Frank Broughton learnt how to get paid for words while living in strange parts of New York. He interviewed every rapper known to science for Hip-Hop Connection, moved on to profiling celebs for magazines that couldn’t afford air tickets (i-D, Mixmag...), and had some heavy nights after squeezing dance music pieces into big-paying US mags (Details, Rolling Stone...). He then fell in with Time Out who let him write a hymn to his adopted city in the shape of their 1996 New York Guide and made him Clubs Editor of Time Out New York. Frank took to this position with the dedication it deserved and was fried in no time.

He returned to London and started writing books with Bill Brewster, another Lincolnshire New Yorker. The duo raided their hard-drives for The Manual a coffee-table dance culture history for the Ministry of Sound; cooked up The Time Out Book of Interviews and then got serious with their calling-card opus 1999’s Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. Amazingly, no-one had written a decent history of DJing and they resolved to see off all-comers. Following this, they extended the Broughton-Brewster franchise with the best-selling DJing manual How to DJ (Properly) and there are more titles in the pipeline. They also collaborate to throw some very fine ‘Low Life’ parties.

When magazines sold themselves out to bikini covers and microcelebs Frank sold himself out to copywriting. He got a good price and can now hold his own in brand development and market segmentation meetings. His imperative tone has been appreciated by such clients as Toshiba, BT, Seagrams, Playboy TV, One 2 One, T-Mobile, Britannia Music and boo.com. Frank lives in Elephant & Castle. He has no pets.

FREELANCE (since 1990)
Face, i-D, Details, Guardian, Hip-Hop Connection, Rolling Stone, Mixmag,
Mixmag US (now Mixer), Time Out, Time Out New York...

BOOKS
Last Night A DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey (1999, 2000)
The Manual (Ministry of Sound) (1998)
Time Out Interviews 1968-1998 (1998)
Time Out Guide to New York (1996)
How to DJ (Properly) (2002)

STAFF JOBS
Clubs Editor, Time Out New York
Deputy editor, i-D,
Deputy editor, Mixmag USA
(briefly) Editor of ill-fated style mag Blah Blah Blah