True House Stories® Youtube & Spotify Video Podcast
TRUE HOUSE STORIES W/ JUNIOR
Junior interview podcast hosted by Lenny Fontana # 144 - True House Stories®
YOUTUBE PREMIERE - 25th March 2025
Jo Mills began to gain her extensive musical knowledge during the early 90’s at London’s Mecca for music enthusiasts, Flying Records. Working alongside DJs such as Clive Henry, Rocky and Ashley Beedle lead her to become a regular behind the decks at the infamous Full Circle parties on Sunday afternoons. Soon Jo Mills was playing alongside some of the biggest names in house including Danny Tenaglia, Deep Dish, Tony Humphries and DJ Sneak, to name a few.
By the late 90’s it was the dawn of a new era, for DJs, and she began playing all over the world. Soon she was regularly playing at some of the greatest clubs of the time, especially in Ibiza, which these days is where she calls home. Having firmly stamped her mark on the island playing seminal clubs such as Pacha, Space and Amnesia she then began her residency for the now legendary Circo Loco. As one of the key players her Circo Loco residency spanned five amazing years and propelled her to the next level.
Jo Mills mixed her first Ibiza compilation for Pacha alongside DJ Pippi in 2001 and followed it up the following year with a Circo Loco debut compilation alongside Cirillo. Jo continues to wow audiences across Europe, South Africa, Asia, Australia, Mexico, South America, Canada the US and even Russia. Annual global tours are regularity due to her ever-increasing popularity, fan base, talent and all-round presence in the house scene.
Over the years Jo’s musical talents have continued to flourish, not only as a DJ but also as a producer. In the production realm she sights the likes of Jamie Jones, Bookashade and Sebo K as inspiration and is currently receiving great acclaim for her own releases. Her collaboration with Tomas Hedberg, on Phonetic Recordings caused a huge stir in 2009, 2010 saw “Lullaby’ released on Back to Basics, while other productions of note include ‘Dancing In The Dark, Jo’s collaboration with Matti Schwartz under the 4tune500 moniker and ‘House Arrest’, which she co-produced with Steve Mac for Junior Boys Own Records.
Jo’s productions regularly receive rave reviews from a diverse range of artists including the likes of Groove Armarda, Slam, Tedd Patterson, Brother’s Vibe and everyone in-between, beyond and basically all those who love quality house. More recently Jo has teamed up with Gareth Whitehead from Bullet Dodge records, with their first single, ‘Pipe Dreams’ being snapped up by Pacha Recordings with mixes from Denney.
Jo decided t0 take a momentarily break for a few years and decided during the year of 2020 to come back and do it all over again. She is now travelling the world once again and has a residency on the White Isle Ibiza each and every week. She is in the studio producing and remixing and has a huge release set to come out on Defected. Watch out for her she is on a roll.
Biography Junior
Junior Giscombe has had a long and varied career over the years. He has worked as a performer, songwriter within various areas of production, demonstrating his wide-ranging talents as a musician. Junior was born in Wandsworth, London. He grew up listening to his older brothers’ and sisters’ record collection, which included the doo-wop of the Moonglows, the Dells, early Motown, Otis Redding, and the reggae music of Toots and the Maytals and Bob Marley. Though as a teenager he sang lead in a local band, music more or less remained a hobby until he chose a full-time music career after college in the mid-’70s. His inspiration was Philly soul writers Thom Bell and Linda Creed, Gene McFadden, and John Whitehead.
Junior was a backing vocalist with Linx between 1980 and 1982. When turning towards a solo career, a British independent label released his single, ‘Hot Up & Heated’, but it was Polygram’s subsidiary Phonogram that gave him his first major-label opportunity. The label was rewarded when the infectious ‘Mama Used to Say’ was also a Top 40 Pop hit and Top 5 R&B in the United States, earning him a “Best Newcomer” award from Billboard magazine. His follow-up single, “Too Late” also made the Top 20 in the UK.
In 1983, his second album, ‘Inside Looking Out’, included ‘Communication Breakdown’ and the popular ballad ‘Baby I Want You Back’. In 1984, Junior teamed up with renowned producer, the late Arif Mardin for the album ‘Acquired Taste’, which spawned the singles ‘Somebody’, ‘Oh Louise’ (Top 20 R&B), ‘Look What You’ve Done for Me’ and the phat, funky ‘Tonight.’ One of his tracks, ‘Unison’, appeared on the soundtrack for ‘About Last Night’ and was a No. 1 dance hit in the United States.
Between 1984 and 1985, Junior recorded and co-wrote an unknown number of songs with Phil Lynott, the former leader, vocalist and bass player of hard rock band ‘Thin Lizzy’. Lynott died in January 1986 and the songs were never officially released. Most remain as demos, but one of the songs, ‘Lady Loves to Dance’, was mastered and nearly released before being pulled by the record company. However, some of the songs are available on YouTube, including ‘What’s the Matter Baby’ Junior provides backing vocals, and ‘Time and Again’ Junior shares lead vocals with Lynott.
In 1986 he also became involved with the formation of Red Wedge with Billy Bragg and Paul Weller and had been a part of The Council Collective with The Style Council, Jimmy Ruffin and others for the 1984 fundraising single, ‘Soul Deep’ and appeared on stage at the 1992 Labour rally in Sheffield singing Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Move On Up’.
1987, Junior wrote and recorded ‘Do You Want My Love’ for the multi-platinum soundtrack from the blockbuster Eddie Murphy movie ‘Beverly Hills Cop’. That same year, Junior had his biggest European hit, ‘Another Step Closer to You’, a duet with Kim Wilde and that was just the first of a string of performances with Wilde. They also were the opening act for the late Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ Tour in 1987.
Towards the end of 1987, Junior completed work on his fourth and final album for Polygram, Sophisticated Street. The LP yielded the hit ‘Yes If You Want Me’. After a period of self-evaluation, Junior began working with producer Alan Glass, Soul II Soul’s Simon Law, Robbie Taylor, and Greg Smith for his 1991 MCA debut album ‘Stand Strong’. In 1998 Giscombe began work on his biggest hit as a producer ‘Mama who the Man’ recorded by Richard Blackwood. The song reached No.3 in the National Charts.
Junior became better known as a songwriter for various artists, including Sheena Easton. He is highly acclaimed as a gifted songwriter and for his distinctive voice. He has also has the privilege of being able to work alongside a diverse selection of other accomplished artists such as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Phil Lynot and Maxie Priest to name but a few.
Junior was a pioneer when he created and presented British-based R&B/SOUL/FUNK music to audiences outside the U.K. Junior continues to be prolific and successful he is currently working on personal projects including the British Collective and an electric mix of Junior songs sung by various artists and will bring a cultural reggae vibe to the wonderful world of music. Wonder, Phil Lynot and Maxie Priest to name but a few.
