Ray Keith

Ray Keith stood out as a consistent presence among England's breakbeat DJs throughout the 1980s and 1990s, progressing through styles from rare-groove and acid-house to hardcore and jungle. His remix work on Orbital's "Chime" led him smoothly into production, where he also gained recognition as a drum'n'bass label founder. Originating from Colchester, Keith started his DJ career in the early 1980s, tracing the path of English beat enthusiasts from soul and hip-hop through rare-groove, up to the surge of acid-house and hardcore in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During the mid-1990s, he emerged as one of the most creative drum'n'bass DJs and remixers. Productions such as the jump-up anthem "Terrorist" rose to prominence in his work by the mid-1990s, prompting him to establish three distinct labels—Penny Black, Dread, and UFO—in 1996. Close collaboration with Gavin Cheung, known as Nookie, marked his career, alongside his role at Black Market Records, a leading dance music retailer in Britain. In 1997, he put out the Penny Black compilation Breakage, Vol. 1, with the 1999 release UFO Presents Contact serving as his initial solo project.