By Mark Wilkinson has lived the DJ dream. The British DJ has gigged in 65 countries worldwide. He’s held a residency a London’s infamous Ministry of Sound. He’s scored underground and commercial chart success with his productions as Problem Kids (with Xpress 2’s Rocky), Kidstuff (with Paul Jackson) and Dab Hands (with Leo Elstob and Richard Searle). His tracks have appeared on legendary house labels including Junior Boys Own, Paper Recordings, Defected and Azuli. He’s thrown his own Kidology parties and ran a record label of the same name.
By the early 2000s, Wilkinson was ticking all the boxes. His life was very sweet indeed. Then it all came crashing down. His physical and mental health deteriorated rapidly. He was diagnosed with an incurable disease. He became bankrupt and battled with suicidal thoughts. The dream became a nightmare.
The Journey
Thankfully, Mark has since remixed his life in more ways than one. ‘Life Remixed’ – Mark’s first book, due out in February, chronicles his journey from those halcyon party years, through the depths of despair, and his inspiring rise to reclaim his life. Most importantly, it reveals the strategies he used to turn his life around.
“I’ve gone from unhappy, sick and broke to happy, healthy and wealthy. I went from unable to walk to running four marathons. And I’ve gone from bankruptcy to financial freedom,” says Mark, who’s now a Health & Happiness Coach and successful businessman too. “And I’ve learned how to do it by following basic rules and universal laws.”
The Glory Days
But first a little trip down memory lane…
Reflecting on his DJ career highlights, Mark recalls the first time he played the main room at Ministry of Sound. “I remember standing in the booth thinking, ‘Frankie Knuckles has stood here, Danny Rampling and CJ Mackintosh’… all these great guys, and here’s Wilkie, you know? I absolutely loved it. The same thing at Pacha in Ibiza. Those nights were so special because the energy was so high. But then gigs in London at The Cross, the AKA… they may not have been super glamorous on the gig sheet but the atmosphere was just phenomenal. What a time to be alive.”
Indeed. The late ’90s and early 2000s were glorious days to be involved in the scene; a time when the British dance music industry would decant en masse to Miami every year for the Winter Music Conference; Ibiza was still ruled by the underground; pre-recorded sets were unheard of; when dancefloors weren’t dominated by camera phones. It was a time when DJs, promoters and clubbers alike thought they were invincible. Including Mark, who was burning the candle at both ends. Something had to give. It did.
At home in his London flat one day in 2003, Mark physically collapsed. “My right leg just gave out and I hit the floor,” he recalls. “It was really, really odd. There was no power left in my leg, it just went to jelly.”
The Agony
And so began 18 months of physical agony. “I just sort of battled on for the next few months but it felt like my joints were on fire – every joint in my body,” says Mark. “Consequently though my joints froze up. It was like fire and ice. So actually, I couldn’t move and you couldn’t touch me. It was awful.”
Mark best sums up the magnitude of his physical pain in the beginning of ‘Life Remixed’. He asks: “Have you ever woken up after a broken and extremely painful night’s sleep, sat on the side of your bed and known that whatever way you move your body any attempt to move it is going to be so excruciatingly painful that it would be easier if you just gave up?”
“I went to a number of doctors and no-one could diagnose me; no-one had a clue what was going on. I was in a bad way and I was hammering painkillers. I was thinking to myself, ‘Is this it now?’ I’m only 33-years of age’. From DJing around the world to collapsing and enduring 18 months of agony, my mental state was just going down. I was in a spiral and thought of topping myself many a time. Suicidal thoughts were definitely, definitely there.”
The Diagnosis
Eventually Mark was referred to a rheumatologist, who diagnosed him with Ankylosing Spondylitis. Kings College Hospital, in Dubai, describes Ankylosing Spondylitis as “a form of arthritis that primarily affects the spine causing some of the small bones in the spine to fuse together”. According to the hospital: “It also causes severe inflammation of the spine which can lead to chronic pain and disability. In advanced cases, the inflammation can contribute to the formation of a new bone on the spine thus leading to a degree of deformity. This condition can also cause stiffness and pain in other parts of the body such as in the larger joints like the shoulders, hips and knees.”
“When a doctor tells you you’ve got an incurable disease, it’s very strange,” recalls Mark. “I think part of me wanted to laugh. Like, ‘Shut up, mate. What are you talking about?’”
Genetic Condition
The specialist explained the condition was genetic and prescribed a concoction of drugs for Mark to take for the rest of his life. The prescription drugs took affect and the next weekend Mark was back on the dancefloor enjoying Danny Rampling’s retirement party at London club Turnmills.
“It was just a bonkers, bonkers night,” remembers Mark. “I was in the middle of the dancefloor celebrating the fact I could walk again. After 18 months of agony and undiagnosed pain, finally someone had come up with something that worked that allowed me to try and get back to some sort of normal life.”
But life didn’t get back to normal. Still battling pain, broken relationships, failing businesses and bankruptcy followed. “Really, it was utter turmoil from the point I collapsed at 33 to the day I went bankrupt at 38,” says Mark. “Up, down, left, right, forwards, backwards – I didn’t know which way I was going. To go from living the dream life of an international house music DJ to living in my mum’s spare room, it was rough. It was a proper comedown. But you know what? In every crisis there is opportunity.”
Thrown a Lifeline
Mark credits his friend Brian Miller for throwing him a lifeline – although he didn’t realise it at the time. Brian insisted Mark repeatedly watch the 2006 film ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne. When Mark was at rock bottom, the message in the documentary about the Law of Attraction started to hit home.
He was also struck by Bob Proctor’s claim in the film that “dis-ease” is two words and you cannot have a dis-ease if you are at ease. “Proctor says that emotionally and physically, if you’re at ease you can’t have a disease in your body,” says Mark. “That was the moment that got me into self-analysis. It got me into looking inwardly at myself, how I was living, how I was acting in the world. What I was thinking, feeling, doing.”
Mark gave up alcohol. He began to study philosophy and personal development with life coaches Bob Proctor and Tony Robbins, and later with wealth coach Kevin Green. “I became an absolute sponge,” he recalls. “The more I studied, the more I understood myself. If you want big muscles, going to the gym once won’t give you the desired results. You have to keep going to the gym and pump that muscle for a while, and it’s the same with your mind. If you let your mind drift off into negative thoughts, it will. You’ve got to bring it back to positive thoughts and the uplifting stuff. If you understood the power of a negative thought, you’d never have another one.”
Student Turned Teacher
Today, Mark has rebuilt his life and career. Living pain free – without any medication – he now owns multiple businesses. But his journey is ongoing, and the student has turned teacher, with Mark now coaching others. He describes a Health & Happiness Coach as “someone who can help you recover from a crisis and help you uplift yourself to a point of understanding your own mind; someone who can help you focus, get on track and help you move towards your success”.
“I do a lot of health and happiness coaching because I know how to be unhappy, unhealthy, sick and broke because I created all of it. Now I know how to turn it around the other way, I want to help people and let them know they can come out of any crisis. My own experience was dramatic. A lot of people go through life without that drama but still not really feeling fulfilled or happy. That’s a real tragedy. I want to show people there is another way.
Life Remixed
“The real purpose of putting out my book is to help as many people as possible. ‘Life Remixed’ begins with the day I collapsed, dips into my childhood and early 20s, the ‘lost in music years’ – because I was – then the realisation that things had to change and the strategies I adopted. There’s a lot of easy stuff in the book that could make a massive difference to a lot of people.”
What’s rather beautiful about Mark’s story is how he can draw parallels between the peak of his DJ career and his situation now. “I gave a talk to some students in Manchester recently. Some of them hung back and thanked me for sharing my journey. I got the same feeling from those students thanking me as I did from 2000 people stomping for one more tune at the end of Pacha. I used music as a tool to bring joy and now I’ve got other ways and means of doing that as well. If I can bring joy or inspire people, I get the same feeling as DJing to 2000 people.”
The Music Connection
He’s hoping his music industry experience will also help him connect with any other DJs needing a bit of guidance. “As we know, there have been a couple of young DJs that have taken their lives over recent years so, yeah, I’d love to help the younger generation. I hope that having the connection of music will allow them to relate to me.”
Knowing Mark personally, we’re also delighted to hear that music is becoming an increasing part of his life again. “It was 100% of my life for 20 years and it’s been 10% of my life for the last 10 years because I had to find other ways to pay the bills. What’s really cool is that I’m doing some positive ‘Life Remixed’ DJ mixes and now Ministry has asked me for a DJ mix. I can see that by putting out ‘Life Remixed’ people are going to have an interest and I’ll probably end up doing some more DJ gigs because of it. Which is just fine.”
‘Life Remixed’ is out February 2021. Pre-order your copy here and check out Mark’s Facebook page here.
Mark Wilkinson: The Soundtrack To My Life
- Chic Good Times (Atlantic): “We did have fun.”
- Sister Sledge Lost in Music (Atlantic): “Yes I was.”
- Brothers in Rhythm Such a Good Feeling (4th & Broadway): “Is where I am now.”
- Ministers De La Funk feat Jocelyn Brown Believe (You’ll Find a Way) (Subliminal): “This is true”
- George Michael Faith (Columbia): “Start with yourself.”
- Ashford & Simpson Found a Cure (Warner Bros): “Yes, I did.”
- Alicia Meyers I Want to Thank You (MCA): “Live a life of gratitude.”
- Love Happy (I Bring) The Message of Love (MCA): “Yes, I do.”
- Full Intention I’m Satisfied (Dtension): “Yes, I am.”
- Pharrell Williams Happy (Back Lot Music): “You know it.”
