Although David was in effect a direct rival of mine, we were very good friends. We spoke often, met up at every opportunity, and shared some of my most memorable experiences. Softly spoken, gentle in character and a joy to be around, he was a well-respected industry giant, phenomenal DJ and a genuinely lovely person who would be welcomed at every record label we visited together.

At the time of writing, it’s been exactly a year since David’s untimely death. The music industry lost a legend; I lost a friend. But I always look for the positives in life and want to remember David for the time we spent together and not dwell on the fact that he’s no longer here. So, if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to share a few stories as a light-hearted tribute to one of life’s greatest characters – David Brown.
Mange Tout! Mange Tout!

One of the first events I did as a joint venture with David was a DJ event in France. What a great idea! Let’s load a van with CDs and DVDs and try and sell them to a bunch of DJs… who speak French. This was before I spent a lot of time in France, so my knowledge of the language was limited to bonjour, au revoir, and a few other useless phrases. We spent two days trying to sell our products to the DJs in attendance. If you can imagine a cross between ‘Allo Allo’ and ‘Give Us A Clue’ that’s not far off how it went.

Lock, Stock & Two Stupid DJs

David suggested we held a business meeting in a local pub close to his home to discuss some concepts we were working on. We found a table in the busy pub and were both pleasantly surprised to find lots of free nibbles on the bar. These weren’t your ordinary crisps and peanuts; there were sausages, roast potatoes, corn on the cob and chicken nuggets. We ordered our drinks, filled our plates with food and returned to our table. A few moments later we noticed that everyone else was wearing suits and dresses… and the clothes were all black. I surveyed the situation carefully and realised we’d gate-crashed a funeral. And a gangland funeral at that. I suggested we move our meeting outside and to somewhere quieter, like John O’Groats…

One DJ And His Dog

David was staying with me when I lived on a farm in South Yorkshire. The house was situated close to the main farm building and both properties were protected by Archie, a border collie who spent most his time chained up, until after 10pm when he was let off to patrol the grounds. To say Archie wasn’t the friendliest dog in the world is an understatement. He made Cujo look like Scooby-Doo.

That night we arrived home from a meeting at 11pm only to find the Hound of the Baskervilles guarding my front door, teeth showing through a terrifying snarl. I suggested we wait a few minutes for him to calm down, but David needed the bathroom and was having none of it! If you can imagine the scene towards the end of ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ where Robert Redford and Paul Newman shoot their way out of the bank to escape to freedom before meeting their end together. Well, it was like that – but with a dog.

Popmasters

I’d been invited to a pop quiz at an Italian restaurant in central London, hosted by one of my Mastermix clients. Each company in attendance had a team and ours was made up of myself, Rob Moore and David Brown.
At that time Rob was working for the Music Factory Entertainment Group and was always up for a jolly. David was with Promo Only, but would join us at the drop of a hat whenever we were in town.

The quiz started and it quickly became evident that Rob’s input was limited to writing down our team’s name. I expected more from David – after all, he was a DJ and worked in the music industry, so he’d know loads about music – but it turned out he was about as useless as Rob on this occasion! It was all down to me then. The beer flowed, the pizza kept topping up and the music questions came thick and fast. I honestly thought Rob and David had lost their voices; they barely said a word, apart from to order more beer and pizza.

At the end of the night, we’d somehow managed to win the quiz and the reward was a mini iPod each. David was beside himself and for a long time he bragged to industry colleagues how he had “won the pop quiz” (ahem). And to this day Rob still dines out on that story and the one question he managed to answer correctly!

It's All Greek To Me

I spent some time in Paris with David and during our visit we found ourselves in a seedy little backstreet restaurant that claimed to serve ‘The Finest Greek Food In The City’. Upon entering the establishment, we were greeted by an over-excited owner who ushered us in, closed the door behind us (probably bolted it shut too!) and showed us to our table. I was just about to order two large beers when the owner sat down with us, along with his brother, sister, father and a couple of other ladies, who I assumed were also related.
Helen ordered a glass of rose wine and when it arrived it was clearly white wine mixed with red. David was just about to offer his review of the vino when music started blasting out of the speakers strewn around the restaurant. The owner stood up and shouted, “Now we dance!”

So, there we are in a dingy Greek restaurant, arms over the shoulders of various family members we have just met, whilst bobbing up and down and flailing our legs round like a poor man’s Michael Flatley. After David had passed in front of me for the umpteenth time, I wished we’d chosen the ‘Golden Arches’ instead…

Down At The Old Bull & Bush

I was attending a daytime event in London with my wife, Helen. David had got whiff that I was close to his office and suggested we meet up for a drink, a chance for him to meet Helen for the first time. Helen was fully aware of the reputation me and David had when we got together and requested that we have one drink before making our excuses so we could grab something to eat.

It was early evening, so all the pubs on the main road were very busy. We tried our luck down one of the back streets and found a quieter place to chat over a glass of wine. The pub was like something out of ‘My Fair Lady’, with sawdust on the floor, a pianist playing old time sing-a-long tunes, and lots of people with various body parts missing, including a guy at the bar with a hook for a hand.

It was evident from the first time David and Helen met that they’d hit it off. A new friendship was formed and David would become one of Helen’s dearest friends. The night went on and five hours later we were still there.
By this time, Helen had made friends with the landlady, who was a cross between Eliza Doolittle and Peggy Mitchell, as well as the guy with the hook-hand, and was now joining in with the local banter despite having no idea what anyone was on about.

We rounded off the evening with a final drink in a quiet booth in the corner. From there we could see the screen above the bar, which was showing classic music videos that resulted in all three of us singing along to ‘All Together Now’ by The Farm, Baddiel & Skinner’s ‘Three Lions’ and various other songs. This prompted Helen to remark, “It’s a shame the words to the song aren’t underneath, so we could all sing along.” And with that comment myself and David created a product called ‘Sing Screen’, which became a joint venture between Promo Only and Mastermix. True story!

Let’s Go Dutch

After a long day of meetings in London I met up with David for dinner in the West End at one of the finer establishments we found ourselves in over the years. By 9pm, after many beers and copious glasses of wine, my head was starting to spin and it was time to leave. I remember staggering to the cloakroom to retrieve my jacket before stepping outside to find David. I thanked him for the meal and was just about to leave for the tube station when David replied, “I didn’t pay, I thought you’d paid?”

In my inebriated state, I was overcome with dread. We’d just eaten in one of the finest restaurants in London and left without paying. Fuelled by liquid courage, I pushed the front doors open and I remember running around the restaurant trying desperately to find someone who I could explain things to and settle our bill. Guests began pointing and staring until the manger politely informed me that “the other gentleman had already paid”.
I stumbled to the entrance and quickly exited the restaurant. Outside I found my friend sat on the pavement laughing uncontrollably. Bonus points if you can guess the next two words I used that night!

Tunnel Of Love

David, Helen and myself were in our Sprinter van heading to an event in France. I booked us on the Channel Tunnel but ticked the wrong box, which meant our van was loaded onto the freight train with all the lorries. It works differently to the general passenger carriages. You drive your vehicle into a large cage and then a mini-bus picks you up and takes you to the front of the train, where you join the other drivers until the journey ends. So, we entered a carriage that was packed with lorry drivers and the first thing that hit us was the smell – lots of overweight, sweaty bodies crammed in like cattle.

Helen and I found a seat together, leaving David to sit next to a large lorry driver sporting a Borat-esque moustache and grunting at him from time to time. I glanced over to see a look of absolute horror on my dear friend’s face. The journey takes around 35 minutes, but I fear it felt much longer than that for David.

Absolutely Fabulous

In the early days of my Mastermix career I spent lots of time in London meeting with record companies and other industry contacts. David wanted to introduce me to a friend of his who he felt could be a useful contact, a woman he described as “an industry legend” and someone who is “well connected”.
We arranged to meet at a rooftop bar close to the BBC’s Broadcasting House. A smartly dressed doorman greeted us both as we headed for the lift to the rooftop bar. It was all very posh and I started to wonder if this person might be a bit out of my league. But I needn’t have worried. Upon entering the bar, I was introduced to a lady who looked like a cross between Debbie Harry and Patsy from ‘Ab Fab’. She was outrageous…fabulous…and I liked her very much from the first moment we met.

David felt the meeting was a huge success. But as we all headed back down in the lift, I had to stop her from squeezing various body parts of my own… and those of the lift operator, who seemed much less tolerant than I was. We helped my new contact down the street and onto a bus, where she shouted, “Goodbye you naughty boys, see you soon!” The bus was just about to set off when we saw her stumble out the doors and onto the pavement before coming to a stop at the feet of a well-dressed businessman, who simply stepped over her. We helped her back onto the bus and she was gone. David asked me what I thought of his friend. “Absolutely fabulous,” came my reply.

Taxi For Lee

After another heavy night ‘on the lash’ I bid farewell to David and he headed to the tube station whilst I jumped in a taxi. I was asked where I wanted to go and for a few moments I genuinely had no idea. I composed myself and thought carefully about where the hotel was. I told the taxi driver that it was somewhere in Uxbridge and when we got there, I would recognise the area and be able to find my hotel. We were in Shepherds Bush, so that meant a 25-minute journey and in that time, I hoped I’d sober up and remember where I was staying.

We arrived in Uxbridge and, as expected, I hadn’t got a clue where I was, let alone where the hotel might have been. I had no choice but to call David and hope he was still awake. Luckily, he answered! He asked to speak to the driver, so I handed over the phone and a few moments later we were moving again. We eventually found my hotel… Uxbridge Road… literally two minutes from the pub me and David had been drinking in only hours earlier. I finally slumped down on my bed, my wallet £75 plus tip lighter!

There are many more stories I could tell, but for those I guess you’ll just have to buy the book.

In Memory of David Brown:
19th December 1965 – 21st February 2022