Pete Tong: From £100 Sets in Kent to Royal Albert Hall

Despite his name being slang for things going wrong, it has all gone right for Pete Tong and his career.

The veteran DJ, who over the years has become one of the biggest names in dance music, as well as being the BBC’s longest-serving DJ, started out by playing village halls in Kent and earning just £100 a set. 

Now, the 64-year-old has once again taken to the iconic stage at the Royal Albert Hall to perform his Ibiza Classics with Jules Buckley and the Essential Orchestra, as it celebrates its tenth anniversary. 

But life wasn’t always big stages and crowds for Pete, as he shares with MailOnline how his first gig was at a school disco, where he performed for free and had to work a ‘normal job’ on the side.

During an exclusive interview, Pete explained: ‘The first time I ever played was a school disco, and I got paid nothing because I was learning how to do it. 

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Pete Tong has opened up on life as a legendary DJ in an exclusive interview with MailOnline

The veteran DJ, who over the years has become one of the biggest names in dance music started out by playing village halls in Kent and earning just £100 a set (Pete pictured in Pacha Ibiza in 2012) 

‘Then I rented a village hall. It was quite entrepreneurial looking back, and I stuck posters up around the village and did this party and ended up with £100 on the kitchen table. 

‘I was around 16-years-old at the time and that was quite a lot of money back then.’

While finding his feet in the music industry, Pete worked at Blues & Soul magazine, before landing a day job as an A&R man at London Records.

‘My way into raving was being the DJ. I was out a lot, looking back at my old diaries I was playing six or seven times a week, but I wasn’t raving I was playing. I obviously did go to clubs occasionally,’ he added.

Pete grew up in Dartford alongside his father who was a bookie and mother who was a former publican. 

Despite neither of them being musicians, Pete’s love for music started to show at a young age. 

He shared: I didn’t come from a musical family, but my dad did collect a lot of records. It just became a hobby early on in my life, then became a passion and then a life. 

‘My parents told me I was attracted to music as a baby, banging things, strumming things. I got a toy drum kit and then a real drum kit and went from there.’

Pete pictured with fellow legendary DJs Paul Oakenfold and Fatboy Slim in 1999

Pete admits ‘staying healthy and relevant’ has been the biggest challenge throughout his career (Pictured performing during the Coronation Concert in 2023)

Recalling the moment he knew he wanted to be a DJ, he said: ‘I saw a school DJ and it changed my life. A humble DJ at a school disco and I thought, “that would be fun to do”.

Pete admits ‘staying healthy and relevant’ has been the biggest challenge throughout his career.

‘I don’t lose sleep over it, but certain opportunities come along and you kind of reinvent yourself in ways you never thought,’ he says.

‘The best example being right now with the orchestra. If you had asked me 20 years ago, “what are you going to do in 10 years, how can you take your career to a whole other level?” I can guarantee I wouldn’t have said an orchestra. 

‘There’s lots of different challenges but it is just making the most of the opportunities and being grateful.’

Pete said it was also hard juggling his busy schedule with family life, but admits it was his kids who kept him grounded.

He shares three children with his ex-wife Deborah. Their marriage broke down in 2003. Pete also has another child and two step-children with his second wife Carolina Acosta, who he married in 2006.

The broadcaster explained: ‘It is definitely a challenge, and you learn a lot along the way. It also keeps you really grounded, with that responsibility and that to go home to, and I would like to think that is a big reason why I’m still doing what I’m doing.

‘When I started DJing, I made a decision early on that I would only do the bits I really wanted to do and loved. I didn’t want to be on radio seven days a week and I didn’t want to be gigging seven nights a week. 

Pete and his second wife Carolina Acosta, who he married in 2006, pictured

Pete (pictured with DJ daughter Becky) said it was also hard juggling his busy schedule with family life, but admits it was his kids who kept him grounded 

Pete received an MBE in 2014 for his services to broadcasting and music, and the award was presented by the Duke of Cambridge

‘I wanted to pick and choose, and so I kind of always had a day job when I first started, because DJing wasn’t seen to be the be all and end all, and the money wasn’t the same from when I started to what it is now so that created a more regular environment around my kids.’

Now, Pete and Jules are celebrating a decade of their Ibiza Classics with a string of shows at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall. 

The pair first teamed up in 2015 to perform for BBC Proms, an annual summer series bringing daily classical music to the Royal Albert Hall, but have went on to tour Europe with the orchestra. 

Each of the four shows will feature unique programming, including appearances from guest vocalists Becky Hill, Jacob Lusk (Gabriels), Jazzy, Clementine Douglas, and Barbara Tucker.

Guest DJs Seth Troxler, Damian Lazarus, David Morales, and Paul Oakenfold will also join the show.

Speaking about returning to the Royal Albert Hall after ten years, he said: ‘It is surreal and inspiring to come into such a historical place doing what we are doing. 

‘But it isn’t a nightclub, so you treat it in a different way. We are all super excited to be back.’

Pete and Jules are celebrating a decade of their Ibiza Classics with a string of shows at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall

Speaking about returning to the Royal Albert Hall after ten years, he said: ‘It is surreal and inspiring to come into such a historical place doing what we are doing’

Each of the four shows will feature unique programming, including appearances from guest vocalists Becky Hill (pictured), Jacob Lusk (Gabriels), Jazzy, Clementine Douglas, and Barbara Tucker

And fans will be thrilled to hear that Pete has no plans to stop after ten years: ‘There was a time five years ago when we said we would probably end it if we made it to ten, but now we never want to end it!’

Pete Tong Ibiza Classics is at the Royal Albert Hall, London, May 29 – June 1.

The broadcaster is also due to bring his acclaimed show to six UK arenas in December 2025.

Kicking off in Glasgow on December 4, the upcoming run of shows also includes stop-offs in Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. 

The tour, which Pete describes as a ‘giant mobile disco’, will conclude with two gigs at The O2 in London on December 12 and 13.