Maurice Jay
Encyclopedia
Maurice Jay is a radio and television personality in Northern Ireland
. He is currently the Programme Controller for a Belfast radio station
that is part of the UTV Media group. Jay played lead roles in over 100 UK-wide performances of West Side Story
by Leonard Bernstein
. He was included in the Sound of 2008 and 2011 panels at the BBC
.
, Northern Ireland
and attended Sullivan Upper School
there. He was awarded a diploma in Sound Technology & Music Business from New York University
.
and was one of the first DJ's to employ samplers and sequencers, making live real-time remixes of tracks during DJ'ing sets.
In 1990, Jay started as a professional sound engineer at Sonopista Studios in Almería
, Spain, one of the country's first all digital recording studios. He also worked as a live touring front of house (FOH) engineer for the company's PA hire division, working with Chick Corea
on his 1990 Inside Out Tour. From there, he moved to New York, working at Jonathan Elias
Associates Recording Studios. Jay returned to Northern Ireland in the mid 90's to take up the post of resident FOH engineer at The Empire Music Hall. His live engineering work has included mixing radio sessions for artists such as the Grammy Award winning Amy Winehouse
, former Marillion
frontman Fish (singer)
, Brit Award nominee Nerina Pallot
, and the multi-million album selling bands T'Pau
and Hue & Cry to name but a few.
Jay worked as a music columnist for The Irish News
, citing meeting Prince at his Paisley Park Studios in Minneapolis as a highlight. During his time running record label and artist management company Cherry Moon
, Jay composed and produced albums for several artists including girl band Honey
; he directed music videos for Trina Be and remixed and directed the video for UK Top 10 dance chart hit Fairytale for Curb Records
recording artist Sharon Louise Geddis. In 2000, he was also instrumental in the foundation of a government backed sectoral lead body for the Northern Irish music industry.
In the early 1990s Jay formed a funk rock band called The Behaviour; the band achieved national media exposure, as they appeared on BBC2's Dance NRG hosted by Normski
, and performed several times on the BBC/RTE all Ireland TV show Go For It
,. In September 2009, Maurice Jay formed an 80's Tribute band called Pleasuredome with former members of The Behaviour; they debuted in a popular local club in Belfast in February 2010.
where he hosted the morning show. He later joined Belfast CityBeat
as Breakfast Show host, recording the shows highest audience to date. In 2005 he joined UTV
as Head Of Music for their new radio station U105
and in November 2006 he took up the position of Programme Controller. He currently also hosts an early morning show at U105.
and appeared alongside James Nesbitt
and Conleth Hill
in West Side Story. He also starred as Riff, the leader of The Jets, in a later production of same musical with Opera Northern Ireland and the Ulster Orchestra
. He has appeared in over 100 performances of this Leonard Bernstein
classic and in 2008 completed another sell out run at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, playing Lieutenant Schrank.
His TV appearances have included ITV network show Flux, network BBC2's Dance NRG, RTÉ/BBC Go For It (GFI) and UTV's L8 & Live. He has also made numerous appearances as a talking head and music pundit in news programmes and documentaries.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. He is currently the Programme Controller for a Belfast radio station
U105
U105 is a Belfast based radio station, providing a mix of music and speech as well as hourly news bulletins. It is owned by UTV Radio and was launched at 6am on Monday 14 November 2005....
that is part of the UTV Media group. Jay played lead roles in over 100 UK-wide performances of West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
by Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
. He was included in the Sound of 2008 and 2011 panels at the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
Education
Jay was born in HolywoodHolywood
Holywood is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the shore of Belfast Lough, between Belfast and Bangor. Holywood Exchange and Belfast City Airport are nearby. The town hosts an annual jazz and blues festival.-Name:...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and attended Sullivan Upper School
Sullivan Upper School
Sullivan Upper AddressBelfast RoadHolywoodBT18 9EP Phone 9042 8780 from abroadFax 9042 7644HeadteacherMr C J W Peel, M.A., B.Sc., Dip.A.S.Ed.Vice Principals*Mr. I. Ballantine, B.Sc., M.Ed., P.G.C.E....
there. He was awarded a diploma in Sound Technology & Music Business from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Music
In the mid 80's Jay began club DJ'ing and held down various residencies and regular guest appearances in venues around the country which included Radio Top Shop and a weekly residency at The Bronx (nite club), one of the country's leading dance music venues, where he was a local pioneer of Chicago House. In 1989 he was a Northern Ireland finalist in the DMC World DJ ChampionshipsDMC World DJ Championships
DMC World DJ Championships is an annual DJ competition hosted by Disco Mix Club which began in 1986. The most recent instance of this competition will take place in New Orleans and in Denver TBA.-World DJ Champions:*1985 - Roger Johnson...
and was one of the first DJ's to employ samplers and sequencers, making live real-time remixes of tracks during DJ'ing sets.
In 1990, Jay started as a professional sound engineer at Sonopista Studios in Almería
Almería
Almería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.-Toponym:Tradition says that the name Almería stems from the Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to "The Mirror of the Sea"...
, Spain, one of the country's first all digital recording studios. He also worked as a live touring front of house (FOH) engineer for the company's PA hire division, working with Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
on his 1990 Inside Out Tour. From there, he moved to New York, working at Jonathan Elias
Jonathan Elias
Jonathan Elias is a U.S. composer and record producer, known for his movie soundtracks, production for several pop and rock acts, and his award-winning advertising music including the PBS logo instrumental from October 1, 1984 to October 1, 1989....
Associates Recording Studios. Jay returned to Northern Ireland in the mid 90's to take up the post of resident FOH engineer at The Empire Music Hall. His live engineering work has included mixing radio sessions for artists such as the Grammy Award winning Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...
, former Marillion
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...
frontman Fish (singer)
Fish (singer)
Derek William Dick, better known as Fish, is a Scottish progressive rock singer, lyricist and occasional actor, best known as the former lead singer of Marillion.-Biography:...
, Brit Award nominee Nerina Pallot
Nerina Pallot
Nerina Pallot is a platinum selling, BRIT Award and Ivor Novello Award nominated British singer and songwriter. Although born in London, Pallot was brought up in Jersey to a half-French father and mother from Allahabad, India.-Early life:Pallot played piano as a child and wrote her first song...
, and the multi-million album selling bands T'Pau
T'Pau (band)
T'Pau was a 1980s British Rock group led by singer Carol Decker. They had a string of Top 40 hits in the UK, and several hits in the United States and Europe...
and Hue & Cry to name but a few.
Jay worked as a music columnist for The Irish News
The Irish News
The Irish News is a compact-sized daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is perceived as being broadly Irish nationalist in outlook...
, citing meeting Prince at his Paisley Park Studios in Minneapolis as a highlight. During his time running record label and artist management company Cherry Moon
, Jay composed and produced albums for several artists including girl band Honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
; he directed music videos for Trina Be and remixed and directed the video for UK Top 10 dance chart hit Fairytale for Curb Records
Curb Records
Curb Records is a record label started by Mike Curb originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963...
recording artist Sharon Louise Geddis. In 2000, he was also instrumental in the foundation of a government backed sectoral lead body for the Northern Irish music industry.
In the early 1990s Jay formed a funk rock band called The Behaviour; the band achieved national media exposure, as they appeared on BBC2's Dance NRG hosted by Normski
Normski
Normski is a British rapper, DJ, photographer and businessman, perhaps best known for his work as a BBC television presenter.-Career:...
, and performed several times on the BBC/RTE all Ireland TV show Go For It
Go for It
-Chart Position:-Personnel:*Jake Burns - vocals/guitar/piano*Jim Reilly - drums*Henry Cluney - guitar*Ali McMordie - bass guitar*Stewart van Blandamer - alto saxophone*Tony Hughes - trumpet*Steve "Fixit" Farr - baritone saxophone...
,. In September 2009, Maurice Jay formed an 80's Tribute band called Pleasuredome with former members of The Behaviour; they debuted in a popular local club in Belfast in February 2010.
Broadcasting work
As a young teenager, Jay hosted school discos and presented his first radio shows on Ulster Hospital Radio. In the early nineties, he began to work for Belfast Community Radio, before moving to Downtown RadioDowntown Radio
Downtown Radio is an Adult Contemporary music radio station based in Newtownards, County Down, that serves all of Northern Ireland using a network of FM and AM transmitters.- History :...
where he hosted the morning show. He later joined Belfast CityBeat
Belfast CityBeat
Belfast CityBeat is a two-time Arqiva 'Station Of The Year' and multi-Sony Award winning Northern Irish radio station. It broadcasts to Greater Belfast on 96.7 MHz FM and on DAB Digital Radio across all of Northern Ireland. From 5 April 2007, Citybeat became available on 102.5FM for North Belfast,...
as Breakfast Show host, recording the shows highest audience to date. In 2005 he joined UTV
UTV
UTV is a television channel based in the UK region of Northern Ireland. The channel is the Channel 3 or Independent Television licensee for Northern Ireland and is operated by UTV Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of UTV Media.- Terrestrial :* Analogue: Normally tuned to 3 * Freeview : 3...
as Head Of Music for their new radio station U105
U105
U105 is a Belfast based radio station, providing a mix of music and speech as well as hourly news bulletins. It is owned by UTV Radio and was launched at 6am on Monday 14 November 2005....
and in November 2006 he took up the position of Programme Controller. He currently also hosts an early morning show at U105.
Acting and television
Jay played the lead role of Danny Zuko in a UK touring production of GreaseGrease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
and appeared alongside James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
and Conleth Hill
Conleth Hill
Conleth Hill is a Northern Irish film, stage and television actor.Born in Ballycastle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, Hill made his Broadway debut in Marie Jones' Stones in His Pockets....
in West Side Story. He also starred as Riff, the leader of The Jets, in a later production of same musical with Opera Northern Ireland and the Ulster Orchestra
Ulster Orchestra
The Ulster Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Belfast, the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall...
. He has appeared in over 100 performances of this Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
classic and in 2008 completed another sell out run at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, playing Lieutenant Schrank.
His TV appearances have included ITV network show Flux, network BBC2's Dance NRG, RTÉ/BBC Go For It (GFI) and UTV's L8 & Live. He has also made numerous appearances as a talking head and music pundit in news programmes and documentaries.