My name is John Stanley, I have always been a real music-lover. Music makes everything go better, even when I had boring chores to do at home I could always elevate them if I had music to sing along with. And what music? Anything and everything! I grew up with such wide and varied musical influences as I am from a large family who all liked different stuff: Jazz Funk, Soul, Reggae, Pop, Rock the lot! This has given me a love for all genres of music and is what has led me here.
I have Yvonne Henry to thank for getting into the entertainment business. She worked at Abacus Nursery in Balham where my daughter attended. Yvonne saw fit to ask me to entertain at her daughter's birthday party because I was always making the kids laugh when I collected my daughter. I took a bit of convincing and even more so when she handed me a Barney the dinosaur outfit and asked me to put it on! I ran around a bit, made some bad jokes, Barney's tail was being held by so many kids I could barely move forwards and I sweated buckets! I didn't think I had done anything that special but the parents loved it and this encouraged me to take up children's entertainment.
With invaluable support and encouragement from Abacus (thank you Yvonne and Sharon) I started in the entertainment business back in 1998 as a children's entertainer called Rainbow Man. The parties were meant to be just for the kids but as I was never a believer in "sit still and watch me" type entertainment the parties were always lively and interactive and full of music from day one. Pretty soon I noticed that the parents enjoyed the parties almost as much as the kids and jumped at the chance to join in some of the fun, games, singing and dancing!
I even had the honour of providing entertainment for Dame Judi Dench's grandson on a few occasions and she declared herself a fan of mine!
All this music led to a natural progression into DJ-ing, not only for children but for anyone of any age. I bought my first set of decks, speakers and lights in 2000 and have never looked back. All the energy Rainbow Man brought to the children's parties was now introduced into the discos as well and my customers seem to love the fun atmosphere created at my events. Look at my customer feedback section and see for yourself!
My bubbly personality earned me the opportunity to appear on C4's Deal or No Deal in 2008. A brilliant experience. Noel Edmonds likes a pun or two but he got a run for his money during my time as a contestant. I was even "sent off" by him in one show for persistent bad joke telling! I did quite well when I had my game and I took home a decent pot of gold to put under my rainbow, man!