Biography

Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1965), sometimes known by his nicknames Lammo (given to him by John Peel) or "The Cat" (due to his ability as a goalkeeper) is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio station BBC Radio 6 Music. He was born in Bournemouth. His family soon moved to Essex and he grew up in the Halstead area in a village called Colne Engaine. Lamacq's career in journalism began as a junior reporter at the West Essex Gazette, after studying Journalism at Harlow College, Essex. In similar fashion to other music journalists who started fanzines during their teenage years, Lamacq started one called A Pack of Lies. It was during his time at NME that he began DJing on XFM, when it was still a pirate radio station. He formed a record label in 1992 with Alan James and Tony Smith, called Deceptive Records. The majority of the label's releases shared a punk-pop sensibility, with Elastica being their most successful signing, before the label eventually folded in 2001. In 1991, Lamacq was unwittingly involved in one of the most infamous events in British rock music of recent times during a post-gig interview at the Norwich Arts Centre with Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers for the NME. After repeated attempts by the band's co-lyricist Richey James Edwards to convince Lamacq that they were "for real", Edwards gave up and carved 4 Real into his forearm with a razor blade. The editorial meeting in which the story was discussed was recorded for a BBC Radio 5 documentary, "Sleeping With the NME", which later appeared as the B-side to the Manics' 1992 charity record "Theme From M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)". Between 1995 and 1997, Lamacq occasionally presented Top of the Pops on BBC 1 with fellow Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley. He presented the show alone on several occasions. Lamacq is a well-known fan of Colchester United, has written an autobiography, entitled Going Deaf for a Living and has also acted as a compere on the main stage at the Carling Reading Festival Weekend on several occasions.