A little bit of naughtiness is good,” chuckles the middle-aged-mums’ crush, a twinkle in his eye, despite the 6,000 miles and dodgy Zoom connection between us.
But be still your beating hearts, ladies, because DJ Gary Davies is referring to his dog, who is not as house trained as he would have liked when we chat about his forthcoming Sounds of the 80s tour.
Gary’s infectious giggle and all-round good guy vibes take me back to Sundays in my bedroom where I used to tape the Top 40 charts on my cassette recorder – and get annoyed if he talked over the songs.
“That was illegal by the way!” he tells me off in mock seriousness, dialling in from Thailand where he is on his annual jaunt with his wife JJ.
Radio 2’s returning hero is clearly enjoying being back at the top of his game with his Saturday job, 30 years after being consigned to the wastepaper bin of pop.
After his sudden exit from Radio 1 in 1993, it must be satisfying to be considered one of the favourites to take over Ken Bruce’s mid-morning slot.
When asked if he has thrown his hat in the ring, Gary smiles serenely, saying, “I’m always open to discussions about lots of different things.”
Much like his 80s uniform of blazers with rolled-up sleeves, Gary wears his cheeky chappie persona lightly.
And if anything, now the 80s bouffant has been replaced with a salt-and-pepper crop, Gary, 65, has got even better with age.
Blushing, he says, “I don’t think I look particularly good, but I try to look after myself. I work out two days of the week. I guess I’ve got good genes.”
The DJ, who lives in London with JJ and his cavapoo Chilli, is no longer “young, free and single” like when he was Radio 1’s “bit in the middle” between Simon Bates and Steve Wright.
Before he found himself ousted by the new 90s kids on the block, like Chris Evans, in Radio 1’s rush to embrace Britpop. “Everyone knew you wouldn’t last past 40 on Radio 1. Apart from the exceptions like 62-year-old Pete Tong and Annie Nightingale, 82, who are incredible and still there.
“I had nothing to be bitter about – I had the best 11 years of my life.”
Gary returned to Radio 2 in 2017 for Sounds of the 80s. He sits in for Zoe Ball and Ken Bruce’s morning shows, which has led many to lay bets on him taking over when Bruce leaves in March to go to Greatest Hits radio.
He says, “I never thought I’d be back on radio. When I left in 1993, I thought that was it, time to do something else.
“The gap between Radio 1 and 2 was huge back then. I felt too young to go to Radio 2.”
And then his face breaks into a big grin, and he jokes, “In fact, I’m still a little bit too young for Radio 2!”
Although famous for his love of 80s pop, Gary’s been a raver since discovering Ibiza in the late 80s.
He says brightly, “I’m old school party and new school party! Friends bought me a set of decks for my birthday and I taught myself to mix and I play underground house music in clubs and at parties in London. I don’t feel my age, and I just want to carry on doing things I love. I’ll go clubbing if I want to. And I am!”
While in Thailand, Gary posted an Instagram of himself hanging out with Phuket local Goldie, at Circoloco Thailand party on the island’s Baba Beach Club.
He explains: “I met my wife JJ at a villa party in Thailand. We come back every year for three weeks to see the family, her granny’s going to be 101 this year.”
Born one of four siblings to his late parents, Sue and Gordon Davies, in Chorlton, Manchester, Gary still visits family in his home city. He remembers Manchester being a brilliant place to grow up in the 1970s.
“My cousin Ivor had boutiques with crazy names. In the school holidays I worked in one called Winston Is A Lunatic.”
The young Gary would blag his way into the clubs. “I’d be in my flares, penny-round collars with cuban-heeled patent leather boots.”
He recalls: “I started DJing at a nightclub called Placemate 7. I was playing everything, but I was always a soul boy. I was 21 and I always wanted to work in radio, like my idols Emperor Rosko, Tony Blackburn and Kenny Everett.
“I made tapes and sent them to every radio station for two and a half years.
“I remember saying to my dad – who wanted me to be a lawyer, ‘I going to give up.’
“But he said, ‘Clearly you don’t want it enough. If you give up, you’re never going to get it.’
Gary made one more tape and sent it to Radio Luxembourg. “They gave me an hour’s slot and I sent the recording to Piccadilly Radio Manchester, and that’s what got me my break.”
Gary joined Radio 1 in 1982 and within weeks he was presenting Top of the Pops.Now he is going out on the road again with his Sounds of the 80s tour, which has shades of Radio 1 roadshow about it.
“I probably did more roadshows in the 80s than any other DJ because I love performing,” he says. “They were an institution – people would book their summer holidays around the roadshow. We used to have 40,000 people on Newquay beach.”
The final old-style roadshow was hosted by Chris Moyles in Brighton in 1999, but now – dig out the lycra, roll up those sleeves and break out the Impulse body spray – the spirit of the old roadshow is back with the Sounds of the 80s tour.
“We plan to go all over the UK. Don’t worry, Scotland and Wales – we’ll get to you! We’ll have specially compiled master mixes and dancers recreating scenes from the classic 80s movies, think Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Ghostbusters and Dirty Dancing.
“I love that people dress up, but it’s not compulsory – just come and have a great time.”
And watch that lower back, folks. It’s probably been a while since the wife got lifted overhead.
All together now, “I’ve had the time of myyyyyy life…”
And we owe it all to you, Gary.
- BBC Radio 2 Sounds of the 80s The Live Tour begins in Birmingham in March through to September. Visit Soundsofthe80slive.co.uk
