Giloboy

He spent several years on Soul 24/7 Radio and enjoying a life-long relationship with soulful music, the concept of Summer Soulstice was born out of Gilo’s head, so it’s all his fault that we do this…

Barnet born and bred, when his great friend and old school buddy Andy Weekes passed away from cancer in 2006, Gilo felt it right to celebrate the life of his late friend by pulling together family, friends and fellow soul music lovers to throw a big party in his back garden!

The garden idea was soon dumped when he (and his good wife Maggie) realised just how many people were going to come along and so the first Summer Soulstice headed for local rugby club Barnet Elizabethans, literally at the end of Gilo’s road… And the rest, as they say, is Summer Soulstice history.

After a decade of being one of the organisers, in 2017 Gilo made the very personal decision to take a step back from the event, but still insists he wouldn’t miss the day itself and throws himself into helping out on the ‘field of dreams’ every June, including doing a set in Connoisseurs Corner.

He still occasionally drops a fine selection of tune-age elsewhere and sits in for the likes of Grumpy Brown on Stomp Radio. Gilo was a regular on the Ibiza Soul Week line-up and guests at other nights on the soul circuit including Paul Clark‘s Brighton Beach Parties and Brews & Soul on his own doorstep in Barnet, north London… In September 2018 he helped organise the first Summer Soulstice Golf Day which came about to help replenish funds stolen from our main event in June of that year, and in turn, continued to help our friends at Cherry Lodge Cancer Care. A second charity golf day followed in 2019.

Giloboy, Summer Soulstice’s founding father, we salute you!