Judge Jules

Judge Jules (born Julius O'Riordan, 26 October 1966, London) is a British dance music DJ and producer, known for his DJ activities and popular radio show which achieved global success. Jules was educated at Highgate Wood Secondary School, a state school in Highgate Wood in North London and University College School, an independent school for boys in Hampstead (also in North London), followed by the London School of Economics (LSE), where he earned a degree in law. During his time at university, Jules started hosting small parties where he was the DJ and also earned the nickname "Judge Jules" due to his field of study. Judge Jules began DJing professionally back in 1987. He was quickly hired by the then-pirate radio station Kiss FM. He his show with Radio 1 in October 1997. When he first arrived, his show went out between 17:00 and 19:00 on Saturday evenings, ahead of Danny Rampling's show. From 31 July 2004, after the departure of Seb Fontaine from the station, his show was moved to between 19:00 and 21:00 on Saturday nights, ahead of Tim Westwood. The show was widely advertised as, "The UK's Saturday Warmup", or "The Weekend Warm-Up". One of the most infamous jingles used on the show during this time described it as, "The Sound Of Saturday Night". The show kept this slot until September 2007. During those years, his music policy ranged from playing commercial to underground tracks, and much in between. The first segment of the show were taken by the Cut-Up Boys, who did a ten-minute mix featuring several dance tracks and acappellas playing simultaneously. The rest of the first hour was generally taken up by house music and the second hour featured trance music, although if they were broadcasting the show outside the studio, the music might vary. In September 2007, the show was moved to 01:00 to 03:00 every Saturday morning. Because of Jules' DJ commitments on Friday evenings, his show was now pre-recorded instead of being broadcast live. From September 2008, the show was moved forward by 2 hours to 23:00 to 01:00 every Friday evening. The reason for the move was the departure of Dave Pearce, whose Dance Anthems show was moved to BBC Radio 6 Music. His show attracted a wide audience from around the world due to Radio 1's online internet connections and the Sirius Satellite Radio network in the United States and Canada. Through the radio show, he was responsible for launching many popular trance tunes and acts in the UK, and was a pioneer for commercial contemporary dance music. Many people send their unreleased tracks to him. According to his own website, during the time when his show was being produced, he received between 250-300 promos per week. His Radio 1 show was produced by independent production company Somethin' Else. Judge Jules presented his last show on Radio 1 on 30 March 2012. He also has an internationally-syndicated radio show called "The Global Warm Up" (also produced by Somethin' Else) which can be heard across the US, Russia, Europe and the Middle East. Jules produces his own music - his wife has appeared on a few of these. She provided vocals for the group Angelic, which was a grouping between Judge Jules and Darren Tate. They had two hits, "It's My Turn" in 2000 and "Can't Keep Me Silent" in 2001. In 2005, she appeared once more on the track "Without Love", which was by Judge Jules himself. This track was eventually released, with remixes, on the Maelstrom Records label in 2007. Jules has also released two albums via this label, "Proven Worldwide" in 2006 and "Bring The Noise" in 2009. Elsewhere, he has collaborated several times with Paul Masterson under the Hi-Gate name. Jules is a lifelong and passionate follower of football. He supports Arsenal FC and was asked to remix the Premier League's official anthem in 2005. In January 2010 Jules played a Royal National Institute for the Deaf promotional event for M&C Saatchi. He is set to play the South West Four Weekender on 28 August 2010 on Clapham Common, London.