Kenny Hawkes
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- Kenny Hawkes (14 July 1968 – 10 June 2011) was a British DJ and music producer, who worked in the industry from the late 1980s until 2011.DJ/Producer Kenny Hawkes was a pioneering influence on the British dance scene for over a decade. As a kid growing up in Brighton, Kenny soaked up the sounds of Motown, Ska, Hip Hop, Dub Reggae instead of going to school. As soon as he hit 18 he disappeared off to Southern Europe, where he spent endless evenings developing his DJ skills by playing at some of Europe's most notorious after hours clubs. He returned home in the early 90s, skint and unknown. One morning whilst lounging about and listening to the radio, he stumbled across a Pirate Radio Station called "Girls FM" that played Downbeat, Dub, Soul, Techno and Garage. At that time the station only had one DJ, but they were looking for more. It wasn't long before Kenny joined up and moved to London with the station - which he ended up managing - and in no time "Girls FM" was attracting up to a million listeners a month. An achievement Kenny is very proud of - after all, he wasn't just playing on it, he was running it and steering its musical direction. Due to Kenny's natural grasp of quality dance music, "Girls FM" became the most legendary underground dance music station that London had ever heard. It soon boasted 22 DJs, one of whom was "Luke Solomon" (of current 'Freaks' fame) who soon became Kenny's greatest friend and fellow resident at London's longest running mid-week house club, "Space" at Bar Rumba. Space closed its doors for the final time in February 2002, after seven brilliant years as London's tour de force within the global house community. Kenny and Luke prided themselves on bringing into the fold the world's greatest spinners - such as Harvey, Stacey Pullen, Tom Middleton, DJ Heather, Fransois Kevorkian, DJ Sneak, Pete Heller, Mark Farina, Colin Dale and Derrick Carter - where they would play for a pint, a packet of crisps and their cab fare home. The sets would offer a diverse and rich musical palette. One week there'd be Kenny Carpenter playing a classic New York style Garage and Disco set,the next Andy Weatherall would be dropping Dub Reggae right through to Hypnotic Tech-Funk. Space is sorely missed but keep your eyes peeled for one off parties Kenny throws in association with Luke & Justin Harris's imprint, Music For Freaks. Despite the closure of Space, Kenny kept himself more than busy. He DJ'd abroad every weekend, travelling to Belgium, New York, Portugal, Paris, Australia, Chicago and Spain to San Francisco, and Southern Asia. In-between travelling and DJing, Kenny also found the time to turn his hand to production, which enabled him to translate his DJing vibes onto vinyl. His biggestinfluences were old rock n` roll timers The Rolling Stones, dub masters Sly and Robbie, and his dear old mum. His discography is more than impressive. He released a Space compilation album on "Slip N` Slide" back in 1997, and since then has produced a plethora of unit shifting slices of excellence, such as singles "Jet Sex" and "Ashley's War" on the now defunct "Luxury Service", "Sleaze Walking" and "Ashley's War Part 2" on "Paperecordings" and more recently "Play The Game" featuring "Louise Carver" and "Dance With Me" featuring "Marcel" and "Kimra" - both of which were released on "Music For freaks" this year to high acclaim. These releases not only showed Kenny's move into working with singers and live instrumentation, but scored him number one hits in the dance charts of countries like Belgium. Kenny also struck gold with his remix of "Hope We Never Surface" by the "Two Lone Swordsmen" and remade "Big Fun" by Inner City". Hawkes died in the evening of 10 June 2011 at the age of 42 following an illness.