Christian Woodyatt

Christian Woodyatt's induction into clubland began in Nottingham way back in the late eighties as early US house consumed the British scene. Having spent many a sweat night on the dancefloor at Nottingham’s Garage Club, educated by the soundtrack of the ubiquitous Graeme Park, he was caught by the bug and slowly began nurturing his own style and skills. By 1991, Christian had appeared at several local underground soirées, which brought him to the attention of one James Baillie, the then head honcho of the now legendary “Venus” club. Soon after, his he was invited to take the helm as the resident for its infamous Saturday nights. What started out as simply a regular slot for playing his slick mix of US house and Balearic gems, rapidly developed into one of the Midlands’ seminal nights out. He often found himself playing alongside some of the International figureheads of the scene at that time; rubbing shoulders with the cream of the world’s DJs. Christian’s talents didn’t go unnoticed; in addition to the growing demand for guest appearances, he was receiving good press from various lifestyle bibles of the time – named as ‘one to watch’ by Mixmag and listed on the ‘hot or not barometer’ of The Face magazine “..You may not have heard of him yet but you will, a Balearic DJ who can mix…” During 1993 Christian’s career soared and, following a ‘DJ of the month’ article in i-D magazine, he was invited to appear on the magazine’s World Tour playing alongside Tony Humphries, a long time hero of his – this denoted a significant rise in his profile and secured his credentials. Over the ensuing years he could be found playing at pretty much every major club and event throughout the UK and overseas – a personal highlight being regular appearances at the world renowned Southport Weekender. What followed was an offer that, in retrospect, truly established him as a key player in the UK house and garage scene; a monthly residency at the Ministry of Sound. During this period, Christian was lucky enough to play alongside such luminaries as CJ Macintosh, Dave Lee, David Morales, Roger Sanchez, Masters at Work and, his early inspiration, Graeme Park. In the mid nineties Christian made the inevitable move into production teaming up with Chris Scott of Happy Clappers fame to release the 555901. Once again, he caught the bug and continued to pursue his production aspirations, a few years later landing a deal with Virgin Records – releasing All Wrapped Up (Helplessly) under the guise of Nu Soulboy. Various remix projects followed, most notably the Nu Soulboy Mix of 171355 on Todd Terry’s Sound Design imprint label and Cindy Mizelle’s "Shine on Me", through A&R Records. This brings us to the present day – although Christian still makes infrequent forays into the DJing arena, his main area of focus is production. More recently he used his own small independent label Gorgeous Brown as a vehicle for releasing his own work. However, the unexpected demise of the distribution company saw this come to a premature end. Having taken a step back from the scene to focus on his personal goals, Christian has now returned; stronger than ever and determined to bring his music once more to the fore. His new digital label imprint ‘Sensoul Records’ is due to launch Summer ’09.