recordings in 2006.

In September 2006, the show was moved from Sunday night to Tuesday night/Wednesday morning between 2 am and 4 am.

The first show included a live appearance from Lupe Fiasco.

In late 2011, Peterson announced that after 13 years at the station he would be leaving BBC Radio 1, following his last show in the early hours of Wednesday 28 March and moving to a new show on BBC Radio 6 Music.

Peterson started a new three-hour Saturday afternoon show on BBC Radio 6 Music, beginning on Saturday 7 April 2012, running weekly from 3 to 6 pm, and giving him an extra hour of broadcast time.

Like his previous Radio 1 programme, it is made by independent production company Somethin' Else for the BBC.

He also presents a weekly show on RTÉ 2XM, 2-4pm on Mondays.

In 2016, he launched the online radio station Worldwide FM with Boiler Room co-founder and original host Thristian Richards.

He also hosts mixes and new music on his SoundCloud page, where he has over three million followers.

He is behind several events celebrating the music that he supports through his DJ sets and radio shows.

A new global music-radio platform named Worldwide FM was launched by Gilles Peterson in 2016 with Boiler Room co-founder Thristian Richards in September 2016.

Following the success of the Grand Theft Auto V in-game radio station of the same name, WorldWide FM has expanded into the real world with Peterson and Richards hosting shows alongside a hand-picked roster of the finest DJs and selectors from five continents.

Since the launch, the station has gone out on the road broadcasting across Europe, the US and Asia, with pop-ups in Amsterdam (ADE), Los Angeles (How We Do LA), Marseille (Le Gallette), Milan (Jazzmi Festival), Paris (Le Mellotron), Tokyo (HMV Shibuya), and closer to home, at the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair (Somerset House).

The station is Powered by WeTransfer and broadcasting from The Pyramid radio studios in north London.

In 2019, launched the new We Out Here festival in the UK.

Peterson was first heard as a DJ on the London pirate radio station Radio Invicta, Peterson spent his teenage years putting up radio transmitters for the pirates and playing on stations such as K-Jazz.

Brought up in the suburban South London soul scene Peterson was exposed to a variety of music.