If there was ever to be a soundtrack album made to accompany Stu’s life, it’s size would span several volumes and the musical content would be as diverse and have as many surprises as his life has had so far.
Brought up in a household filled with the sound of his parents music choices, he was introduced to classic artists like Michael Jackson, Prince and Stevie Wonder (he still can’t figure out why he “tastes” Sugar Puffs every time he hears that horn intro to Sir Duke!).
From a young age he was delving into the family vinyl record collection for hidden gems from the likes of Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye and of course The Beatles, which had him dropping a turntable needle as soon as he could figure out the magical workings of the family hi-fi system.
The latest 1980’s hits were religiously taped from the radio during the Sunday chart rundown. Not with intentions of copyright infringement, more in an attempt to emulate the radio presenters he was hearing.
Spending hours perfecting the art of hitting the pause button at the right time to cut out the announcements, replacing them with his own voice between songs.
John Peel became a firm favourite due to the weird and wonderful variety of tunes that he played that just weren’t being heard anywhere else at the time.
Even to the younger Stu, unable to fully understand what exactly this legend of radio was playing, his ramshackle but obviously passionate broadcasts proved captivating during long soaks in the bath.
Nothing Stu had experienced so far in his tender years had come close to the way radio made him feel, how it could be an amazing portal into someone’s life and record collection and gave the ability to share their love of music with the world.
The boredom of school days was alleviated by the accompaniment of his trusty Walkman (that’s cassette tapes for you young ones out there!), quickly ditching his faintly embarrassing first album purchase of Go West to enter the world of his friends who were exploring much more interesting sounds. Swapping tapes of Iron Maiden and other classic bands with young metal-heads expanded his world leading him by the end of his school years to amassed a collection of metal and heavy rock tunes that Lemmy would be proud of.
His journey into college came at the time of rock music’s natural progression into Grunge, Stu was always more a fan of Pearl Jam than Nirvana. His ever widening social circle brought with it yet more sonic avenues to explore and friends happily shared their own new discoveries along with tastes passed down from their respective parents.
It was also the first time he had experienced friends that dressed, well, a bit “different” at the time, bringing with them an introduction to the world of more alternative tastes like The Cure and The Smiths.
Of course, not even being 18 yet and at college it was the perfect time to start exploring the world of parties and the early 90’s was arguably one of dance music’s finest periods. Events were all over Cornwall at the time if you knew where to look outside of the common room. Aphex Twin, the greatest musical export from Stu’s hometown of Redruth (totally different to the town’s other famous musician Mick Fleetwood) cut his teeth on quarry raves just down the road for instance.
Stu feverishly immersed himself in the energetic new sounds of The Prodigy, KLF and other artists of this amazing new world of noises created electronically rather than with guitars.
After several years spent listening to music rather than engaging in college work (It was only later in life Stu realised he absorbed knowledge more effectively outside of a classroom), it was time to enter the working world. A succession of admin jobs followed, with a continued niggle in the back of his mind that he wasn’t really in a career he loved.
The same excitement he felt at discovering electronic and dance music happened again when Britain exploded to the sound of Britpop in the early to mid 90’s. As the UK became the only place to be for exciting new independent music (for the record, Stu was firmly in the Blur camp during their media driven “battle” with Oasis).
This proved to be the start of a love of live performances and he found himself getting sweaty in a venue basement or muddy in a festival field in an attempt to catch the latest influential indie artists in their natural habitat.
His mundane employment history continued, with regular visits to independent and second hand record stores (yes, you used to be able to buy music in physical form at a shop kids!) became the only thing keeping him sane from the 9 to 5 drudgery.
Then everything changed…
After an operation in London in 2005 didn’t exactly go according to plan, Stu woke up unable to see.
Being forced to leave his latest mind numbing job to cope with the new world of living without sight, he realised that he had actually been given the perfect opportunity with the time and freedom to follow the music, radio and mobile DJ based career that he had always wanted…
This is Stu’s story, why not let him be a part of yours.
He’s waiting to provide the soundtrack to your special occasion,
contact him here
You can see some of the albums that have accompanied the above journey here.