Keb Darge

Scottish DJ and Deep Funk Pioneer

British funk/soul/rockabilly DJ, and producer. Legendary out-spoken Scotsman, Darge has been around the northern soul & funk scene since the start and began his career as a dancer at the Wigan Casino. Soon he started collecting and buying Northern Soul in UK and from regular trips to the US and was starting to play around and in Wigan (including the Casino). After the casino closed in 1981 he had gained a respectful reputation as a DJ. Moving to London aged 22, he decided to start living a normal life and quit DJ-ing, but was quickly playing Northern Soul again due to heavy demand by old Wigan promoters, and brought the scene to London, drawing the northern punters that had moved to London after the Wigan scene dissolved. After a few years, the Northern scene faded, Keb sold his music collection but he still had a loft filled with 'junk' music (according to himself) that he had picked up in the states that was to be classified as "Deep Funk" later on. In 1989, when house music arrived in the UK, Keb decided to play the funk grooves after a trip to Japan, managing to get a regular night at an Acid Jazz club called 'The Wagclub', but finished there after a period. Around 1992-93 he met fellow collector Snowboy on the first funk-only night in London called 'Deep Funk', named by Keb (that he later used as a name to describe the sound) but arranged by the owners of the club (Club Ormonds). After a while, Snowboy and Keb wanted to push the funk sound further and they decided to start their own night in an old restaurant, but the nights failed and shut down after a few months due to the domination of house music. Not so long after, they got a tip for a new location that was a strip-club in Soho called Madame Jojo's. The location was perfect and they manage to arrange a weekly night to start with, with the nights taking-off fast, becoming one of the leading funk nights in London, before ending several years later. Later on the strip nights closed and the venue became a full time music club. He also executive produced the first album for Leeds-based funk band, eponymously titled "The New Mastersounds" (2001). Darge later held a weekly spot at the club (Legendary Deep Funk nights), traveling around the world DJ-ing, and running the label Kay-Dee Records with Kenny Dope. He achieved legendary status by far with a 1960s & 1970s musical knowledge second to none that is perfectly reflected on his BBE compilations. By the late 2000s Keb diversified yet again – this time into 1950s rockabilly, rockin' blues, original RnB, and surf music. Along with his partner, Little Edith, he compiled a a new series of compilations for BBE: "Keb Darge & Little Edith's Legendary Wild Rockers", "Keb Darge & Little Edith's Legendary Rockin' R&B", and perhaps surprisingly, "Keb Darge & Cut Chemist Present Lost & Found - Rockabilly & Jump Blues". The sleeve notes to these albums contain vitriolic attacks on some of the music he once held dear and, indeed, on much modern electronic dance music in general.