Gemma Cairney | |
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| Born | Gemma Margaret Cairney (1985-03-19)19 March 1985 (age 40) Birmingham,West Midlands, England |
| Occupation(s) | DJ,Presenter |
| Years active | 2008–present |
Gemma Cairney (born 19 March 1985) is an English television and radio presenter best known for her work onBBC Radio 1 andBBC Radio 6 Music. She most recently presentedThe Leisure Society onBBC Radio 6 Music where she interviewed cultural icons includingGoldie,Tracey Emin,Kelley Deal, Laurie Vincent fromSlaves andCosey Fanni Tutti.[1] She is currently the host of the podcastDream Space forFactory International.[1] Previously she co-hostedThe Surgery alongsideRadha Modgil. She has also presentedGemma Cairney on BBC Radio 1, weekends 7 am – 10 am and later weekdays 4 am – 6:30 am, switching withDev. More recently she has regularly covered forLauren Laverne,Mary Ann Hobbs,Chris Hawkins,Steve Lamacq,Cerys Matthews andCraig Charles on BBC Radio 6 Music.[2] Cairney is also anOxfam ambassador.
Prior to her career in radio, she was an assistant fashion stylist for multiple pop acts. Cairney was a presenter for the Channel 4 Produced Ad funded show called Bite for Ford Fiesta. Then, following a course atPoint Blank Music College Cairney fronted several radio shows for Channel 4's4radio before landing the role of co-presenter forBig Brother's Big Ears for Big Brother 2008 alongsideIain Lee. Cairney began her 1Xtra career co-hosting the Breakfast Show with co-presenterTrevor Nelson.
Prior to starting on BBC Radio 1Xtra, she co-presented the Kiss FM breakfast show for two weeks in August 2008. She co-presented the BBC Radio 1Xtra breakfast show for 2 years before moving to a solo weekday afternoon show on the station from 1 – 4 pm. In February 2012, it was announced that Cairney would take over Weekend Breakfast on BBC Radio 1.Sarah-Jane Crawford took over her slot on 1Xtra.
On 10 January 2014,Radio 1 announced a schedule change that would see Cairney and early weekday morning show hostDev swap shows. They swapped on 29 March 2014.[3]
In April 2015 it was announced that Cairney would take over The Surgery on Wednesday evenings from former presenter Aled Haydn Jones and that Adele Roberts would replace her as the early breakfast show host.[4] These changes took effect in June 2015.
Cairney has presented a number of radio documentaries, includingAmazing Grace (2015),What the F: the Story of Feminism (2014),Mali Music (2014),Tempted by Teacher (2014) andBruising Silence (2013).
In January 2015, Cairney started a production company called Boom Shakalaka Productions Ltd.[5] The company specialises in making various types of content, including podcasts and theatre. Boom Shakalaka produced a successful punk musical about depression at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015 calledMy Beautiful Black Dog.[6] and a radio documentary for theBBCIt's a Dogs Life.[7]
In autumn 2008 and spring 2010 Cairney was the roving reporter forT4'sFrock Me, hosting alongsideAlexa Chung andHenry Holland. Other TV appearances have included reaching second place on Pick MeMTV and a regular slot as a co-presenter ofChannel 4's online seriesBite. In November 2010 she was a guest panellist onITV2'sI'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Now! Cairney also hosted the television coverage of 1Xtra's live music events and contributed to the BBC'sGlastonbury coverage.[8]
In October 2010 Cairney fronted the Turn Up The Style, Turn Down The Heat campaign for green organisationGlobal Cool at Britain's Next Top Model Live in London.[9]
Since 2008 Cairney has presented the BBC's Glastonbury festival coverage and in 2015 she co-hosted BBC1's New Year's Eve coverage alongside Nick Grimshaw. Cairney has also presented TV documentaries includingRiots: The Aftershock (2012),[10]Dying for Clear Skin (2012) onBBC Three[11] andBooks That Made Britain (2016) onBBC One.[12]
Since 2023 Cairney has hosted the podcastDream Space forFactory International.[2]The podcast asks the question 'what does art have the power or potential to do, when we allow ourselves to dream?' and includes guests such asMaxine Peake,Es Devlin,Jenn Nkiru andLemn Sissay.[3]
On 9 March 2017, Cairney's debut book,Open: A Toolkit for How Magic and Messed Up Life Can Be was published by PanMacmillan[13] with an accompanying podcast series.[14]
The Paperback,Open Your Heart: Learn to Love Your Life and Love Yourself was published by PanMacmillan on 11 January 2018.[15]
Cairney has a weekly column inThe Observer magazine, "Gemma Cairney on Make-Up".[16]
Cairney won theRose D’or Award for Best Music Programme and the Silver Winner for Best Music Special at the New York Festivals World's Best Radio Programs[17] forAmazing Grace onBBC Radio 6 Music presented by Gemma Cairney and produced by Jax Coombes.[18] She is also a Silver Award Winner for Best Music Special at the New York Festivals World's Best Radio Programs forBBC Radio 6 Music'sMali Music presented by Gemma Cairney and produced by Jax Coombes.[19] In 2014 Gemma was given A Women to Watch Under 30 Award atRed Magazine's Women Of The Year Awards.[20] She was awarded Sony Gold awards at theRadio Academy Awards for documentariesTempted by Teacher (2014) andBruising Silence (2013).
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