High Salvington resident John Fleming has gone from performing at Worthing nightclubs aged just 15 to being respected on the international music stage – but it was not an easy ride.

John, 39, was born in East Preston and moved to Worthing during his teens.

He says he credits his career success to the former St Andrew's headmaster, Peter Stewart, who encouraged him to get into DJ-ing when he was a pupil at the Sackville Road school in 1985.

School geek

"I was just this geek at school who bought records in my lunch break," said John.

"The head knew I was into music and asked if I would DJ at a new under-18s night he was organising in Worthing.

"That night turned into a weekly thing."

From then, Worthing nightclubs began to show an interest and at the age of 15, John was regularly playing at The Factory, now Liquid Lounge nightclub, and Sterns nightclub at Highdown Towers.

"After that, I got requests from clubs all over the country. It was fantastic."

But aged 20, John was diagnosed with lung cancer, which he says "completely threw my world upside down".

Cancer battle

"I had this amazing career taking off as a DJ and then I was told I probably wouldn't survive the cancer and ended up in hospital for a year.

"I had to turn my back on music and concentrate on recovering."

John had chemotherapy and eventually the cancer went into remission.

After three difficult years, John felt ready to get back into DJ-ing.

"But it was too late," he said.

"I'd missed the boat because the dance music scene had changed so much during my illness.

"It had become massive but I was out of touch with it. I felt cheated. I had this amazing life and now it had all been taken away from me."

Hard work

Determined not to let lung cancer ruin his career, John persisted with DJ-ing while working one day a week for a Findon motor dealer.

"I was struggling with money and drove an old clapped-out VW Campervan around," he said.

"It didn't happen overnight and it took a lot of hard work, but in 1994 I managed to persuade Brighton's Zap club owner to let me DJ for free for two weeks before he offered me a permanent residency there.

"The rest is history."

John "00" Fleming, as he is known in the DJ world, is predominantly a trance music DJ.

Euphoria

He now travels all around the world, performing at weekends, and returns to his High Salvington home during the week, where he produces records for artistes including Muse, Simple Minds and Gloria Estafan.

He has gold discs decorating the walls of his studio and currently mixes and produces CDs including the popular Euphoria compilation albums, and rubs sholders with the likes of DJs Carl Cox, originally from Horsham, and Brighton's Fat Boy Slim.

John added: "After suffering life-threatening cancer, I wanted to make every day of my life count.

"I hope my story goes to show with a bit of strength and determination you can succeed even in the toughest of times."

Top 100

For the 10th year in a row, John is hoping to be named as one of the 100 top DJs in the world.

The DJ magazine poll is an annual poll which allows people to vote for any DJ they think should be recognised, from local DJs to the most famous and internationally respected.

"I'm looking to get as much support from my home-town as possible," said John.

"After all, this is where it all started."

To vote for John, log onto www.djmag.com – voting closes on September 24.


-------------------------------------
Click here to go back to Worthing news.

Where are you? Add your pin to the Herald's international readers' map by clicking here.

Email the Herald: letters@worthingherald.co.uk