MEET nancyboy

Jess Darnell (aka NANCYBOY) hails from Nashville, Tennessee and has called London home since 2016. His father served as a chaplain on death row in Tennessee, and his mother, a nurse of 30+ years, helped deliver Miley Cyrus.

After an older mentor recommended Donna Summer's On The Radio, Jess fell hard and fast for the classic disco sound. Most of his adult life has been measured in beats-per-minute ever since.

He began DJ’ing for private weddings and events at a cocktail bar in south London after training with London Sound Academy, before eventually running a weekly party at the Phoenix Arts Club in London’s West End. He’s determined to conquer the global capital city and preserve disco as the ultimate dance music genre.

“You must understand, it’s much more than disco balls to me.”

“I was finding the commercial club scene in London to be psychically unbearable — my favourite part of a night out would always be the pre-drinks playlist: disco, funk, soul. Then we’d get to the club and we’re surrounded by idiots who are standing still, not dancing, not smiling, on their phones: posers. I am sick and tired of soulless dance floors — if you can’t get off your phone and dance to a song you’ve never heard, I think we’re all totally doomed.

Disco music was engineered so that you can keep sweating, singing along, keep dancing, keep the party going. This music has soundtracked liberations and revolutions, it’s built culture up, it’s empowered people, hell, it’s even annoyed people — still does! — but I love it.

You must understand, it’s much more than disco balls to me.

Cut the crap and cut loose. The song’s almost over.