"The best job I ever had", is how Jon Carter sums up his career to date when pressed. Born 29 years ago on the outskirts of London, Jon's subsequent rise to prominence was triggered, like so many of his generation, by the Acid House revolution of 1988-89 when the warehouse parties that happened nationwide suddenly made music so much more accessible than before.

A move to Southampton also signalled Jon Carter's move into making music as he put together his own band. with carter on vocals and handling the production they performed dark, maddening dub and funk in an Irish Dockers pub and wherever else would have them. With a sound not so far removed from Carter's current output his, days in Southampton were a crucible for the ideas and influences that shaped and continue to shape the Carter style.

In tandem with this, Jon began his training as a sound engineer before returning to London where he finished it and gained vital experience with Drum & Bass pioneers No U-Turn. Engineering tracks for early stars like DJ Trace and MC Rhyme Time, Jon began to circulate tapes of his own musical ideas. Bored with house music's gradual decline into self-parody, Jon's own product was The Remedy, taking the breaks down tempo and rediscovering the funk that makes all good music so vital. The breakthrough came in 1994 with a Dub coloured 4/4 track entitled "The Dollar", also notable as one of Wall of Sound's earliest releases.

And then things really started to happen. Jon's very next release on the Heavenly label, was the momentous "Blow the Whole Joint Up", one of those tunes that lodges in the memory and still a live favourite, over four years later. Also helping to put the name Jon Carter on the map was his residency at The Heavenly Social, alongside The Chemical Brothers, Norman Cook and Andy Weatherall. Carter's mash of musical styles blew the rest of British clubs out of the water, it formed the platform for Monkey Mafia to develop as a live band and for Jon Carter to release a string of memorable singles that enhanced his reputation at the same time as his DJing went through.

"Work Mi Body", which featured the vocals of Patra, and "15 steps ep" both utilised Ragga styling to create a towering mix of ragga, hip hop and breaks that defined a sound that has since been much emulated but never bettered. Around the same time a couple of outstanding mix cd's emerged, "Live at the Social Vol2" and an essential mix together with Pete Tong and Paul Oakenfold, both of which were met with universal acclaim from DJ's, media and public alike.

As a remixer, Jon's most noted work has been with the likes of U2, The Manic Street Preachers, Kula Shaker, St. Etienne and The Prodigy, with whom Jon toured as a DJ. There has also been a succession of remixes for less noted acts amongst them Whale, Ruby, 808 State and Selectah's Boogie Anthem "Wede Man".

Getting Monkey Mafia on stage as a live outfit took time but it proved to be well worth the wait. They emerged in 1998 as one of the hottest live acts on the circuit, a point reinforced by their selection as support for Roni Size and Reprazent tour (straight after their Mercury Prize win) and, in 1998, Massive Attack on their "Mezzanine" Tour.

1998 also saw the release of the Monkey Mafia album "Shoot the Boss", a powerful debut which was a Mixmag Album on the Month and universally critically acclaimed. Ranging from the almost Symphonic disquiet of "The whore of Babylon" through to the achingly beautiful soul of "As long as i see the Light", the album was a triumphant musical Tour De Force.

It was also his musical swansong for the Heavenly label as Carter left to return to his spiritual home, Wall of Sound. Back at WOS Carter's alter ego, Junior Cartier has been given his first commercial release "Women Beat their Men". Inspired by the re-emergence of House Music with real funk and energy, Jnr Cartier first surfaced as a remix of one of Jon's own tunes "Work Mi Body". The Cartier stamp has also already found it's way onto a couple of remixes; Felix Da Housecat's - My Life Musik and the Sugar Hill classic, WestStreet Mob's "Breakdance Boogie".

That Jon's initial inspiration, house music "Music that was once perceived as a negative force in Dance Music's fight against the mediocre has become an inspiration again" is fitting. That Jon Carter is at it's forefront, even more so.