Ian Bourn - The Music

Auditioned amongst several hundred hopefuls for a resident dj spot at the then new nightclub “Midnight Blues” at the Grand Hotel, Brighton. The resident position was mine for nearly 20 years. I worked in many of the major clubs in Edinburgh for nearly 5 years before moving down south.

A little about me

Worked in many top nightclubs in Edinburgh and on the south coast of England. Starting out in 1980, cutting my DJ teeth doing wedding receptions, and live music nights in many of the pubs in Edinburgh. In 1985 moved to Brighton and worked in many of the big clubs in the 80’s, 90’s and the 00’s. Now I advise on music for functions and corporate events, I mix tracks for fun and have provided ELO, Alice Cooper “mixers” for greatest hits collection launches.

THE CELEBRITIES

Being situated at the Grand Hotel I entertained many celebrities, those who I can remember include:

Wet Wet Wet, Gary Barlow, Shampoo, Cast of Quadrophenia, English Cricket team, Blur, Louise, Boyzone, Shaun McGuire, Cliff Richard, Let Loose, Eternal, WWF Superstars, Black Box, Reef, Various cast members of Eastenders, Tamara Beckwith, ZIG & ZAG, Crew from TFI FRIDAY, Robert Palmer, Dave Stewart, Annie Lennox, Jim Davidson, Robbie Williams, Craig Charles, Cast from the Bill, Various Southern Sound DJ's!, John Major, Maggie Thatcher, ABC, Hurricane Higgens, Emlyn Hughes, Various visiting football teams, Mary Kiani, David Hasselhoff, Adam Ant, Kim Appelby, Shara Nelson,Norman Cook, Freak Power, Utah Saints, MN8, Toto, Frank Carson, Damon Albarn, Louise, Betty Boo, Lisa Stansfield, Gun, Chris Eubank, Gary Stretch, Vanessa Mae, China Black, Fatboy Slim. Status Quo, George Michael, Ozzy, Les Dawson, B*Witched, M People, Republica , Suzi Quatro (YEP! still looking great in leather!).

Good Times

I had a great time at Midnight Blues. I met celebrities, worked with other DJ's from the South and made some good life long friends. You become part of a unique world, part of a family and everyone looks out for each other. Midnight Blues had one of the best door teams in the business who cared about the club and its guests.
I loved the challenge - what to play next? Trying to find a record/CD sometimes with just seconds to spare. I was very lucky to have had an incredible source of new material - the phrase "You heard it here first" was usually true! I no longer Dj - but have been seen mixing away using PC and other equipment.

Iconic Midnight Blues Nightclub

Originally open for 7 nights a week, yes 7, and the club was busy everynight of the week. It became the regular place to go on a Saturday night. Fun music, a great bar team, great door team and great customers. The Blues was host to many large groups including Film companies, BBC and various politcal parties as they visited Brighton. Casino nights were popular as were the Hen Nights - and who can forget the free "Bottle of Bubbly!"