Annie Nightingale, who died on January 11, was a champion of what she called “underground music”. At the age of 83, she was BBC Radio 1’s longest serving DJ. She outlasted all the male counterparts from the 1970s and – unlike most of them – she never lost her touch or went out of fashion. She was also renowned for being the last person to leave any party.
The only other DJ comparable to Nightingale was her beloved co-pilot John Peel, whose untimely death in 2004 deeply affected her. Nightingale sought out new music and was committed to the idea that a change of tempo heralded in a new music generation. Her knowledge of pop and underground music was immense, from The Beatles to Bowie, punk to rave through to techno, dubstep and grime. She loved witty, clever lyrics, beats and bass lines.
Annie Nightingale fought sexism to get on to the radio, and ageism to stay on it for over five decades. She was always extremely stylish and was admired and really loved by so many of her colleagues and all the musicians she supported, as well as all her thousands of fans.
