Donovan "Bad Boy" Smith

Donovan Smith caught the DJing bug in his mid-teens, first discovering dance culture through tapes recorded off US radio stations like KISS 98FM. Through the 1980s he played under pseudonyms including The Baron, Don the Glove, and Quick Eddie, and a standout set at a Fantazia rave in Stroud pushed him into the wider public eye, after which he rebranded as Donovan "Bassline" Smith.

He went on to play a central role in spreading the emerging hardcore and jungle sounds of the late 1980s and early '90s through residencies at Swindon's Fantazia and London venues including the Astoria, Busby's, the Gardening Club, and Club Da Da, and later compiled the mix album Essential Old Skool Hardcore in 1998.