b. Robert Ferguson, 16 November 1979, Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. This Irish DJ emerged in the late 90s as the fresh-faced star of the popular hard house scene. Ferguson first performed behind the decks, aged 14, standing on a milk crate at the local Airport 2000 club. By the time he was 16, he had DJed at all the leading clubs on Ireland's dance music scene. While visiting The House club in Larne, the "godfather" of hard house, Tony De Vit was impressed with the ferocious energy of Fergie's set and introduced the fledgling DJ to the English club scene. In summer 1997, Fergie toured South Africa, playing at the major cities. The following summer he debuted in Ibiza, playing at the world-famous Privilege, Space and Bora Bora. The promoter of Trade, Laurence Malice was sufficiently impressed to make Fergie a regular guest at the influential London club. In November 1998, Fergie toured in Australia and on the east coast of America in early 1999. On a second visit to Australia the same year, he came second to house legend, Frankie Knuckles in the Best International DJ Awards. His first single, a double a-side, "People Are Still Having Sex'/'Ooh Sir!", had already been released on Trade's record label. A massive club hit, its success brought him remix work, beginning with the Tamperer's "Hammer To My Heart". He was also nominated as Best Newcomer in Muzik magazine's influential annual awards. In 2000, Fergie released tracks for various labels and took up residencies at the UK superclubs, Godskitchen and Code. He also signed a single contract with Tall Paul's label, Duty Free Recordings. His first single for the label, "Deception", was a major club success and reached the UK Top 40.
After performing the first Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1 in 2001, Fergie signed a contract with the station in March to be the official Essential Mix DJ, broadcasting bi-monthly mixes from major dance events such as those in Ibiza and the UK's festivals, Homelands and the Love Parade. He also won a televised "Battle of the DJs' contest against Fatboy Slim and Carl Cox among others, that was staged by the BBC as part of 2001"s Comic Relief annual charity event. In 2002, the DJ began presenting a late night weekend slot for Radio 1. He has released several mix albums for the DMC, Mixmag and Ministry Of Sound labels (NB: Not to be confused with the US pop/R&B singer of the same name.)
