I was young, free and single and treated like a rock star... then I got fired! Now I’m back after 25 years and I’m loving it
and Single, I used that too. Then things just evolved and it became a kind of catchphrase.
“It was the same with the ‘Whoo Gary Davies on your radio’ jingle. It came from a song by the Kane Gang called Small Town Creed. Bands would make jingles from their songs to get us to play them. When the Kane Gang did if for me it really caught on.”
Gary had started DJ-ing in his cousin’s club in Manchester and spent two years sending demo tapes to radio stations before landing the Radio 1 slot. Soon he was put in front of the TV cameras – and was terrified.
“They’d introduce the new Radio 1 DJs on Top of the Tops and I did my first one in December 1982,” he says.
“I was super uncomfortable and shaking like a leaf. I did it again in the February and was still like a rabbit in the headlights, I was so scared.
“The executive director told my manager, ‘He’s not very good, I don’t think I’m going to use him again’. But they did, and I got the hang of it. In the 80s I presented it more than anyone.”
Gary also became a favourite on the legendary Radio 1 Roadshows, touring resorts around the UK every summer.
“Those Roadshows were incredible,” he said. “Imagine up to 40,000 people on a beach, all looking at you. It was brilliant – so much fun. It’s the closest a DJ gets to being a rock star.”
Then, in 1993, his radio career came to an abrupt end. He said: “I never wanted to go, I was fired. But when you join Radio 1 you realise you can’t be there for ever. It’s a young person’s station with a young audience. The closer you get to 40 you know your days are numbered, like a footballer.
“Back then there wasn’t the right station to move on to because the gap between Radio 1 and Radio 2 was huge.
“Nothing was going to compare to Radio 1 and I had this massive fear of ending up 10 years later on some small, oldies station being treated like rubbish as a few of my former colleagues were. So I decided to get out of radio and start a music company, which I did with no regrets.” He set up Good Groove, which took several years and all Gary’s savings to get off the ground. His first hit was selling the song Black Coffee to All Saints, and he went on to work with Kylie and James Morrison before signing Corinne Bailey Rae.
In the 90s, Gary married Iranian heiress Lisa Tchenguiz. They had no children and divorced in 2001 but remained on good terms.
Gary now lives in London with his “amazing” partner of 10 years, JJ, who, he says, “makes me very happy”.
Then two years ago he was invited to take part in Radio 2s’s Sounds of the 80s Dancethon for Comic Relief.
He said: “Simon Mayo called me and said, ‘Oi, what have you been doing for 25 years? Come in and have a chat’.
“When Sara Cox couldn’t do her 80s show they asked me to cover. I hadn’t HEART THROB done a live radio show in over 25 years. It was nerve-racking but so much fun. Then they asked me to cover for Steve Wright, and when the schedules changed I got Sounds of the 80s.”
Gary smiles. “You know, the second I started doing it again I thought ‘I LOVE this’ and realised I’d missed it.”
Gary’s love and knowledge of 80s music make the perfect choice to host the Now Live show – a spin-off from the compilation album series now in its 103rd edition.
A live band and team of singers will cover 80s classics such as Relax, Purple Rain, Gold, It’s Raining Men, Come on Eileen – and The Time Of My Life. Which is what Whoo Gary Davies is clearly having now he’s back on the ray-dee-oh...
“I’ve got this renewed energy and love for radio,” he said. “I go on air every time thinking ‘I’m so lucky’.”
Now That’s What I Call the 80s Live starts on November 15. Tickets available from raymondgubbay.co.uk