From man of the year to best man… my friend Calvin
DJ’s friend tells how superstardom has prepared him for wedding speech nerves
HE is used to performing for thousands of feverish dancers under the bright lights of Las Vegas.
But DJ Calvin Harris will soon take on his toughest gig yet – a best man’s speech at his friend’s wedding.
The superstar will return to his Scottish roots for the event next month and the pressure to be both charming and witty for a room full of guests is already giving him jitters.
His best friend from his home town of Dumfries disclosed that the pair worked together as teenagers in a supermarket before Harris hit the big time.
And, far from the early days when the two were in the same band, the multi-millionaire has already treated friend Mark Irving to a no-expense-spared stag do.
Details of the wedding itself are being kept secret to avoid any unwanted attention as the musician, real name Adam Wiles, jets in from his Los Angeles home.
But when Mr Irving marries fiancee Ellie Richmond, his friend will be by his side to deliver an ideal tribute on the big day.
Mr Irving, 32, said: ‘I don’t want to hear it beforehand but he has said he’s worried about it.
‘He’s more nervous about giving his best man speech than anything else he’s done, I think.’
Aged only 16, the pair met when they both worked in Safeway and immediately bonded over music as the aspiring DJ produced records in his bedroom and his colleague played in a band.
They were soon performing together but pub owner Mr Irving said his friend eventually outgrew the group – also called Calvin Harris – as his career reached new heights.
He recalled: ‘He asked me to give him a hand putting a band together and asked me to play guitar for him.
‘He gave us the songs and we worked out how to play them and we reproduced that live.
‘He started doing more DJ sets – after shows and clubs. He never really sat in his bedroom producing music to become a frontman in a band.
started‘ ‘It was always a bit of a compromise for him singing, although he got really good at it. By the last T in the Park we did as a band, he was an excellent frontman.
‘I tour managing for him and kept doing that for as long as I could but when he got his support tour with Rihanna, I felt he needed a proper tour manager.
‘He was a bit upset that I wasn’t going to be working with him any more but I wasn’t a tour manager and we both knew it was for the best.’
The stellar list of people with whom Harris has now worked includes singers Kylie Minogue, Ellie Goulding, Cheryl Cole and Gwen Stefani and he has also collaborated with former girlfriends Rita Ora and Taylor Swift.
His fame means that countless approaches from fans and requests for selfies are unavoidable during trips home to visit family and friends.
Mr Irving said: ‘He did find it weird for a while, as he was walking along places we used to walk and nobody would even look at you back then – but now he can’t walk anywhere without someone wanting a photo.
‘I hardly get a chance to speak to him when we’re in the pub, we can never have a full conversation. He deals with it really well. If he ever gets annoyed by it, he hides it well.’
There was no doubt in Mr Irving’s mind that his celebrity friend was the perfect person to take on best man duties and Harris has already pulled out all the stops with an unforgettable stag party.
As the DJ prepared to headline at last month’s T in the Park, he arranged to have every aspect of his friend’s Queen Of The South pub recreated backstage in the festival’s VIP area.
Mr Irving said: ‘He told me he had organised a bar. I thought it would probably be for about eight or ten people but when I asked him about numbers he told me to invite everybody.’
Around 50 people were asked to join the pair for the celebration where, as well as a drinks set-up that offered Grey Goose vodka and tequila worth £120 a bottle, the makeshift watering hole was complete with leather sofas and a pool table.
Mr Irving said: ‘I was a bit emotional, to be honest, when I saw he had recreated my pub. I couldn’t believe the work he had put into my stag do.’
Next month’s nuptials, at a location known only to the invited guests, could even see the bridal party’s celebrity take to the decks.
Mr Irving said: ‘I have a band and two DJs playing but if he was adamant he wanted to play, I’d let him play.
‘It had to be him I chose as my best man. We were in the band together from 2006 until about 2010-11 so I spent a lot of time with him.’
And he joked: ‘I’m going to have to tell him that he is going to have to get someone like Will Smith or Jay Z as his best man if he is expecting a stag do like the one he gave me.’
I couldn’t believe the work he had put into my stag do