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The wee Christmas present that triggered a 拢200m music career

Christmas presents have the capacity to change lives...

Think carefully about what you give your little loved ones this Christmas — it might just be the making of them.

DJ Calvin Harris signed a reported 拢200m deal to play a residency in Las Vegas

The massive success of superstar Scottish DJ Calvin Harris shows no signs of slowing. With 10 UK chart number one singles under his belt, he has now surpassed the likes of ABBA and Michael Jackson. But it all started with one little Christmas present.

“I started off listening to Nirvana when I was eight because my big brother loved them.”

“I got a wee acoustic guitar for my Christmas; it was the classic wood colour of acoustic guitar. I used to learn Lithium (by Nirvana), the bass line to that and I painted my guitar black which worried my mum slightly... That thing, it just got me into bass lines, any tune with a good bass line.”

Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris tells Vic Galloway about how he discovered music and how he got started

From there, Harris began to find inspiration in all different bass players across musical genres.

“I got really into Jamiroquai because Stuart Zender – like the virtuoso bass player that he is – Emergency On Planet Earth by Jamiroquai was unreal. Like, it still is; it’s amazing. I got into them then I got into the Spin Doctors because their bass player was like Level 42-esque and that just fascinated me.”

“I was never even a closet fan of pop music to be honest with you,” he admitted.

“When I was a teenager, I was specifically into Roy Ayres and Herbie Hancock and then house music as well, in fact, it was the house music of that time – the disco house era of the late 90s – that got me into that rare groove and disco and things like that.”

Calvin Harris at the 大象传媒

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