Brandon Block (born 26 November 1967) is a British club DJ. He has appeared on reality shows like '' Celebrity Come Dine with Me'' and ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...

''. He is well known for appearing on stage heavily intoxicated at the 2000

BRIT Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

. Friends suggested that he had entered a musical contest and had won ''Best Musician of the Year'', when in fact he had not even been nominated for the award. This resulted in a confrontation with award presenter

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a ...

and

Thora Birch Thora Birch (born March 11, 1982) is an American actress and producer. She made her feature film debut in 1988 with a starring role in ''Purple People Eater'', for which she received a Young Artist Award for "Best Young Actress Under Nine Years ...

Early life

Block was born in London. At the age of four, he moved to

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

along with his mother, who still lives there today. Block's career started out in 1985 at the John Lyon pub in Harrow, Middlesex. According to Block himself, "My friends and I used to buy a lot of funk and soul (the sound at the time) and one night the DJ there didn't show, so me and my then DJ Lewis asked the governor if we could bring the records down and do it. We were so good that he fired the DJ. In fact, it got so popular that they started charging an entrance fee".DJ Brandon Block – House DJ & star of Ibiza
Fantazia.org.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2012.

Life and career

In 1988, his first club residency was at ZigZag at the Broadway Boulevard in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was his ...

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North Londo ...

. Whilst there, he met Dean Thatcher (best known as a founder member of techno/house act

The Aloof The Aloof were a British electronic music group. They formed in London, England, in 1990. The group consisted of Ricky Barrow, Gary Burns, Jagz Kooner, Richard Thair, and Dean Thatcher. They were active during the 1990s, and released four studio ...

) and started up his own night called Haven Stables, which ran until 1991. The previous year, he went to

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its la ...

for the first time with the record label he was working for at the time. During his time, he has also held residencies at Up Yer Ronson in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

, FUBAR at the Milk Bar in London, Club For Life in London, and Scream in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...

. He has also played numerous other venues such as the Ministry of Sound, Turnmills, Miss Moneypenny's, Republica, Progress, Karanga and Colours. Several appearances on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...

's Essential Mix show appeared. In 1996, Block was experiencing problems in his private life. His lifestyle was taking its toll on his health. He then sought help and, in October 1996, entered the Capio Nightingale Hospital in Lisson Grove, where he met the man to whom he credits with saving his life. In 2009, Block agreed to take part in an anti-drugs campaign for the government. He revealed that back in 1996 he had picked up illnesses including a lung infection (which necessitated a portion being removed) and hepatitis, and said that doctors had told him to change his life immediately – otherwise, he would have "two weeks to live" Speaking in 1997 about this, he said of detox: "It's been hard. You have to make a decision. Make it and then there’s no going back." He now has undertaken numerous training courses including City & Guilds in Health & Social Care, Smart Recovery (Train the Trainer), Life Coaching, Goal Mapping Practitioner, Stress Management Society (Train the Trainer) to date. From 2010 until 2015, he worked with Blenheim the London drug and alcohol treatment service as a project worker. From January 2016, he took on a job as a project worker for the NHS, working with people who have multiple complex needs. This was a 12 month pilot which received rave reviews. From 2017 to the present day, he has been showcasing inspirational people who have made dramatic and significant changes in the face of adversity, via Facebook live interviews and by using his Facebook page creation 'Happy Days for Everyone'. He now works as a Stress Management and Goal Mapping Coach with various agencies and services to improve peoples lives and raise awareness around mental health issues. During detox, he was forced to take six months off from the DJ circuit in 1996. As his health improved the following year, so did his fortunes. In October 1997, he became a radio presenter alongside his old friend Alex P, presenting a show on

Kiss 100 Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network. It is primarily aimed at the 15-34 age group and broadcasts nationally to the UK on DAB Digital Radio, as well as on FM in London, Bristol an ...

. Later, he had three singles released under his Blockster alias – "Something Goin' On", "Grooveline" and "You Should Be..", all of which were released by

Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio. Jame ...

. "You Should Be..." was a remix of "

You Should Be Dancing "You Should Be Dancing" is a song by the Bee Gees, from the album ''Children of the World'', released in 1976. It hit No. 1 for one week on the American ''Billboard'' Hot 100, No. 1 for seven weeks on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, and in S ...

" by the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

, and reached number 3 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in January 1999, and "Grooveline", which sampled "

The Groove Line "The Groove Line" is a 1978 single by the Dayton, Ohio/European funk-disco group Heatwave. It was written by Rod Temperton. It was included on Heatwave's second album, ''Central Heating''. History The song charted at number 12 in the UK Singles Ch ...

" by Heatwave, reached number 18 in July 1999. In 2005, he appeared on the chatshow ''

Heads Up with Richard Herring ''Heads Up with Richard Herring'' or ''HUWRH'', is a British celebrity chat show written by and starring Richard Herring, who is best known as one half of comedy duo Lee and Herring, the stars of BBC Two shows ''Fist of Fun'' and ''This Morning Wi ...

'' to discuss his life, career,

anti-semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, and his love of poker. In September 2006, Block was on

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

's reality television show '' Trust Me - I'm A Holiday Rep''. He formerly, between 2000 and 2001, presented ''Brandon Block's Video Hits'' on Rapture TV. On 13 January 2007, Block appeared on ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...

'' Music Extravaganza Edition. He was the second to be voted off. Block also hosted a show alongside fellow DJ and friend Alex P on MTV Dance, where they toured Ibiza interviewing clubbers from around the island, and played the latest dance videos. On 21 June 2012, Block featured as the entertainment for one of the guests on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's '' Come Dine with Me''. On 3 January 2017, Block entered the ''

'' house. He voluntarily left the house on Day 10.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Block, Brandon English DJs Club DJs Remixers Living people 1967 births English radio DJs English Jews