‘What chance did I have against Pete Tong?’ Morgan Khan, the unsung hero who made the UK dance
We’re nearly two hours into our conversation when Morgan Khan starts to cry. I have just mentioned that for decades now, the UK charts have been filled with the children of Street Sounds, the dance music compilation series he began 40 years ago. “It’s true,” he says, when he has composed himself. “I’m balding, with a pot belly and a small dick. That’s me being objective. But what you said is true.”
Without ever writing a song, without ever fronting a group, Khan changed the face of British music. He was one of the first cheerleaders for Britfunk, the first to bring electro and hip-hop to the UK, and one of the pioneers of house. Every root of the dance music that has blossomed in mainstream pop grew in the UK thanks to Khan transplanting it from the US.
How far ahead of the curve was he? He licensed the first rap smash, , to release in the UK. He was the first person to bring over, as part of the World Class Wreckin’ Cru, to play Khan’s 1986 UK Fresh show. When Mory Kanté’s Yeke Yeke became the first African hit to break in Europe in 1987, Khan had released it on Street
