Global InformationJohn Peel information
John Peel OBE | |
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 Peel at a record shop in Bochum, Germany | |
| Born | John Robert Parker Ravenscroft 30 August 1939 Heswall, England |
| Died | 25 October 2004 (aged 65) Cusco, Peru |
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| Children | 4, including Tom |
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft OBE (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004.
Peel was one of the first broadcasters to play psychedelic rock and progressive rock records on British radio. He is widely acknowledged for promoting artists of many genres, including pop, dub reggae, punk rock and post-punk, electronic music and dance music, indie rock, extreme metal and British hip hop. Fellow DJ Paul Gambaccini described Peel as "the most important single person in popular music from approximately 1967 through 1978. He broke more important artists than any individual."[1]
Peel's Radio 1 shows were notable for the regular "Peel sessions", which usually consisted of four songs recorded by an artist in the BBC's studios, often providing the first major national coverage to bands that later achieved fame. The annual Festive Fifty countdown of his listeners' favourite records of the year was a notable part of his promotion of new music.[2]
Peel appeared on television occasionally as one of the presenters of Top of the Pops in the 1980s, and provided voice-over commentary for a number of BBC programmes. He became popular with the audience of BBC Radio 4 for his Home Truths programme, which ran from the 1990s, featuring unusual stories from listeners' domestic lives.
- ^ Gambaccini, Paul. "Breaking records". Bonhams. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ Garner, Ken. The Peel Sessions: A story of teenage dreams and one man's love of new music. Random House, 2010.