James Hype
James Edward Lee Marsland — better known as James Hype — grew up in Greasby on the Wirral, and by the sound of it, dance music found him early. He got into digging through music online at 13, and his parents handed him a set of DJ decks for his 15th birthday, which is basically the dream birthday present if you’re reading this site. He wasn’t messing around either: by 16 he’d landed his first residency, spinning at Destiny and Elite in Cheshire Oaks, before moving on to residencies at Aura Bar in Hoylake and Funky Box in Liverpool.
Hype’s first real moment in the spotlight came in 2018 with “No Drama,” his collab with Craig David, which introduced a lot of people to his name outside the UK club circuit. But the record that turned him into a genuine crossover star was “Ferrari,” his 2022 team-up with Miggy Dela Rosa. That track went No. 1 in the Netherlands, Italy, and Belgium and turned into one of those songs you couldn’t escape whether you were at a festival or scrolling TikTok.
What separates James Hype from a lot of his peers is how he actually DJs — he’s known for live mixing and mashing tracks together on the fly rather than just playing pre-baked sets, and his “Who Does This?” catchphrase has become something of a signature at this point. It’s a bit of showmanship, sure, but it’s backed by real technical skill behind the decks.
He’s signed to Warner Records, and in 2020 he launched his own label, Stereohype, giving a platform to producers like R3WIRE, Tita Lau, and Zurra. Before all that, he spent a couple years (2017-2019) hosting on KISS FM, and he’s also a Pioneer DJ ambassador, which tells you the gear heads take him seriously too.
He’s kept the momentum going — “Waterfalls,” his August 2025 single with Sam Harper and Bobby Harvey, picked up a BPI Silver certification, proof his run isn’t slowing down. On the personal side, he got engaged to fellow DJ/producer Tita Lau back in August 2023. Between the house-leaning production, the bass house heat, and the live-mixing chops, James Hype has built himself into one of the UK’s most reliably entertaining exports — on record and behind the decks.