John Reid was the founder of Nightcrawlers, a dance music group responsible for the oft-sampled early ’90s hit “Push the Feeling On.”
John Reid, a Glasgow singer and DJ perhaps best known as the founder of early ’90s dance music group Nightcrawlers, has passed away at age 61. No cause of death has been given at the time of writing.
Mary Kiani, who the Metro reports was Reid’s onetime fiancee, broke the news of his passing in a Facebook post. “Just heard this morning that my first love John Reid died suddenly,” she wrote in the caption.
“We met in Glasgow but fell in love in London,” Kiani continued. “He was recording is album with Roy Hay (Culture Club) for his new band This Way Up. Myself and Danusia Zaremba were on tour and every night we met at at the Columbian hotel. We bought our first flat in Dennistoun age 21 and 22. We were both doing great with our music. The birth of The Nightcrawlers happened (“Push The Feeling On”). We toured, we recorded, we did our vocal sessions together. We parted 9 years later. Last year I got in touch with him. I said I’d love to say hello again before one of us dies. I saw him just last year in Glasgow.”
John Reid initially made a name for himself under the pseudonym Robinson Reid as the vocalist for This Way Up, the new band of Culture Club guitarist Roy Hay. But after Reid launched Nightcrawlers in the early ’90s, the group’s debut single, “Living Inside a Dream,” largely fell on deaf ears.
It was Nightcrawlers’ next release, “Push the Feeling On,” that would cement their legacy in dance music. With a little help from MK, who cut the wildly successful “Dub of Doom Mix” of the track, its unforgettable basses and triumphant lead synths would live on far beyond the typical shelf life of a dance track. It would also go on to be sampled by the likes of Pitbull, AJ Tracey, and Felix Jaehn.
Even after the Nightcrawlers era came to an end, Reid’s light touch as a hitmaker afforded him opportunities to work with the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Tina Turner, Leona Lewis, Westlife, and Keith Urban. In 2023, Reid released his only solo album, Nightcrawlers Soul Sessions.
We here at EDM Identity express our sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of John Reid during what can only be a difficult time.
