Robert Ferguson (born 16 November 1979),[1] known professionally as Fergie, is a Northern Irish DJ and electronic music artist from Larne.

[20] Fergie's first ever visit to a nightclub came at the age of 13 when Michael Collins, a northern soul radio DJ friend of his father,[21] jokingly offered to take him to The Arena (later known as The Met)[22] in Armagh and his parents agreed to it.

[25] Fergie would spend his time in the Sounds Good Music record shop in Larne (owned by Mark Dobbin and run with his brother Gleave)[26] instead of attending school.

[27] A teacher once made him stand at the front of the classroom whilst warning the rest of the class that if they didn't concentrate on their studies Fergie was the kind of delinquent that they would become.

He gave Fergie a red boiler suit to wear and paid him to collect empty glasses,[30] brush the floor and clean the toilets.

[8] As a perk of the job, he was allowed to practise on the club's DJ equipment (with the aid of an upturned milk crate to stand on to reach it).

[33] When a fight broke out, the police brought the night to an early close, then warned Fergie for being underaged and in a place that banned minors from entering.

[37] During the holiday, the IRA ceasefire that was in place at the time back in Northern Ireland ended and Fergie remained in England with De Vit.

If he ever heard Fergie manipulate the vinyl with his hand in the recording (a mixing technique he had advised him not to use), he would eject the CD and throw it out of the car window.

[48][non-primary source needed] In 1997, he played outside of the UK for the first time when he toured South Africa,[49] as the support DJ for Tony De Vit.

"[52] After De Vit's death, Fergie received support from both Laurence Malice and Andi Buckley (who became his manager),[46] and together with his own determination, his career continued its upwards trajectory.

[55] In the summer of that year, he returned to Ibiza to be a weekly resident DJ for the Trade parties, held on Friday nights at the El Divino nightclub,[56] and Saturday mornings at Space.

[72] 7 Magazine, the weekly dance music publication, featured Fergie on the front cover of their 13 September issue with the headline "I've been stereotyped as a hard house DJ".

[60] As well as continuing to DJ regularly at the Godskitchen events held there on Fridays, he simultaneously began a new residency at the club; Polysexual was launched as a weekly 12-hour Sunday party beginning at noon which Fergie hosted with Lisa Lashes.

[82] Sundissential promoter, Madders, attributed the popularity of the sound in 2001 to "Tony (De Vit)'s work in the mid 90s, and people like Andy Farley, Lisa Lashes, and Fergie in the late 90s.

[93] The readers of IDJ magazine voted Fergie the best newcomer of 2001,[94] resulting in an appearance on the front cover of the July issue alongside Fatboy Slim and Carl Cox (who had also won awards in the poll).

[103] In July, Fergie's set from Trade at Turnmills was broadcast live on the Radio 1 Essential Mix show as part of the station's Mardi Gras coverage.

[115] He also appeared in the following month's Mixmag; in a feature with Sara Cox (a BBC Radio 1 DJ contemporary at the time) the pair together discussed their Ibiza experiences.

[132] The final show aired on 23 September 2006 and was broadcast live from Kellys nightclub in Northern Ireland[131] where he interviewed his mother Alice and brother Ken amongst others.

[6] In 2007 Fergie launched his own record label by the name of Excentric Muzik as an outlet for the music that he had been writing and producing with new studio partner Dave Robertson.

[150] Fergie first heard the track whilst working at the Kilwaughter House Nightclub, when Matthew Roberts (of King Unique) played it in his DJ set.

[37] His events under the Excentric brand began to occur more frequently in 2007, including at The Key in London,[17] in Birmingham at the Custard Factory (in conjunction with Ultra+) and a weekly party in Ibiza throughout that summer.

[158] He remixed Slam's "Positive Education" track as an exclusive for his DJ set that night[34] although it did receive a full release through the Soma record label the following year.

[159] This DJ set had additional significance to Fergie as it meant over the course of his career he had played at all three of the major Glasgow club nights held at The Arches, the other two being Inside Out and Colours.

[165] He was interviewed by Mixmag for both their magazine[166] and YouTube channel in September, to discuss the career of Tony De Vit as part of their The Greatest DJ Of All Time feature.

[7] The album was a critical success with positive reviews in offline and online publications such as Mixmag,[167] DJ Mag,[168] Data Transmission,[169] IDJ[170] and Tilllate.

[33] The title of the album referred to the experiences of his youth in Northern Ireland when young people from communities that would otherwise not mix would come together at rave events.

[172] In 2011 he was asked to remix Silicone Soul's 2001 track "Right On, Right On" as part of a series of releases to mark the Soma record label's 20th anniversary.

[175] He recorded a monthly podcast titled Fergie's Excentric Muzik Session throughout the year which ran for ten episodes and could be described as having a similar style and structure to his former Radio 1 show.

[11] Fergie later that year hosted his own monthly party at Wet Republic called Lock, Stock & Ready To Rock.