View source for Chris Sheppard

{{short description|Canadian former DJ and musician}}
{{for|other people with a similar name|Chris Sheppard (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Chris Sheppard
| image           =
| image_size      =
| landscape       = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank -->
| alt             =
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| birth_name      =
| alias           =
| birth_date      = October 23, 1961
| birth_place     = Etobicoke
| origin          = Canada
| genre           = {{hlist|[[Eurodance]]|[[electronic dance music|electronic]]|[[techno]]}}
| occupation      = {{hlist|DJ|remixer|club promoter|producer}}
| instrument      = {{hlist|Keyboards|turntables}}
| years_active    = 1980s–2000s
| label           =
| associated_acts = {{hlist|[[BKS (band)|BKS]]|[[Love Inc. (band)|Love Inc]]}}
| website         = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
}}
'''Chris Sheppard''' (born {{circa|1963}}),<ref name=BOT>{{cite news |last=Bot |first=Ellen |date=November 12, 1987 |title=DJ's 'cool' street-guy style includes slippers |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/435687394/ |work=[[Toronto Star]] |page=J10 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=[[ProQuest]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Sheppard, who recently turned 24... }}</ref> also known as '''DJ Dogwhistle''', is a Canadian [[Disc jockey|DJ]], [[record producer]] and musician.
One of the leading figures in the Canadian [[dance music]] scene in the 1980s and 1990s, he was active as both a club and radio DJ.<ref name=MASTER>{{cite news |last=Howell |first=David |date=December 2, 1993 |title=Master of techno music raves into Edmonton; For Chris Sheppard, success is always played out on the dance floor |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/251999320 |work=[[Edmonton Journal]] |page=D4 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=[[ProQuest]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Canada's foremost producer of dance and techno music is in Edmonton this week for two events showcasing aspects of his craft. Chris Sheppard is a Toronto nightclub and radio DJ who has made a big mark on the country's dance music scene.}}</ref><ref name=RAVE>{{cite news |last=Gold |first=Kerry |date=July 29, 1999 |title=Rave on: Disco never died. It was just ignored while it was taking underground high-tech lessons. Now it's back with a vengeance. |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/242774251 |work=[[Vancouver Sun]] |page=C16 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=[[ProQuest]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Sheppard is widely considered Canada's premier remixer, DJ, rave promoter and club-music artist.}}</ref><ref name=FUTURE>{{cite news |last=Stoute |first=Lenny |date=October 16, 1997 |title=Chris Sheppard comes back to the future |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/437747394 |work=[[Toronto Star]] |page=K13 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=[[ProQuest]] |url-access=subscription |quote=With electronica and DJing all the rave, the timing of genre godfather Chris Sheppard couldn't be more immaculate.}}</ref><ref name=UNDERGROUND>{{cite news |last=Flynn |first=Andrew |date=September 11, 1998 |title=DJ Sheppard bringing underground sound to the surface |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/352997927 |work=[[The Kingston Whig-Standard]] |agency=[[Canadian Press]] |page=27 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=[[ProQuest]] |url-access=subscription |quote=But "Shep," as he's known in the dance nightclubs, is probably the most successful club DJ this country has ever known.}}</ref>
From the 1990s into the 2000s, he hosted a [[syndicated (broadcast)|syndicated]] dance music radio show that was broadcast nationally in Canada and released several [[remix albums]]. As a musician he formed the [[Juno Award]]-winning dance groups [[BKS (band)|BKS]] and [[Love Inc. (band)|Love Inc.]]
==Early life==
Sheppard lived in the then-Toronto suburb of [[Mississauga]] in his youth and attended [[Alderwood Collegiate Institute]] in [[Etobicoke]].<ref name=BOT/> He studied radio and television arts at [[Ryerson Polytechnical Institute]].<ref name=BOT/>
==Career==
Sheppard's music career started in the [[Punk rock|punk]] and [[alternative rock]] scenes, working with and remixing music for such artists as [[Skinny Puppy]], [[Ministry (band)|Ministry]], [[Jesus Jones]], [[The Cult]], [[The Clash]] and [[New Order (band)|New Order]].<ref name=UNDERGROUND/><ref name=HARRISON>{{cite news |last=Harrison |first=Tom |date=June 12, 1998 |title=Sheppard's a busy guy and Love Inc. it: Canada's top dance music guru is here with his group tonight |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/269169471 |work=[[The Province]] |page=B12 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=[[ProQuest]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Starting in the 1980s, he worked as a DJ and host of several warehouse parties and [[rave]]s in the [[Toronto]] area.<ref name=RAVE/><ref name=LEBLANC>{{Cite magazine |last=LeBlanc |first=Larry |title=Sheppard Grows With The Times |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA51 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |volume=110 |issue=27 |date=July 4, 1998 |page=51 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> By the mid-1980s he was deejaying at Toronto dance clubs such as The Edge, The Domino Club and The Copa, eventually becoming a featured DJ at [[RPM (nightclub)|RPM]].<ref name=BOT/><ref name=BENSON>{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/rbxg44/remembering-rpm-torontos-wildest-night-club-of-the-90s |title=Remembering RPM: Toronto's Wildest and Weirdest Club of the 90s |last=Benson |first=Denise |date=July 21, 2015 |website=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |access-date=July 27, 2023}}</ref> In 1985, while working at The Copa, [[CFNY-FM|CFNY]] program director [[David Marsden]] heard Sheppard's work and hired him as the host of a Saturday night alternative dance music show called ''Club 102''.<ref name=BENSON/> The radio show later expanded to a live broadcast from various Toronto nightclubs on Friday nights.<ref name=BENSON/>
Sheppard became part-owner of the punk and alternative rock nightclub [[Bovine Sex Club]] in 1991.<ref>{{cite news |title=Toronto Pillars: How the Bovine Sex Club survived 30 years on Queen West |url=https://nowtoronto.com/music/how-the-bovine-sex-club-survived-30-years-on-queen-west/ |work=[[Now (newspaper)|Now]] |date=October 29, 2021 |access-date=December 18, 2023}}</ref>  The following year, Sheppard resigned from CFNY during the station's restructuring and subsequently deejayed for [[Greater Toronto Area]] dance music stations [[CING-FM|Energy 108]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Archer |first=Bert |date=July 25, 2009 |title=The Ballad of Martin Streek |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2385985163/ |work=[[The Globe and Mail]] (Online) |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=[[ProQuest]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref> and [[CIDC-FM|Z103.5]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} His dance music radio program, ''Pirate Radio'', later renamed ''Groove Station'', went into [[Broadcast syndication|syndication]] and was broadcast from stations across [[Canada]].<ref name=RAVE/><ref name=GODDARD>{{cite news |last=Goddard |first=Peter |date=November 16, 1996 |title=Techno marketers hope for DJ raves |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/437573484 |work=[[Toronto Star]] |page=J10 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=[[ProQuest]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref> During this time, Sheppard released several [[compilation album]]s of dance music via his own record label, Pirate Records & Music.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=LeBlanc |first=Larry |title=BMG's Love Inc. Make Pop Breakthrough |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA51 |magazine=Billboard |volume=110 |issue=27 |date=July 4, 1998 |page=51 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> His compilation album series included ''Pirate Radio Sessions'', ''Destination Dance Floor'', ''Groove Station'' and ''Club Cutz''. In the 1990s he would at times perform at clubs under the name DJ Dogwhistle and released two compilation albums as Dogwhistle Soundsystem. He adopted the Dogwhistle alias due to a contractual conflict.<ref name=RAVE/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/78j59x/the-communic8r-flyer-collection-toronto-rave-history |title=Parties to Rave Buses, Relive Toronto 90s History with This Flyer Collection |last=Boles |first=Benjamin |date=June 7, 2016 |website=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |access-date=July 27, 2023}}</ref>
Sheppard formed the [[techno]] group [[BKS (band)|BKS]] whose first album was released in 1992. The group's single "Astroplane (City of Love Mix)" won the 1997 [[Juno Award]] for Best Dance Recording and the video for the single won them the 1996 [[MuchMusic]] award for Best Dance Video.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kives |first=Bartley |date=March 10, 1997 |title=Grand Fromage |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/486154251/ |work=[[Winnipeg Sun]] |page=12 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Powell |first=Betsy |date=September 2, 1996 |title=MacIsaac scoops three video awards |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/486154251/ |work=[[Calgary Herald]] |agency=[[Canadian Press]] |page=D4 |access-date=July 27, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
Sheppard formed [[Love Inc. (group)|Love Inc.]] in 1997, along with vocalist [[Simone Denny]] and fellow producer/remixer Brad Daymond.<ref name=RAVE/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/music/junos/features/then-and-now-simone-denny-looks-back-on-the-20th-anniversary-of-love-inc-s-debut-1.4833811 |title=Then and now: Simone Denny looks back on the 20th anniversary of Love Inc.'s debut |last=Warner |first=Andrea |date=September 21, 2018 |website=[[CBC Music]] |access-date=July 27, 2023|quote= }}</ref> Love Inc. won the [[Juno Award]] for Best Dance Recording for "Broken Bones" and in 2001 for "Into the Night".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.socanmagazine.ca/news/socan-mourns-passing-of-juno-winning-love-inc-member-brad-daymond/ |title=SOCAN mourns passing of JUNO-winning Love Inc. member Brad Daymond |last=Druckman |first=Howard |date=August 15, 2018 |website=[[SOCAN|SOCAN Magazine]] |access-date=July 27, 2023}}</ref>
Sheppard stopped releasing music in the 2000s and his last reported public appearance was on a 2014 episode of the ''[[Humble & Fred]]'' podcast.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.torontomike.com/2022/09/the-disappearance-of-chris-sheppard/ |title=The Disappearance of Chris Sheppard |date=September 20, 2022 |website=Toronto Mike |access-date=July 27, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.humbleandfredradio.com/listen-to-humble-and-fred/2014/07/chris-sheppard-theory-of-a-deadman.html |title=Chris Sheppard / Theory Of A Deadman |date=July 23, 2014 |website=[[Humble & Fred]] |access-date=July 27, 2023}}</ref>
==Discography==
*''Techno Trip'' (1992)
*''Sheppard's Revenge'' (1992)
*''Still Trippin'' (1992)
*''Trip to the Moon'' (1993)
*''Have a Nice Trip'' (1993)
*''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol. 1: The Underground Collection'' (1994)
*''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol. 2: Club Culture'' (1994)
*''The Life and Time of an After Hours DJ'' (1995, as Dogwhistle)
*''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol. 3'' (1995)
*''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol 4: The Best of 1995'' (1995)
*''Destination Dance Floor'' (1995)
*''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol. 5'' (1996)
*''2 Hi 4 Humans'' (1996, as Dogwhistle)
*''Destination Dance Floor 2'' (1996)
*''Pirate Radio Sessions Vol. 6'' (1996)
*''Destination Dance Floor 3'' (1997)
*''Kwikmix 2938'' (1998, as Dogwhistle)
*''Groove Station 4'' (1998)
*''Club Cutz 101'' (1998)
*''Club Cutz 201'' (1999)
*''Groove Station 5'' (1999)
*''Club Cutz 303'' (2000)
*''Groove Station 6'' (2000)
*''Club Cutz 404'' (2001)
*''Euphoria: Hard House & Progressive Anthems'' (2001)
*''Club Cutz 505'' (2001)
*''Club Cutz 606'' (2002)
*''Euphoria 2: Deep, Dark & Underground'' (2002)
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppard, Chris}}
[[Category:Canadian radio personalities]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian electronic dance music DJs]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]