Mark Devlin is a UK-based club and radio DJ, music journalist and author, specialising in R&B, hip hop and dancehall. Over the past nineteen years, he has produced and presented radio shows, DJed in clubs all over the world, produced mix tapes and CDs, and contributed to market-leading music magazines. He’s also just written his first book!

His early years in the rural backwaters of Oxfordshire were far from an ideal breeding ground for a career in urban/ black music. But the strong influence of a school friend saw the young Devlin getting turned on to the sounds of 80s soul, funk and early hip-hop at a time when all the other kids were just into whatever was in the charts. From that point, it was clear which way he had to go.

From his early days in background production for Fox FM in Oxford, (where he won an Independent Radio Advertising Award for his work on a station promo,) Mark’s big radio break was on Galaxy 101 in Bristol, where he presented the flagship Friday night urban show for two and a half years. From there, he moved on to Oxygen 107.9 in Oxford, where he presented two weekly shows with MC and co-host Kid Fury. The shows involved interviews almost weekly with hot artists from Busta Rhymes to Beenie Man.

Club-wise, Mark’s early residency at The Park End Club in Oxford paved the way for DJ work throughout the rest of the UK, including spots at such prolific London events as Smoove at Ministry of Sound, Fresh N Funky at Hanover Grand, and Twice As Nice. He has also featured on the bill of The Southport Weekender, and played at the world-famous Notting Hill Carnival.

More recently, he has branched out internationally, already spinning in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, The USA, (New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, San Francisco), Japan, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Botswana, Mozambique, Kenya, Ibiza, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, France, Belgium, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Jersey and Ireland! His most frequently visited territories are South Africa and Germany, where he has built up loyal fanbases. Mark’s resulting Diary blog on his website has come to rival any international travel magazine.

In addition to the DJing, Mark has drawn on his background as a magazine editor, and for almost ten years edited the Clubhoppin’ section of Blues & Soul, the UK’s market-leading urban music magazine, as well as contributing to other titles.

2009 has seen MD maintaining on the radio with a weekly show, ‘Just Buggin’, on Oxford’s FM107.9. It has also seen him adding ‘Author’ to his list of job titles, having just completed his first book. ‘Tales From The Flipside’ is a witty collection of anecdotes and stories from the front line of the DJing game, which neatly turn the common public perception of superstar DJ lifestyles on their head. It’s available now via www.authorhouse.co.uk with background info. at www.myspace.com/talesfromflipside