Brandon Block (born 26 November 1967) is a British

club DJ A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music festivals), mobile DJ ...

, producer and remixer. He has appeared on reality shows like '' Celebrity Come Dine with Me'' and ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Celebrity Big Brother'' or ''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, t ...

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

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

and

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

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 the London Borou ...

along with his mother, who still lives there today. Block's career started out in 1985 at the John Lyon

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England * Harrow, London, a town in London * Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) * ...

, 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

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

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

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: Central London, N ...

. 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 (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

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 in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, 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 Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

. 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 Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

'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 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 Media Audio UK as part of the Kiss Network. Kiss broadcasts nationally to the UK via DAB digital radio, as well as on Bauer's Rayo platform. The station started in 1985 as ...

. 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 publisher (popular music), music publishing busin ...

. His version of 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 was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

' "

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 ...

" reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart in January 1999, and his version of

Heatwave A heat wave or heatwave, sometimes described as extreme heat, is a period of abnormally hot weather generally considered to be at least ''five consecutive days''. A heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the area and ...

's "

The Groove Line "The Groove Line" is a 1977 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 ...

" 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 ...

'' to discuss his life, career,

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

, and his love of poker. In September 2006, Block was on Five's reality television show '' Trust Me - I'm a Holiday Rep''. He formerly, between 2000 and 2001, presented ''Brandon Block's Brits'' which also had a Jordan's Top Tips, on

Rapture TV Rapture TV was a previously free-to-air satellite television station (although now an exclusively online channel) operated from the United Kingdom, founded in 1997. Focusing mostly on electronic dance music and extreme sports, it is notable fo ...

. On 13 January 2007, Block appeared on ''

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

'' 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 Club MTV, formerly MTV Dance, is a European pay television music channel from Paramount Networks EMEAA that which replaced the British MTV Base on 7 March 2008. The network mainly broadcasts music videos from the electronica and techno genres, a ...

, 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 channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''

Come Dine with Me ''Come Dine with Me'' is a British reality series that has aired on Channel 4 since 10 January 2005 and is narrated by Dave Lamb. Format The original format features five amateur chefs who live in the same town or area, who each host a three-c ...

''. On 3 January 2017, Block entered the ''

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Block, Brandon English DJs British club DJs British electronic dance music DJs British remixers Living people 1967 births English radio DJs English record producers Jewish English musicians