Crissy Criss is a UK drum and bass DJ and broadcaster, also known as Chris Williamson. Born in 1987, he grows up in east London after spending early childhood in places including Newmarket, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.

Early years

Crissy Criss is introduced to DJing at a young age through his family environment. He starts using decks at the age of five and begins DJing seriously at nine. His mother Tracey works in music management and promotion, including running Ton Promotions and later Ton Management, and his stepfather Kenny Ken is active in acid house and jungle techno.

He is the son of former Dubai and Greece international champion jockey Kevin Williamson, who is noted for working for the King of Greece as a racehorse jockey in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

DJ career

Crissy Criss begins to gain wider attention after securing a weekly show on Kool FM in London in 1998, alongside Logan D. He later gets his first festival booking at the Essex Show Ground, covering for Kenny Ken and appearing on a bill that includes Micky Finn, Andy C and GQ.

His first club booking follows in 2000 at The End in London, where DJ Zinc requests him as a warm-up act on a line-up that also includes Mampi Swift, Bad Company, Andy C and Zinc. As his profile grows, he plays across the UK and internationally, with bookings in Germany, Canada, the USA, Estonia, France, Norway and Spain.

Radio

Crissy Criss begins radio work on Kool FM in the late 1990s and later receives his own shows there with Logan D. In 2004 he moves on from Kool FM and is then brought in by BBC Radio 1 after a pilot show is recorded for the station. He becomes one of six DJs on The Residency, later renamed In New DJ's We Trust, before moving on to BBC 1Xtra, where he presents a weekly four-hour drum and bass show.

Style and output

His work is associated with drum and bass, and he is linked with the UK electronic club and radio circuit from an early age. He is also associated with the names Est1987 and Dead Exit, and with the labels Machine Made Records and The Zoooo Records.