Pete Tong

Peter Michael Tong (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1.

He is the host of programmes such as Essential Mix and Essential Selection on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for his record label FFRR Records and for his own performances at nightclubs and music festivals.

Tong has also worked as a record producer and is regarded as the "global ambassador for electronic music."

Tong was born in Dartford, Kent in 1960 and was educated at King's School, Rochester, Kent.

Tong is a supporter of Arsenal F.C.

Tong's original musical interest was in drumming, but he soon moved on to DJing.

He played his first public gig at a friend's wedding at age 15.

While at school he and a couple of friends earned some extra money by promoting a couple of local bands and booking halls for gigs.

He also worked as part of the Kent "Soul Mafia" bringing soul weekenders to seaside towns such as Caister-on-Sea and Prestatyn.

In his early years Tong was heavily influenced by the late DJ Froggy.

Tong's first appearance on radio was in the late 1970s on Radio Invicta, Europe's first soul music station.

Later, he appeared on local radio station BBC Radio Medway, as part of the 'Soul Mafia' and performed occasional mixes for Radio London.

The first album he bought was The Slider by T-Rex (1972).

After leaving school, Tong set up a mobile disco based in a Ford Transit van, but he soon started his own club in Baker Street called Family Function.

He also booked bands for an alternative night, the first of which was the then unknown Culture Club.

Tong originally performed as a DJ using the name "Kickstart Roadshow" and then later "OHMS Roadshow" with an extensive sound system.

Later he became DJ and promoter at the Kings Lodge club in West Kingsdown.

Later moving venue to the Hill Top, also in West Kingsdown, he was responsible for breaking classics such as Lonnie Liston Smith's "Expansions" and Ritchie Cole's "Groovin on a New York Afternoon".

In 1979, Tong became an advertising sales assistant for Blues & Soul magazine.

In 1981, Tong made his first appearance on Radio 1 as the host of a 15-minute feature on Peter Powell's show—he played new tracks and covered the latest gossip and news from the dance music industry.

After a year he also contributed some reviews, gossip and sales charts, which continued until 1983.

He left Blues & Soul to join London Records as an A&R manager.

Through his connections in London Records, Tong was exposed to the newly emerging house music sound from Chicago.

When Invicta Radio started in Kent in 1984, Tong became the host of a regular soul show on the station.

As Tong had joined the developing dance-DJ management company of DJ-turned-journalist Eddie Gordon, of the Kent Messenger, he built a prominent county profile and performed at Gordon's local club the Slammer.

In 1986, Tong organised a compilation album, The House Sound of Chicago, Vol. 1, the first British release to gather and expose this genre.

The phrase "It's all gone Pete Tong", where the name is used as rhyming slang for "it's all gone wrong", was reputedly coined by Paul Oakenfold in late 1987 in an article about acid house called "Bermondsey Goes Balearic" for Terry Farley and Pete Heller's Boys Own fanzine.

Tong joined Capital Radio in 1988 to present a weekly dance programme.

In January 1991, Tong began his Friday evening show, branded as the Essential Selection for its first 15 years, on BBC Radio 1.

The show still continues every week (currently it is broadcast at 10PM for two hours, either pre-recorded from Tong's garage at his home in Los Angeles or live from the eighth floor of Broadcasting House) and Tong is now the longest serving DJ on the station (following the death of Annie Nightingale).

A spinoff, titled The Rap Selection (featuring rap, ragga and new jack swing), aired on Thursday evenings on the station from 9 to 10PM from April 1991 until March 1992.

Additionally, a one-hour Sunday edition of the programme, called "The Essential Selection - Part 2", was broadcast from April 1992 to April 1993.

From October 1993 Tong oversaw the production of the Essential Mix show, which was devised and, until 2003, produced by Gordon.

The show was the first BBC production to broadcast live from Ibiza, Spain.

It's All Gone Pete Tong is also the title of a 2004 film which portrays a fictional DJ's experiences as he realizes he is becoming deaf.

Tong appears briefly in the film.

It is also the name Tong has adopted for his club night at the nightclub Pacha in Ibiza and his nightly radio programme in the United States on iHeartRadio's "Evolution" EDM format platform.

In 2008, Tong was involved with organizing the International Music Summit in Ibiza, an event that has become an annual fixture (the 2016 Summit was held during 25–27 May).

Along with Jules Buckley and the Heritage Orchestra, Tong was part of the 2015 BBC Proms season, performing the Radio 1 'Ibiza Prom'.

In 2017, Tong won Radio Show of the Year at the Electronic Music Awards for "The Essential Collection".