Nick Hook fell in love with house music and started DJing back in the early days of the acid house revolution.

In 1990 he teamed up with house music producer Morgan King, and together they produced tracks for the Swedish house label Btech. In the spring of 1991, Nick launched his first club in London called Up, which later became the legendary Loosen Up. Nick and Morgan’s partnership lead to immediate recording success. One of their tracks, 'Take Me Up' (released under the name Soundsource – one of Nick and Morgan’s many guises), was among the biggest underground tunes of ‘91. Later licensed by FFRR, it reached number 62 in the national UK chart in 1992.

Early years: Om Records and Loosen Up

That year the Soundsource partnership launched Om Records, which fast became one of the most influential labels of the fledgling progressive house scene. Om Records released tracks by Nick and Morgan under various different names plus many rising stars of the London house scene including Billy Nasty, Paul Daly, 108 Grand, Marc Auerbach and Steve Travell. The label also featured remixes from Slam, Leftfield, Bump and Well Hung Parliament. 

Nick’s releases on Om include Soundsource 'One High', Pleasure Box 'Goodbye To Jane EP', and First Life 'Love Bomb'.

During this time Loosen Up went from strength to strength. Between 1992 and 1994, it was one of London’s most influential clubs. Many DJs who became leading lights of the house music scene guested at Loosen Up during those years including Sasha, John Digweed, Darren Emerson, Orde Mikele (Slam), Billy Nasty, Paul Daly (Leftfield) and Tall Paul. But the club owed its success to Nick’s legendary ‘graveyard shift’ sets, which left clubbers on a high.

The success of Loosen Up saw Nick’s DJ career take off, and he went on to play guest spots at many of the UK's top clubs of the 1990s, including the Ministry Of Sound, The Drum Club, Slam, and Club UK, as well as many venues across Europe and Ireland.

Going solo: Off The Hook Records

Nick started his solo career in 1994 after leaving Om Records. His first solo release was ‘Credence’ on the new progressive label Whoop Records (Nick was involved in the recording of most of Whoop Records’ early releases).

One of Nick’s acts, First Life, partnered by Martin Sharp, released its second single 'Be One Of Us' in 1994, which became a progressive classic. It was massive for both Sasha and John Digweed and was one of the tunes responsible for kick-starting the progressive house scene in Florida. First Life also remixed Dum Dum’s 'One Earth Beat', which was one of Whoop Records' biggest releases – both mixes were used by John Digweed on his Renaissance 2 mix CD.

In 1995 Loosen Up joined forces with Whoop to form a new weekly progressive house night called Whoop It Up. It ran for over five years as a weekly Friday night club in London – three years at the Gardening Club in Covent Garden and two years at The Velvet Room on Charing Cross Road. Alongside resident DJs Nick Hook, Terry Marks, Andy Lekker and Joel Xavier, Whoop It Up featured the cream of the UK house scene including Seb Fontaine, Dave Seamen, Timo Maas, Sasha, Nick Warren, Slacker and John Digweed.

Meanwhile, Nick launched Off The Hook Records, which released 11 singles between 1997 and 2000. These included four solo singles and collaborations with other artists including Shango and the late, great Tom Bouthier. Off The Hook also released a new First Life track called 'Burst Into Fire' – another big track, the video for which was shown twice on MTV.

New millennium, new collaborations

In 2000 Nick teamed up with DJ Gordon Kaye to form Subterfuge. They had previously worked together as First Joy (with releases on Whoop and Stress in 1995). Subterfuge released two singles on React in 2001. Their first single 'ID Sanctuary' – which included mixes by Circulation and Funk Funktion – featured extensive radio play from the likes of Radio One’s Pete Tong and reached number 81 in the national chart. Subterfuge’s second single 'Prana', which featured remixes by Soul Mechanik and Gil, received critical acclaim, with support from all the top jocks including Radio One’s Seb Fontaine.

Also that year Nick's collaboration with Andy Morris, 'Groove On' was released on the legendary Scottish house music label Limbo Records.

Nick signed to Distinctive Records (the home of Hybrid and Way Out West) in 2001 and his single, 'Enhanced', (which featured vocals by the late great comedian Bill Hicks) was released in 2002, becoming an anthem at Ibiza’s Bora Bora, and featuring top remixes from Soul Mekanik and Mike Monday.

In 2003 Nick started working with In Music, his first release for the label being a collaboration with Skynet entitled 'U Treat Me Right (Love Thing)', which reached number one in the Balance Promotions Chart. First Life’s classic track ‘Be One Of Us’ was released on In Music in 2004, with a brand new First Life mix and a brilliant remix from Chris Fortier (again topping the Balance Chart and gaining support among many of the UK's top DJs).

Also in 2004 In Music released Nick's 10th solo single, 'Burn Out Baby', which included remixes from Mike Monday, Martin Sharp and Hedstatic. Featuring vocals from Carol Neen 'Burn Out Baby' was a favourite for many top DJs around the world. That same year, Nick and Martin Sharp (First Life) continued to produce for In Music and Wallop Recordings.

Recent years: Jeepers! and century landmark

Since then Nick has been busier than ever in the recording studio. In 2007 Nick had a number of new releases for various labels including: First Life 'Survival' (Inevitable Records), The Casey Jones Effect (Nick and Rob Green) 'Electrify Me' (Baroque), Hook & Black (Nick and Matt Black) 'Lucky Punk' (Segment). Plus First Life remixes of Luis Paris vs Adamski 'One Of The People' (Phonetic Recordings) and Janet Gabriel 'The Power' (Inevitable).

That year Nick launched a brand new house music label, called Jeepers!, along with fellow Brighton DJ Lee Morrison. The first release on Jeepers! was a Nick Hook solo single entitled 'The Funky Muzik', which gained DJ support from such luminaries as Laurent Garnier, Tim Andresen and the Flash Brothers, and topped the MOS electro chart and reached number two in the DJ Download chart.

Since then Jeepers! has gone from strength to strength with tracks and remixes from top artists including Jay Kay, Dumb Dan, Tim Andresen, Anton Neumark, Full Blown, Nightstylers and Nikki Belle.

Nick has produced and remixed many of the Jeepers! releases, including collaborations such as Hook Vs Shango, Hook & Sharp First Life and Spectrum Mods, plus two new solo singles.

Nick's remix of the Tim Andresen single, 'Gimmay', in 2008, for Tim's What Happens label, was played on the Pete Tong Essential selection on Radio One and entered the DMC Buzz Chart and Cool Cuts chart.

In 2009 Nick Hook's 'Enhanced' (featuring vocals from the late great Bill Hicks) was re-released on Distinctive with new mixes from James Harcourt, Tim Andresen and Nick himself. Originally released on Distinctive back in 2002, it became one of the Ibiza anthems that year.

The 2009 mixes hit the mark again with support from many of the world's top DJs including Tiesto, D Ramirez, Nick Warren, Andy Cato (Groove Armada), Bushwacker, Oliver Lang and many more. 

Also in 2009 the First Life classic 'Be One Of Us' was released on Jeepers! with new mixes and great DJ support. That year Nick also remixed Funk Fanatics feat Peyton 'Love Is The Answer' for Loaded/FreeMaison, and Claes Rosen 'Eighties'.

Nick reached his landmark 100th release in 2010 with a new solo single - 'For Your Ears, Your Heart & Your Soul' - on Jeepers! Throughout 2010 Nick has also worked on new solo tracks and collaborations for Jeepers!, plus other remixes including:

• Jay Kay 'Never Forgotten' (Kinky Vinyl)
• Colliders 'I Drink Your Milkshake' (Axis Trax)
• Chris Rawles 'Uh Oh' (Jeepers!)
• First Life (Nick Hook and Martin Sharp) 'Love Bomb' (Jeepers!)
• Plus other remixes for labels including Axis Trax, Skint, Red Box Records.

Check out Nick's Discography for a full list of over 100 releases including remixes of Saint Etienne, The Grid, Alex Neri, Adamski and Gusto’s classic ‘Disco's Revenge’ for high-profile labels including Stress, Whoop, DMC, Limbo, Om, Phonetic, Multiply, Loaded, A.A.T.W. and Fresh Records.

Nick continues to DJ at clubs all over the UK and abroad (Germany, France, Ibiza, Poland, Ireland Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia). Currently Nick has two DJ residencies in his adopted home town of Brighton: Tech-noir and Loose. See the DJ Gigs page for news of upcoming gigs.