Do we like Simon Harris?
Our score: 6 out of 10. A clean record and warm tributes, but not much public record on how he treated people or what he said on the issues, so we can't score him higher.
Simon Harris was born in Chigwell, Essex, on 10 September 1962. The Jewish Chronicle reports his parents bought him a stereo for his 13th birthday, and he started as a mobile DJ in Essex in the 1970s. He was known early on for his mixing skills.
In 1986 he launched Music of Life with DJ Froggy. After Froggy left, Harris pushed the label towards hip hop and put out some of the earliest British work in the genre. Derek B, Demon Boyz, Hijack and She Rockers all released music on it.
His best-known track is the 1988 Top 20 single “Bass (How Low Can You Go?)”. He also made the “Beats, Breaks and Scratches” compilations, which DJs used as a working tool. He remixed Prince and did the first official remix of Elvis Presley's “Bossa Nova Baby”.
On the harm test, there's nothing to report. We found no harmful words, no campaigns, no conspiracy rabbit holes and no dodgy company. The same goes for the good-person test: no court cases and no allegations turned up in the coverage we read. Most of what exists is obituaries, so it's honestly a thin file.
The tributes are the best evidence we have. Suburban Base's Danny Donnelly said he was “always encouraging and generous with his thoughts and time”. Former Radio 1 DJ Dave Pearce called him a talented remixer and producer who was full of passion. He died on 13 February 2026, aged 63, and nothing in the coverage suggests anyone has a bad word about him.