Most of the successful DJs I've met have had an exaggerated sense of their own importance. There's something about opening a fader and talking to nobody that attracts the unstable.
Kevin Greening, whose death at 44 was announced today, was at GLR when I used to do a weekly show and he was different - he was modest to a fault. So modest, indeed, that he was fitted into an extraordinary range of slots - from newsman on GLR through desk-driver for Zoe Ball at Radio One to safe pair of hands at every station from Five Live to Smooth FM. His own career somehow got lost in his professionalism.
Anyway, everybody who knew him liked him, which is rare anywhere. In the media it's almost unknown.
That's really sad news, and your comments about his career being lost in his professionalism are spot-on - and again, not something you can say about the current crop of presenters whose ambition outweighs their talents by about five million per-cent, as their agents sniff around for big money deals and an opportunity for their client to date a Big Brother contestant.
ReplyDeleteI interviewed Kevin once, and can add myself to the roster of people who really liked him. He was at Radio One at the time, and I always thought he was too damn smart for the station. It must have been a great experience to have worked with him, David.
No-mark local DJs like me had ultimate respect for Greening - dash it, he made witty, music-led but personality-drizzled radio sound so damned easy. Far more successful, rich and feted people exist who had a ninth of his skill.
ReplyDeleteGutted.
Gobsmacked! Didn't know about this until this morning, so am majorly shocked.
ReplyDeleteI listen to him, when I can, on Smooth, and really enjoy his show.
Why do the good ones always go early?
It's very sad news. Kevin Greening was one of those very few individuals who was kind about my work and so, for selfish reasons, I'm sad he's gone.
ReplyDeleteThe only consolation we can take from this sad event is that he appears to have died as a result of a drug-fuelled marathon sex session which I would imagine might be quite a pleasant end.