Is it possible to create a musical genre, discover two Mercury Prize Winners, host a Radio 1 show, and rock the house in Singapore? It is for Gilles Peterson, the man who has survived and created musical trends for the last two decades. He helped to discover and coined the musical genre "acid jazz" through his weekly residency at the Electric Ballroom. He discovered and signed MJ Cole and Roni Size who both went on to win the artistically coveted Mercury Prize.

Since an early age Gilles has been involved in radio and DJing. When Gilles was young his father used to drive him to the highest hill in town so he broadcast his pirate radio show. The Gilles' show came to the aid of a famous pirate radio station, Radio Invicta, who needed a new transmitter. Soon Peterson got a regular program on Radio Invicta and his radio career was off the ground. Eventually he would broadcast on KissFM and then get his coveted Radio 1 program where he would spin classic, obscure, and new jazz, funk, soul, r & b, and hybrids of those genres. His Radio 1 show has also produced some amazing live performances, which can be heard on his recently released BBC Sessions CD featuring tracks recorded at BBC's Maida Vila Studios. As well as being a "radio jock", Gilles also DJed at various clubs around London. His most influential residency was with Patrick Forge, DJing Sunday afternoons at a club in Camden called "Dingwalls." It was here that he would invent and coin the term "Acid Jazz."

Gilles set up his Talkin' Loud record label in 1990 with DJ Norman Jay. He got the name from his club night called "Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Something" in the 1980s. Starting out as an Acid Jazz label releasing music by United Future Organization and Incognito they were soon releasing ground breaking albums such as Master at Work's self-titled "Nuyorican Soul", Roni Size / Reprazent's "New Forms", and MJ Cole's "Sincere." The label also releases many stellar compilation albums such as "Brazilica"and the "Talkin' Jazz" series as well as Peterson's own "Worldwide Exclusives" DJ Mixes.

Gilles continues to search the world for rare records and exotic floorfillers. His recent "In Brazil" and "In Africa" compilations continue to excite listeners with one disc of old rare gems and one disc of modern sounds. His latest project has been a DJ Mix CD reminiscent of his "old days" at Dingwalls called "Gilles Peterson & Patrick Forge Present - Sunday Afternoon At Dingwalls."

Gilles can be heard every week on his Worldwide BBC Radio 1 show at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/urban/peterson/