Eddie Piller 

BROADCASTER / RECORD PRODUCER / DJ / WRITER / CLUB OWNER / ENTREPRENEUR

Eddie was born into an east end mod family in the mid sixties (his mum ran the Small Faces Fan Club) and a career in music beckoned.

In 1980 he started the legendary fanzine, Extraordinary Sensations and its attendant record label but was soon persuaded to decamp to Stiff Records where he became a label manager and a & r man. Fate leant a hand and when Stiff crashed, Piller moved into management and production – recording the young James Taylor Quartet.

After a while the JTQ became the main draw in the burgeoning London jazz scene and Piller teamed up with dj Gilles Peterson to establish the Acid Jazz label to push the scene into a fresh (and marketable) direction – the Acid House explosion ensured that the fledgling outfit soon swept the world and the acid jazz scene became one of the most influential youth movements of the 90s.

Success was immediate but Peterson left in 1989 to establish Talking Loud and Eddie Piller concentrated on a new generation of signings. Jamiroquai, the Brand New Heavies, Corduroy, Mother Earth, A Man Called Adam, Terry Callier, Gregory Isaacs all had substantial hits through the decade. In 1993 Piller opened the ground-breaking nightclub, The Blue Note. In London’s extremely unfashionable Hoxton (a place then known more for its bomb sites that its culture) – the club became a major success (winning the Time Out ‘club of the millennium’ award) and kick-started the careers of Goldie and Talvin Singh amongst others – whilst changing the face of east London’s Shoreditch/Hoxton triangle into the art and culture centre it is today.

By the late 90s Piller had moved into broadcasting. Originally presenting the ground-breaking Newbeats show for Jazz FM but has also hosted shows for BBC Radio London, BBC 6music, Soho Radio and Q Radio (where he won a British Radio Award) – he has written and 8 part series on youth culture for ITV, documentaries for Radio 4 and appeared on Pop On Trial and Soul Britannia for the BBC… In 2019 in conjunction with Fred Perry he opened internet station TWR – Totally Wired Radio which is listened to in 95% of countries in the world!

Piller has compiled more than 100 LP’s including the chart topping On The Corner series with Martin Freeman as well as the Totally Wired collections, which sold over a million copies and is currently releasing a number of specialist box sets for the BBC. He has also written a number of books on music and culture, the most recent being for Sky Arts, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the movie Quadrophenia.

Totally Wired Radio is a specialist music platform on the internet which he launched (in conjunction with Fred Perry) from purpose built studio in Bethnal Green at the beginning of the pandemic and now has listeners in 96% of countries in the world!

2023 saw the release of the first installment of Eddie’s biography. Called CLEAN LIVING UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES, released on Monoray and with a foreword written by Paul Weller, it covers the first part of his extraordinary life – up to the age of 23! After 15,000 copies sold on hardback, it is geared up to be released in paperback on June 6th 2024.

Finally, his Modcast podcast brand (established in 2010 with Sunday Best’s Sarah Bolshi) now hosts a dozen special events throughout the year including weekenders and a holiday in Majorca as well as a number of festival stage ‘take-overs’.

Giving his love of ‘playing soul music’, Piller was the musical curator for the successful Vintage Festival and is a regular at Glastonbury, Isle Of Wight, Camp Bestival, The Mucky Weekender and a whole host of other festivals whilst maintaining a healthy DJ schedule in the nightclubs of Europe. His hobbies include cricket, ancient history and riding his Vespa!