DUBAI // Greg Stainer arrived in the UAE eight years ago with a case of CDs and some personal belongings after being offered a job as a DJ. His lot in life has improved considerably since.
The former construction worker is today a chart-topping act and music producer. He has his own radio show and production business and has recorded tracks for renowned artists such as Sister Bliss and Eric Morillo. His album 6mil 2headphones reached number seven on the Virgin Megastores top 10 chart. He drives a BMW and is considered a trailblazer in the UAE's dance music scene, helping to export home-grown music.
"Nine years ago my sister saw an ad for a DJ in Dubai and she told me about it," Stainer, 34, said. "It was for a month-long gig at the Deira InterContinental Hotel. After the gig was over I was about to leave Dubai when the DJ that was supposed to launch Zinc [a nightclub] didn't show up.
"Zinc's management called me and asked me to fill in. They liked my music and offered me a job. This was at a time when clubs were taking off and people came to hear a particular DJ as opposed to just going for the atmosphere."
Stainer began spinning tunes nightly at Zinc, in the Crowne Plaza hotel in Shiekh Zayed Road, and has been its resident DJ ever since. More opportunities presented themselves as his reputation spread, fuelled by his eclectic mix of house and dance music.
"In 2005, while I was at Zinc, I met Jeff Price of Radio One and he wanted me to do a one-hour house music mix live on the air once a week," he said. "Then I was asked to do a drive-time show. After that Radio One introduced 'The One Weekend' show where DJs were allowed to play their own mixes of music."
The success led to a problem, though. Playing every night at Zinc and with Radio One wanting his services simultaneously, he effectively needed to be at two places at once. Fortunately, Radio One solved the dilemma when it decided to broadcast his sets live from Zinc.
"At the time I wanted to rebrand Radio One to be an urban, club, lifestyle station," said Jeff Price, the radio consultant from the UK who gave Stainer his break in broadcasting. "Greg fitted the image dead-on.
"His reputation at Zinc and everything else about him was what I wanted. His voice, his sound and his DJ ability was what we needed. I threw him right in."
The move proved popular immediately. The announcement "This is One Weekend. You're listening to Greg Stainer live from Zinc on Radio One" quickly became a fixture for house music lovers every Thursday and Friday night in their cars as they headed off for a night of clubbing.
"I always listened to it every weekend as my friends and I went out to party," said Monica Rayburn, 27, a Dubai-based beautician from the UK. "Greg Stainer created the right mood for us. Even if we were a bit late reaching Zinc we just turned on the radio in the car and it was like we were already in the club."
With the programme's success, Stainer's name became synonymous with dance music in the Emirates. Zinc, meanwhile, became "the place to go for house and dance music lovers," according to Price, while Stainer added that "it's the only club open every night of the week and is always at least filled to 50 per cent capacity."
Stainer released his first full-length solo album last year, which earned him a top-10 position in DJ Magazine's Middle East and North Africa poll. His first album was named as a reminder of the transition from a labourer - working with a plastic material called 6mil - to DJ.
6mil 2headphones also blazed new trails as the first CD to feature Dubai-based house music.
His career continued to expand as Stainer created his own record label, Stained Music, last year. He received support from artists including Groove Armada, Tocadisco and Claude Von Stroke.
He went from strength to strength as Ride, a track made in collaboration with Oscar P, reached No 5 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play's break-out chart in January of this year. His productions have reached No 1 in the Beatport and Traxsource online charts. Still, it's his DJ sets that made his name. They have been played in more than 30 cities including New York, London, Ibiza and Singapore and he has also headlined at top venues in the UAE such as Armani and Nasimi Beach.
His success does not mean he's satisfied.
"In five years I still plan to be in Dubai but perhaps touring more, promoting albums that I plan on producing, doing more of what I do now, but with bigger hits," he said.
