With the heaviest of hearts, I’m writing to let those who remember him know that Jonathan passed away three weeks ago.
Those who knew him well will know that recent times had been a huge challenge for him. Help and support had been offered and was available from family, long standing friends from the north east and some of the many music friends he’d made including, to his credit, John DIgweed. Alas Jon succumbed to heart failure on 23rd December
I met Jon through Bedrock – initially the old message board and then nights at both Heaven and The Beach. He was charismatic, utterly genuine and possessed the best ears for a mix of anyone I’ve ever met. He developed his mixing talent until it matched his imagination and Digweed was confident to showcase Jon’s ‘Autobiography’ mix, featured on a Digweed Kiss FM mix show in 2001. Jon went from being a constant punter at the regular Bedrock parties at Heaven and The Beach to DJing in various rooms and stages including festival events under the Bedrock umbrella. He then released the second instalment of Bedrock’s ‘OS’ series to great acclaim – the work he put into that mix fully justifies the enduring reputation it enjoys. M Theory Records was next which Jon headed up supported by three of us in the background – but the timing wasn’t great as the label straddled the seismic jump from vinyl to digital. Jon’s DJing career grew outside of the Bedrock branding and he played support and headline sets across north and south America and Europe and he had a mix featured on BBC Radio 1. However, with an incredibly successful law career increasingly demanding his time he stepped back from music. He married and leaves behind a beautiful son.
Not a single one of us is perfect and Jon was no exception, but the enduring memory my times with him will leave is of his completetly infectious enthusiasm for the music he loved, his crazy ability to blend tunes and his absolute love for ‘the rave’.
Go well JL.
edit
In anticipation of a small resurgence of interest in Jon’s mixes I’m compiling a page that features as many of them as we can get our hands on - I’ll link it here as soon as it’s all ready…
edit 2
More details/tracklistings etc to be added but here’s pretty much all Jon’s promotional and commercial CD releasses, arranged in approximate date order…
https://hearthis.at/smashdad/set/jonathan-lisle/yVMUt/
