Jonathan Ulysses

Jonathan Ulysses is a DJ and music producer associated with house and electronic music. He builds his reputation through club DJing, production work and long-running ties to Ibiza’s club scene.

Early career

After leaving school, Ulysses forms a sound system called Soul Plus and also competes in sound clashes across south London as a raga MC. In 1989 he works for a holiday company in Corfu, where he develops stage presence and crowd control as part of his DJ work.

He later returns to London and DJs around NW8 before going to Ibiza. There he is pushed to DJ at particular times and events, and this leads him to focus on DJing more seriously. He returns to Ibiza the following summer with a small record box that includes R&B, soul, hip hop, jungle and little house, and works for a friend who has taken over a small venue. That venue becomes his training ground for the next six years, where he develops his mixing and industry experience.

Ibiza residency and club work

Ulysses has a five-year residency at Space in Ibiza, which he describes as “living the dream”. He plays alongside Eric Morillo, Darren Emerson, Steve Lawler, Laurent Garnier, Carl Cox and Armand Van Helden. His presence at Space helps establish him more firmly as a club DJ, and he also mixes three terrace selection sides of the Space CD series. He later DJs globally as a main resident on the Space World Tour.

His Ibiza work also takes him to other major venues on the island, including Clockwork Orange, Es Paradis, Miss Moneypennys, El Divino, Amnesia and Privilege, as well as bars such as Bar M, Mambo, Kanya, Star Cafe, Savannah and Kiwi. In 1998 he begins a residency for Twice as Nice, then a small London promotion team.

Style and approach

Ulysses is known as a house DJ, but he does not confine himself to one style. He keeps an eclectic record box and says that much of his house sound is percussive, with a funky, pumping and uplifting character. Across his career he plays a wide range of dance music and aims to educate the crowd rather than rely only on obvious commercial tracks.

Radio and international dates

Although he does not keep a regular radio show, Ulysses appears on stations and programmes including Galaxy in Manchester and Bristol, Kiss 100, Ministry of Sound, Key 103, Thump Radio in San Francisco, and Radio 1’s Pete Tong Essential Mix.

He also plays internationally at major nights in Miami, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Canada, Colombia, Israel, Hungary, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Singapore, Croatia and at events including German Dance Festival, POP KOM in Cologne and Croatia Dance Music Festival.

Production work

Ulysses has an ongoing production career under his own name and as Nine Lives. His track “The Voice” is released under the Nine Lives name and is signed to Azuli; it also features on a Space compilation from 2003. He works with Tom Neville on “Good Rhyming Bass” for Nukleuz, with Laurent C of Paris on “21st Century Party People” for Cyber Records, and with Matt Swartz of Deepest Blue.

Recognition

In 2003, DJ Magazine nominates Ulysses for Best Ibiza DJ. He is also linked with the wider recognition of Space, which is voted “Best club in the world” at the 2001 Dance Star Awards.

Current Ibiza associations

He is listed as appearing at We Love Space on Sundays, In Bed with Space on Wednesday mornings, Matinee on Saturday mornings and the La Troya After Party on Thursday mornings.