Chris Williamson (born 6 May 1987), better known by his stage name Crissy Criss, is a British DJ, radio producer and presenter, who was part of the BBC Radio network BBC Radio 1Xtra.[1] He has also worked under the moniker Dead Exit.

Crissy Criss is the stepson of Kenny Ken and was born in Newmarket, Suffolk and raised in Leytonstone.[2][3]

Career edit

The youngest DJ/Presenter at present to broadcast on BBC Radio 1Xtra.[4] Introduced to a set of decks aged five by his stepfather Kenny Ken, he then started to teach himself to mix aged nine.[5] The following year, Crissy covered for Kenny Ken at a festival in Essex.[6] At age 11 he joined drum & bass pirate station, Kool FM, and played his first club set at The End in London, thanks to DJ Zinc who requested Crissy to play. Crissy has played at major drum & bass nights across the UK and elsewhere such as New York, Toronto, Norway, Switzerland, France, and Germany. Crissy started production work from the age of 12, making music on a gaming console then moved up to much larger programmes and hardware equipment. He released his first track on Back2Basics recordings in 2004. Since then Crissy has signed to Back2Basics Records and Mix 'n' Blen Records.[7] In 2019 he released his debut album.[8]

He presented a regular show on BBC 1Xtra from 2007, which was axed as part of the station's budget cuts in June 2014; An online petition was launched to save the show.[9][10]

References edit

  1. ^ "BBC Radio 1Xtra - D&B with Crissy Criss". Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  2. ^ "Crissy Criss". Ukfestivalguides.com. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  3. ^ Shotta, Harry (2014) Twelve Months, Acorn Books, ISBN 978-1783337996, p. 21
  4. ^ "Two:Tone Featuring The World Of Drum & Bass With The Prototypes / Crissy Criss / Mc Todd Lah And First Annual Texas Dnb / Jungle Summit | in Dallas". Time Out Dallas. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  5. ^ IMO Records "Crissy Criss Biography" Archived 2 August 2012 at archive.today, IMO Records, London, 17 October 2011. Retrieved on 23 November 2011.
  6. ^ Moayeri, Lily (2 August 2019). "Family Business: Five Famous DJs Whose Children Followed in Their Footsteps". Billboard. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Crissy Criss". discogs. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  8. ^ "Crissy Criss Waging 'War on Silence'". International DJ Magazine. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  9. ^ "PETITION LAUNCHED TO SAVE CRISSY CRISS' D&B SHOW ON BBC 1XTRA Archived 10 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine", Mixmag, 11 June 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2014
  10. ^ Sweney, Mark (2014) "BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra axe DJs and shake up schedule to cut costs", The Guardian, 5 June 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2014

External links edit