Mary Anne Hobbs
London, England

Mary Anne Hobbs is an English DJ and music journalist from Garstang, Lancashire. She is best known for her Radio 1 show on BBC, pushing next generation dubstep, grime, drum&bass, hip-hop, techno, dark dancefloor and radical electronic flavours in every form.

In the 1980s, at the age of 19, she worked as a journalist for Sounds Magazine. She later went to work for the NME, before going on to help found Loaded Magazine. She got her break in radio at BBC GLR, working alongside Mark Lamarr. She then worked at XFM before going to BBC Radio 1. She shot a TV series about global biker culture ‘Mary Anne’s Bikes’ in Japan, America, Russia, India, and Europe for BBC Choice & BBC World in 2003, and presented the World Superbikes series 2005 for British Eurosport. She also compèred the Leeds Festival between 1999 and 2003.

A fan of rock, heavy metal and motorbikes from an early age, she fronted the Radio 1 Rock Show and the experimental / electronic Breezeblock on BBC Radio 1 for a number of years. In September 2006 the Breezeblock name was dropped for the title ‘Experimental’, but the show retained the name of its host in the title. Most recently, Hobbs has been a notable champion of the dubstep and grime genres.

Her 2 hour special ‘Dubstep Warz’ on BBC Radio 1 in January 2006 is widely regarded as the show that broke the dubstep sound globally and consequently she has become viewed by many on the Dubstep scene as an almost maternal figure. She released a groundbreaking dark electronic compilation album on Planet Mu records entitled Warrior Dubz in October 2006, drawing the sonic parallels between dubstep, grime, dark dancefloor, techno, d&b and hip hop. In June 2007, Hobbs curated the UK Dubstep showcase at the Sónar festival with Skream, Oris Jay and Kode 9, taking the sound out of club environments and onto an international festival stage in front of 8,500 people for the very first time. On 7 February 2008 the “Dubstep Souljahs” documentary she made for BBC Radio 1 aired inside Pete Tong’s In New Music We Trust show. Her second compilation album, Evangeline, was released on 16 June 2008 on Planet Mu records. This coincided with her second Sonar Festival Stage featuring Shackleton, Flying Lotus and Mala from Digital Mystikz. In 2009 she returned to the festival with Joker, Gaslamp Killer and Martyn.

Video: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/maryannehobbs/biography.shtml

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