That can’t be his real name : No, his real name is Jean Fontaine, but he changed it to Seb Fontaine because he was ribbed at school for having a girl’s name.

But now he sounds like a 50s American gameshow host : He’s as English as they come. A real Londoner with a heart of gold A bit of a geezer? Well at first glance he might seem a bit waey. Big dogs, big jeep, big muscles, big Chelsea fan. But even though he could definitely handle himself, he’s actually a family man, preferring to hang out at home in North London with his girlfriend Vanessa and his young son Herbie.

Not very rock’n’roll is it? Seb can party with the best of them. Him and Craig Richards even set up Malibu Stacey at the Hanover Grand in 1993, one of the archetypal glam house party affairs known for the high proportion of beautiful people.

Is that how he started out? No. Young Seb started out DJing at school discos playing 2 Tone, Madness and ska, but graduated to playing hip hop and rare groove at Crazy Larry’s, a sloaney Fulham club that holds about as much appeal as a military outpost on the Gaza strip Doesn’t sound like a typical introduction to dance: Soon after he got gigs at the Wag and The Fridge, and before long he secured a slot warming up for Jeremy Healy and Norman Jay at Choice, Subterannea. He was still playing quite obscure stuff though, and it wasn’t until he was sacked from Billion Dollar Babes for that very reason that he changed to house and made his name. He also launched his label Spot On Records, best known for discovering Stretch & Vern.

Wasn’t Seb one of the original handbag house crew? Yeah, but he soon tired of being associated with the sound and moved on to hard house and trance. Around the same time he forged a close friendship with Tall Paul and they played back to back at various clubs around the country, as well as earning a show on Kiss FM.

What then? It’s only recently that Seb has really found superstar DJ fame, and even now, he isn’t sure if he wants it. When he was offered the Cream residency, Seb initially dallied, unsure if he wanted the pressure of following Paul Oakenfold. In the end he accepted, but left Boxing day 2001, handing over the monocle to Yousef. Seb is also the latest addition to the Radio 1 line up, and a very big name in Ibiza too.

Not to be confused with : Frankie Fontaine, Margot Fontaine, Jean Fontaine