Defected boss Simon Dunmore is a fanatical collector of vinyl, with over 10,000 records organised by label, and with those he most loves and respects, Motown, Philly, Salsoul, Strictly Rhythm, taking centre-stage. Simon has always had a vision that his own label, Defected, will one day be as revered and respected as those other labels, and that the Defected section will have pride of place in the collection of any self-respecting dance music fan.
Simon began DJing in 1982 and has been working as an A&R man since 1989. This experience, along with an open mind and an ear for a hit go some way to explaining the massive success of Defected, the label he set up in 1999.
Simon’s soul-boy background in West London led inevitably to working in a record shop [the Soul & Disco Centre in Rayners Lane], DJing and promoting his own nights locally and around London, and into journalism, firstly for Blues & Soul, then with a self-produced fanzine, The London Soul Circular. Simon’s suggestion that CeCe Rogers’ Someday was a soul record that should get played on the Northern scene led to him being in receipt of a death threat! He laughs about it now, saying that ‘Whenever I dip into the modern soul scene these days those guys are still playing exactly the same records. I couldn’t ever imagine not being interested in new music.’ For Simon, house music was a natural progression from the jazz, soul and funk he’d grown up with, and he embraced the new era with open arms.
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