‘[Annie Nightingale] is completely inspirational . . . The book is a riveting read’ DJ Magazine
‘Absolutely terrific’ David Quantick
‘A marvellous memoir’ Louder Than War
‘A joy to read’ Guardian
Hey Hi Hello
Five Decades of Pop Culture from Britain's broadcasting DJ pioneer
By Annie Nightingale
White Rabbit/ 2nd September 2021/ Paperback/ £9.99
Featuring never exclusive interviews with The Beatles, Bob Marley, David Bowie, Billie Eilish and Primal Scream among others.
Hey Hi Hello is a greeting we have all become familiar with, as Annie Nightingale cues up another show on BBC Radio 1. Always in tune with the nation's taste, yet effortlessly one step ahead for more than five decades, in this book Annie digs deep into her crate of memories, experiences and encounters to deliver an account of a life lived on the frontiers of pop cultural innovation.
Annie Nightingale was the first female DJ on the BBC and has the longest running radio show on BBC Radio 1, celebrating her 50 years in broadcasting in 2020. As a writer, DJ and broadcaster on radio, tv and the live music scene, Annie has been an invigorating and necessarily disruptive force, working within the establishment but never playing by the rules. She walked in the door at Radio 1 as a rebel, its first female broadcaster, in 1970. Fifty years later she became the station's first CBE in the New Year's Honours List; still a vital force in British music, a DJ and tastemaker who commands the respect of artists, listeners and peers across the world.
Hey Hi Hello tells the story of those early, intimidating days at Radio 1, the Ground Zero moment of punk and the epiphanies that arrived in the late 80s with the arrival of acid house and the Second Summer of Love. It includes faithfully reproduced and never before seen encounters with Bob Marley, Marc Bolan, The Beatles and bang-up-to-date interviews with Little Simz and Billie Eilish.
Funny, warm and candid to a fault, Annie Nightingale's memoir is driven by the righteous energy of discovery and passion for music. It is a portrait of an artist without whom the past fifty years of British culture would have looked very different indeed.
ABOUT ANNIE NIGHTINGALE
Annie Nightingale CBE began her career as a journalist, columnist and fashion boutique owner. She was the first female DJ on BBC Radio 1 and is now the stations longest serving broadcaster, celebrating 50 years at the BBC last year.
Annie was the first female DJ from Radio 1 to be inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame, and she received a special Gold Award at the Sony Radio Academy Awards. She won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Audio Production Awards in 2020 and was awarded MBE by The Queen in 2000. She is an ambassador of The Princes’ Trust and patron of Sound Women, an organisation to promote women in broadcasting.
As well as touring the world as a live DJ, she has also released music compilation collections, including Annie On One (Heavenly) and Masterpiece (Ministry of Sound), and two volumes of autobiography, Chase the Fade and Wicked Speed.
In 2020 BBC Four devoted a night's TV to Annie, including two new documentaries about punk and post punk music. This reflected Annie's tenure as the only ever female anchor of the legendary BBC TV music series, The Old Grey Whistle Test. Annie was interviewed on Desert Island Discs in 2020.
Note:
The photography section includes photographs from Annie's personal collection. Featuring Mick Jagger, Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys, Little Simz, Billie Eilish, and a series of recently discovered backstage pictures from the height of Beatlemania with The Fab Four.
‘Annie was important to me back when I was a teenager, when not only was she one of the few people playing records I liked, she was a WOMAN doing it, which was inspirational to me. I wrote about her in my book Another Planet, where I quote a diary entry from 1978 which listed things I was loving in between watching Bowie on tv and taping a Bruce Springsteen album, the entry simply says, ‘Listened to Annie Nightingale’.’ - Tracey Thorn
‘I can’t imagine what growing up without Annie Nightingale would have been like. I don’t want to contemplate the limitations that would have been imposed on my cultural life and my own ambitions in that sphere without her presence. Thank god I don’t have to and she was there every step of the way from a voice on the radio to an enthusiastic comrade in the chill out zone and post-rave party.’ - Irvine Welsh
‘It wasn’t until I heard Annie Nightingale on Sunday evenings after the chart rundown that I understood what music radio could be. Nightingale had a broader music taste than, say, John Peel, but was alternative enough to introduce me to songs I never would otherwise have heard. She’s still on Radio 1 now, at the very Nightingale time of 1am. She still plays tracks I hate, tracks I love. She’s still the best.’
Miranda Sawyer - ‘Top 50 inspiring cultural icons’, Observer
‘Full of brilliant anecdotes, this autobiography offers a rare insight into a woman who has lived at the forefront of pop culture’ - The Sun
‘Jam-packed with stories and events that span decades of music and culture, from the Beatles via Marc Bolan to Primal Scream and Little Simz . . . very hard to put down’ - Buzz Magazine