Annie Nightingale
Encyclopedia
Anne "Annie" Nightingale MBE (born 1 April 1942) is an English radio
broadcaster. She is most commonly known by the more informal name of Annie. She was the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1
and, since the death of John Peel
in October 2004, is its longest-serving presenter.
, Hampton
, London
and the Polytechnic of Central London
School of Journalism Nightingale began her career as a journalist in Brighton
. In the 1960s she wrote columns for the Daily Express
, the Daily Sketch
and Cosmopolitan
magazine.
show, which was simulcast on the Radio 2 FM frequency.
In the late 1970s she presented a Sunday afternoon request show and by 1980 was presenting a Friday night show and the non-music-based Radio 1 Mailbag. In 1978 Nightingale began presenting the The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC2; during her tenure the show moved away from its progressive rock bias and embraced more modern, popular styles such as punk rock
and new wave
.
In the late 1970s The Sunday Request Show began its run; originally broadcast on Sunday afternoons before moving in 1982 to a slot immediately after the Top 40. The show was one of the first on British radio to regularly play music from CDs. A gimmick was to allow the intro of the first song in the show to play uninterrupted before saying "Hi" in the very last second before the vocals started.
In 1994 Nightingale moved to a weekend overnight dance music show initially called The Chill Out Zone. She can still be heard in the early hours of Friday mornings on BBC Radio 1. On her current show she spins breaks
, often featuring major breaks DJs such as Plump DJs, Freestylers
, Noisia
and Meat Katie
. Nightingale regularly DJs live at clubs and festivals around the UK and Europe.
As a DJ Nightingale has travelled all over the world and made music-documentaries during visits to Russia
, Romania
, Iraq
, Chile
, The Philippines and Cuba
. While in Havana
in 1996 she was injured during a mugging, resulting in multiple injuries requiring an air-lift to a London hospital, since which she has worn the distinctive shades
, now part of her image.
In 2002 Nightingale was awarded both the MBE for her services to radio broadcasting and The Caner Of The Year Award by Muzik Magazine. The award recognised her in depth coverage of the radio scene. In 2004 she was the first female DJ from Radio 1 to be inducted into the Radio Academy Hall Of Fame.
Nightingale has published two autobiographical books: Chase The Fade (1981) ISBN 0713711671 and Wicked Speed (1999) ISBN 0283061979. She has compiled two albums: Annie On One (1996, Heavenly Recordings) and her own installment of the Breaks DJ mix series Y4K (2007, Distinctive Records).
On 30 September 2007, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of BBC Radio 1
Annie co-hosted a special return of the Request Show with Annie Mac
featuring contributions from musicians such as Paul McCartney
and Chemical Ed
, excerpts from the original show and Annie's recollections of regular contributors such as "Night Owl of Croydon". The show featured many classic tracks which had been requested over the years and closed with one of Annie's favourites, Cristina
's version of "Is That All There Is?
".
A version of The Smiths
song Panic
interpreted by Mancunian
cult comedian Frank Sidebottom
dedicates its choruses to "Anne the deejay" and asks "Anne Nightingale what's your blinking game".
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcaster. She is most commonly known by the more informal name of Annie. She was the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
and, since the death of John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
in October 2004, is its longest-serving presenter.
Early life and career
After attending Lady Eleanor Holles SchoolLady Eleanor Holles School
The Lady Eleanor Holles School is an independent school for girls in Hampton, London, England. The school was founded in 1711.-Admissions:...
, Hampton
Hampton
-In Australia:*Hampton, Queensland*Hampton, Victoria*Hampton East, Victoria*Hampton Island*Hampton Park, Victoria-In Canada:*Hampton, New Brunswick*Hampton, Nova Scotia*Hampton, Ontario*Hampton, Prince Edward Island-In the United Kingdom:...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and the Polytechnic of Central London
University of Westminster
The University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...
School of Journalism Nightingale began her career as a journalist in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
. In the 1960s she wrote columns for the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
, the Daily Sketch
Daily Sketch
The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton.It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers but in 1925 Rothermere offloaded it to William and Gomer Berry The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper,...
and Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
magazine.
Radio career
She started at Radio 1 on the 1st of January 1970 with a Sunday evening show. Later she then hosted the singles review show What's New in the early 1970s before graduating to a late-night progressive rockProgressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
show, which was simulcast on the Radio 2 FM frequency.
In the late 1970s she presented a Sunday afternoon request show and by 1980 was presenting a Friday night show and the non-music-based Radio 1 Mailbag. In 1978 Nightingale began presenting the The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC2; during her tenure the show moved away from its progressive rock bias and embraced more modern, popular styles such as punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
.
In the late 1970s The Sunday Request Show began its run; originally broadcast on Sunday afternoons before moving in 1982 to a slot immediately after the Top 40. The show was one of the first on British radio to regularly play music from CDs. A gimmick was to allow the intro of the first song in the show to play uninterrupted before saying "Hi" in the very last second before the vocals started.
In 1994 Nightingale moved to a weekend overnight dance music show initially called The Chill Out Zone. She can still be heard in the early hours of Friday mornings on BBC Radio 1. On her current show she spins breaks
Breakbeat
In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...
, often featuring major breaks DJs such as Plump DJs, Freestylers
Freestylers
The Freestylers are a British electronic music group, generally fitting into the breakbeat genre. Recently their style has incorporated more of a drumstep sound, more in line with The Prodigy and other such artists.-Career:...
, Noisia
Noisia
Noisia, stylized as NOISIΛ , is a Dutch Electronic music trio consisting of members Nik Roos, Martijn van Sonderen and Thijs de Vlieger from Groningen, The Netherlands. They now produce a wide variety of music including drum and bass, dubstep, breakbeat and house music...
and Meat Katie
Meat Katie
Mark Pember, also known as Meat Katie, is a London-based tech-funk producer and DJ. He has gained popularity in recent years in developing his style of tech-funk, combining techno, tribal, electro, breakbeat and house music...
. Nightingale regularly DJs live at clubs and festivals around the UK and Europe.
As a DJ Nightingale has travelled all over the world and made music-documentaries during visits to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, The Philippines and Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. While in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
in 1996 she was injured during a mugging, resulting in multiple injuries requiring an air-lift to a London hospital, since which she has worn the distinctive shades
Sunglasses
Sunglasses or sun glasses are a form of protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damaging or discomforting the eyes. They can sometimes also function as a visual aid, as variously termed spectacles or glasses exist, featuring lenses that...
, now part of her image.
In 2002 Nightingale was awarded both the MBE for her services to radio broadcasting and The Caner Of The Year Award by Muzik Magazine. The award recognised her in depth coverage of the radio scene. In 2004 she was the first female DJ from Radio 1 to be inducted into the Radio Academy Hall Of Fame.
Nightingale has published two autobiographical books: Chase The Fade (1981) ISBN 0713711671 and Wicked Speed (1999) ISBN 0283061979. She has compiled two albums: Annie On One (1996, Heavenly Recordings) and her own installment of the Breaks DJ mix series Y4K (2007, Distinctive Records).
On 30 September 2007, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
Annie co-hosted a special return of the Request Show with Annie Mac
Annie Mac
Annie Mac is an Irish DJ and television presenter who hosts an eponymous electronic dance music show on BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom which airs at 7:00 pm on Friday evenings as well as a Sunday evening show alongside co-presenter Nick Grimshaw.-Personal life:Annie Mac was born in Dublin,...
featuring contributions from musicians such as Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and Chemical Ed
The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are a British electronic music duo comprising Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons. Originating in Manchester in 1991, along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, and fellow acts, they were pioneers at bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture.- Background...
, excerpts from the original show and Annie's recollections of regular contributors such as "Night Owl of Croydon". The show featured many classic tracks which had been requested over the years and closed with one of Annie's favourites, Cristina
Cristina (singer)
-Studio albums:* Cristina * Sleep It Off * Doll in the Box - Expanded re-issue of Cristina* Sleep It Off - Expanded re-issue-Singles:* "Disco Clone"...
's version of "Is That All There Is?
Is That All There Is?
"Is That All There Is?" is a song written by American songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller during the 1960s. It became a hit for American singer Peggy Lee from her recording in November 1969...
".
A version of The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
song Panic
Panic
Panic is a sudden sensation of fear which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reaction...
interpreted by Mancunian
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
cult comedian Frank Sidebottom
Frank Sidebottom
Christopher Mark Sievey was an English musician and comedian known for fronting the band The Freshies in the late 1970s and early 1980s and for his comic persona Frank Sidebottom from 1984 onwards....
dedicates its choruses to "Anne the deejay" and asks "Anne Nightingale what's your blinking game".
External links
- Radio Academy Hall of Fame page
- Annie Nightingale at Radio Rewind
- Official Rivmixx Page
- National History Day Research Project on Annie Nightingale