Chris Sheppard (DJ)

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Chris Sheppard is a Canadian radio DJ and musician, who was one of the leading figures in the Canadian dance music scene in the 1980s and 1990s.

Originally the host of a Saturday night alternative dance music show on CFNY in Toronto, this later expanded to a live broadcast from various Toronto nightclubs on Friday nights, a type of broadcast which was later copied by many other radio stations. He later moved to Energy 108 and launched the program into syndication across Canada. Sheppard also launched the dance group BKS (acronym for the group member names of Bekker, Kavanagh, Sheppard) and the house music group Love Inc..

Chris Sheppard was largely responsible for turning the Canadian dance music scene upside down in the early-to-late 90s, and bringing dance music from around the world to millions of Canadian ears. A Juno Award winner, Sheppard was director/mixer of many compilation albums, including his own Pirate Radio Sessions, Destination Dance Floor, Groove Station and Club Cutz volumes.

In 2006, Sheppard was publicly criticized in Chart Magazine by Toronto's two-time Juno Award-winning House band Sound Bluntz. In an interview with journalist Phil Villeneuve, DJ Swet (Cory Bradshaw), one half of the Sound Bluntz, stated that he worked with Sheppard behind-the-scenes, mixing his syndicated radio show and dance compilations (such as Pirate Radio Sessions) and co-producing several of Sheppard's dance tracks (including the BKS hit "I'm In Love With You"). DJ Swet suggested that Sheppard often took all the glory for other's work, "He didn't take care of his people. He was very selfish that way." [1] Some have suggested that Sheppard's inability to share the limelight led to the end of BKS and some suspect this attitude also contributed to DJ Brad Daymond's 1998 departure from Love Inc.

Sheppard usually took full credit for his club success even though DJ's such as Swet (Cory Bradshaw) and Dave Hype would spin his entire Live-To-Air radio show, while Chris would simply make a few announcements on the MIC, usually consisting of gibberish sayings like "Cloud 9 to the city of love" and "What color is the sky in your world tonight?".

During the late 80's and early 90's when Toronto's rave scene was at it's peek, Sheppard would often attend as a guest DJ under his rave alias "Dogwhistle". Sheppard released two CD compilations under the Dogwhistle alias entitled "2 Hi 4 Humans" and "The Life And Times Of An After Hours DJ".

Rumour has it, that Sheppard's real first name (Chris) was just a stage name, and his driver's licence indicated that his real name was Troy, until he legally change his name to Chris. This rumour has also been linked to other rumors that Sheppard never actually had a drivers licence of his own, and his first name was always Chris.

Since Sheppard's glory days, Canada's critically acclaimed #1 club DJ has removed himself from the limelight, by retiring and living in Toronto's suburbs. His home was recently featured on "MTV cribs" (Canadian edition) on MTV Canada. The current whereabouts and productions of Sheppard since his last stint at JackFM remains a mystery.