Home > Biography > Short Biography September 2009

Dave Pearce is one of the UK’s most in demand djs – known for his euphoric style of uplifting trance and hard dance – with the odd trademark anthem thrown in.

Over the last year he has scored a number 2 chart entry with his Trance Anthems 2009 album on Ministry Of Sound selling over 150,000 copies so far.  The UK tour to support the album has also played to sold out venues.

Following the success of his previous album this has seen him clock up over 400,000 album sales in the last 12 months. 

During the summer Dave presented the Top 100 Dance Anthems on MTV and TMF as well as continuing with his popular BBC 6 Music radio show Dance Anthems on Sunday nights at 8pm.  Moby, DJ Tiesto, and Calvin Harris are just some of the names who have appeared on the show.  He has also presented a series on BBC Radio 2 as part of the Disco Season.

This year has also been Dave’s busiest in terms of international dates with events from Bangkok through to European summer gigs in Mallorca, Zante, Corfu, Rhodes, Kos, Gran Canaria and Cyprus.  He has played some of the largest UK festivals including the Godskitchen arena at Escape Into The Park in Wales and the Gatecrasher Outdoor Stage at Coloursfest in Glasgow.  He also had his own Trance Anthems arena at Planet Love (Northern Ireland’s biggest dance event).

Dave presents Trancecast – a weekly podcast devoted to trance – which is available free on iTunes and features the latest trance releases and hosts a weekly guest mix from some of the biggest names.

Dave has had a prolific career in the media and music industry.  He has been a pioneer and innovator in both music and broadcasting, presented radio shows on both sides of the Atlantic, hosted TV shows, written for national newspapers, compiled an award winning movie soundtrack, achieved sales of over 1m compilation albums in the UK, created one of the UK’s most successful dance labels (NuLife), and hosted one of Ibiza’s most popular club nights.

So, how did he start out?

Dave started DJing on a popular south London pirate radio station while still at school.  By 16 he was running his own station.  By 17 he was DJing in Bombay, India, to an international jetset Bollywood crowd.

Dave joined BBC Radio London and created and presented the BBC’s first hip hop show and a weekly dance show.  His pioneering work in hip hop led him to, amongst other things, be featured on Public Enemy’s critically acclaimed album ‘It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back’.

He then hosted a nightly dance show on GLR, hooked up with pirate radio station KISS FM, and joined the campaign for a dance station in London.  KISS FM then became the first legal dance station in the UK and Dave hosted a daily drivetime show.  He went on to host the Breakfast Show (The Dangerous Breakfast) and gained the attention of BBC Radio 1.

He then joined BBC Radio 1, initially hosting the Early Breakfast Show, and landing all Chris Evan’s Breakfast Show stand-ins.  He went on to host a series of different shows on BBC Radio 1 including the Recovery Session (The Breakfast Show for Ravers), The Weekend Breakfast Show, Drivetime, Late Drive, and Dance Anthems, which ran for 11 years.

In between all of this:

• Dave worked on BBC TV’s first ever dance show Behind the Beat on BBC Two’s Def2 strand, interviewing artists in America.
• He hosted the music section on Mariella Frostrup’s Video View on ITV1.
• He presented the Dance Years, a 13 week series on ITV1.
• He compiled the award winning soundtrack for the movie SW9.
• He was a dance music columnist for the Sun and the Daily Star newspapers.
• He has sold over 1m mix compilation albums.
• He was A&R Director for Polydor’s Urban Records.
• He created the independent dance label Reachin’ Records.
• He was the founder and director of NuLife Records – previously part of BMG.

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• For journalists requiring more detailed background history please contact Dan Slipper - click here
• View and buy Dave's albums in the Discography section - click here