Les Knott

‘Sir Les’ started spinning in the late 1960’s building a reputation in and around Harlow and his home county of Essex…

In 1970 Les secured a residency at Tiffany’s in Harlow where he persuaded the management to set aside a night just for soul/funk music and started building a night which eventually had big names as guests such as Chris Hill, Tom Holland, Robbie Vincent and Chris Brown.

Les was also instrumental in bringing the ALL DAYER and ALL NIGHTER to the south of England. At Tiffany’s there were a string of these events which spread to the rest of the south east during the mid to late ’70’s.

In 1979 Les had a regular Friday night spot with Froggy (god bless) at the Royalty in Southgate and guest spots at The Lacy Lady (Ilford), also playing at the Caister Soul Weekenders and the National Soul Day at Knebworth. He went on tour with the Fat Larry’s Band around 1980 and after leaving Tiffany’s, Les then had residencies At Benny’s (Harlow), Beckets (Ware) and The Juicy Duck (Bishops Stortford).

After then upping sticks and doing a couple of years in Majorca, Tenerife, mainland Spain and Ibiza, Les returned to the UK to take up residencies at H2O (Bishops Stortford) and Rockies (Royston) before ‘retiring’ from the decks in 2005.

But now after doing friends parties & charity disco’s, Les has got the bug again and is doing gigs around the south east, including Summer Soulstice, where he made his debut in 2015.

Over the years, he has also had the pleasure of working with the likes of the late, great Marvin Gaye, Shalamar, Al Hudson, The Real Thing, Five Starr, Second Image, Light of the World, Lonnie Liston Smith, Eddie Grant, GQ, Level 42, The Crusaders, Hot Chocolate, Rose Royce and DJ’s Steve Walsh and Stevie Marriot (god bless to both).

Now a regular in our Connoisseurs Corner, you can also catch Les on the digital airwaves every Thursday night from 9pm (UK time) on Zero Radio… Arise Sir Les!