Aitch is a well-known and respected Club DJ, radio presenter and event organiser who has been a long-standing contributor to London’s soul/club music scene. From the late 1970s, he was a member of one of East London’s foundational sound systems, F.B.I.
Although F.B.I. was primarily a reggae sound system, Aitch regularly attended various soul clubs such as 100 Club, Crackers, Lacey Lady, and Global Village and had a passion for both reggae and soul music at a time when there was a cultural divide between those two styles of music.
At the turn of the decade, from the 1970s to the 1980s, a crossover between the soul and reggae scenes began, and F.B.I. began to incorporate the playing of soul music at their events. However, due to a conflict of opinions regarding the overall direction of F.B.I. Aitch and various others left F.B.I. in 1982
In 1983, Aitch met Jazzie B (courtesy of Daddae Harvey) at an event at Tollington Park School. Very quickly, a friendship developed between them. Aitch had a great appreciation for both the musical direction and the sound system principles headed up Jazzie & Daddae. After a period of regular attending, helping out in the setting up of the sound and eventually taking the mantle of a warm-up, D.J. Aitch eventually became one of “The Original Funki Dreds” and has been a long-standing member of the world-famous musical collective SOUL II SOUL ever since.
Aitch’s knowledge and love of Soul music enabled him to add an alternative component to the musical output of the SOUL II SOUL SOUND SYSTEM by playing soul and funk by artists such as James Brown, Ruben Wilson and James Mason.
From the blues parties to the warehouse scene, to the birth of London’s Original Rare Groove era, to the groundbreaking Sunday nights at the Africa Centre to the then legendary Friday Nights at The Fridge, Brixton, Aitch was there on the cutting-edge sourcing and playing tunes that the audience either had not heard for a long time, or breaking tunes that they had not heard before, some which still to this day feature in the musical selection of many of today’s current D.J.s.
As SOUL II SOUL (The Band) stormed into the music charts worldwide with their ‘A happy face, a thumping bass for a loving race’ philosophy’ Aitch made a substantial contribution to their development as a lyricist by penning the lyrics for a selection of tracks featured on various Soul II Soul albums, including one of their most successful single releases “Get A Life” (1990; U.K. chart #3/ US R&B #5)
He penned lyrics for other tracks voiced by Jazzie B and Caron Wheeler on various Soul II Soul albums between (1988 – 1992) plus a selection of tracks for various other music projects, which included James Brown (Universal James) and The Jones Girls (Coming Back).
Among all of the above, Aitch has extensive experience as a radio presenter (WBLS, Studio FM, Kiss FM, Colourful Radio, L.S.R., Back2Back) and is still currently active in the aspects of club and radio DJ-ing, playing a broad and varied cross-section of Soul, Funk, Disco & Boogie Classics and various modern soulful genres including R&B, Hip Hop & House music.