A DJ and music producer from Hampshire has been making waves after one of his songs was played on BBC Radio 1 - despite not being old enough to be allowed into a club.

15-year-old Ashton Davis, better known as Ashdunn, is celebrating success after his song "On My Mind" was played by Jaguar on one of the country's biggest radio stations in August,

The Nursling native has been sending ideas out to labels since he was 11, but in January 2023, the ideas seemed to stick as he was signed to Southampton-based label Garage Shared.

 

15-year-old DJ Ashdunn's latest release was a remix of local cult heroes FooR's song Surgery.15-year-old DJ Ashdunn's latest release is a remix of local cult heroes FooR's song Surgery. (Image: Contributed)The heyday of UK Garage might have passed at the turn of the century, but influences are easy to find in a city that birthed genre legends Craig David, Artful Dodger and the late Wildchild of "Renegade Master" fame.

Ashdunn said: "I find a lot of influence in those [legends] and also in modern artists like Sammy Virji who [are pushing the genre forward].

"It feels like UKG is strong in Southampton again."

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Ashdunn recently went up to London to jump into the studio with Daniel Bedingfield, a UK Garage artist best known for the double platinum hit “Gotta Get thru This.”

“Daniel told me ‘I didn’t bring you up here because of your age, I brought you up here because you make good music,'” Ashdunn said when reflecting on his time in the capital.

“That’s a good feeling, to be up there because of what I’m producing.”

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Ashdunn recently played the Emerge Youth Festival in Hoglands Park – an event which championed the community music spirit of Southampton and local surrounding areas – but the 15-year-old has not always had the best luck when it comes to gigs.

The DJ said: “My age holds me back a little bit from a gigging point of view, because they won’t let me in because I’m not 18. They wouldn’t let me in because of licensing points, saying that I'd be breaking the license because I’m not 18!

“Over the next few years I’ll keep building my fanbase, so that when I can start gigging properly I’ll have the fanbase ready to see me.”