Tributes paid as legendary activist and DJ dies at 104
‘She was still a DJ well into her eighties and nineties’
Friday, 27th February — By Caitlin Maskell
‘Deeply missed’: Jo Purvis
SHE would always start her DJ sets with a triple whisky in hand, ready to play an eclectic mix of music spanning decades. Jo Purvis, legendary LGBTQ+ DJ, has died aged 104.
Born in east London, Ms Purvis began DJ’ing in the 1950s at the Load of Hay in Haverstock Hill and later moved to the Euston Tavern where she promoted invitation-only gay tea dances.
Can Yildiz, who met Ms Purvis in 1988 while working at the London Lesbian and Gay Centre (LLGC) in Farringdon, said: “She is one of those early activists for the LGBT community, she was teaching but organising events for people to go to. She was a promoter and organised drag shows early in the 1960s. Even in the 1980s it was quite unusual to see a woman DJ, let alone a lesbian. She was one of the rare ones and was known by everybody in the community.”
In 1967, Ms Purvis was DJ’ing at the lively Rehearsal Club in the West End, where her events featured all the latest popular drag queens, before taking her iconic tea dances to other well-known gay venues including The Bell in King’s Cross and later the LLGC where she ran the Sunday tea dance in the basement space.
A poster for one of the tea dances that Ms Purvis would play an eclectic mix of music at
The tea dances were time-travel events – doors would open at 5pm, with cucumber sandwiches, tea and biscuits, served free of charge, while Ms Purvis, in her shirt and tie, would be busy setting up the decks and records. The music would start at 7pm and continue late into the evening, only stopping when the dancing did.
Ms Yildiz, who was duty manager and volunteers co-ordinator at the LLGC at the time, said: “The tea dance was a mixed crowd, women and men would come of mixed ages, young people, old people, there were trans people, completely different crowds.
“As a DJ, reading those crowds was quite a skilful job. She would start by playing music from the early 1930s, working her way through the decades. It wasn’t the average thing you would hear on the radio. Each week it was different, she would read the crowd and slowly build it up. She was still a DJ well into her eighties and nineties. She was very approachable, always smiling in the centre.”
When the centenarian moved into Nightingale House Care Home at the beginning of 2022, she had transferred all her music from her iPad onto her phone and began running wheelchair discos for the residents.
Ms Yildiz added: “She made such a difference to the LGBTQ+ community. She will be deeply missed by those fortunate enough to have known her.”
