DJ Glen John has played music as the sun set over Barbados, performed after Idris Elba on a private island, and soundtracked nights aboard some of the world’s most luxurious ships. Yet his career began much closer to home, in record shops and the gay clubs of London.
The British DJ and music consultant now performs for brands including Four Seasons, One&Only, Cheval Blanc, and Explora Journeys. As the inaugural DJ for Four Seasons Yachts, he is also helping to define what luxury travel at sea sounds like.
It is a career that Glen did not begin until he was 30.
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“My mum used to take me record shopping when I was seven or eight, and my first proper job was in a record shop at 13,” he says. “I’ve always lived and breathed music.”
Before stepping behind the decks full-time, Glen worked in PR and marketing, including for media brands such as MTV and the BBC. Music remained a passion rather than a career until a booking through a friend changed his direction.
“At the age of 30, I was unhappy in the corporate world, and I decided to change everything—including my career,” he says. “Within a few weeks, I was DJ Glen John. Before that, I was Glen from PR.”
From Soho to the high seas
Glen began DJing in London’s LGBTQ+ nightlife scene, playing in Soho bars and at venues including Heaven. Those early nights were very different from the private islands and five-star hotels that would follow, but they taught him one of the most important parts of the job: how to understand a crowd.
“You have to do the bars,” he says. “You have to understand what an empty dance floor looks like, and you have to understand how to pivot.”
After several years in London, Glen decided that he wanted to see more of the world. He searched online for DJ work at sea and began taking international contracts. Cruise ships led to resorts, destination weddings, and eventually some of luxury travel’s biggest brands.
The more he travelled, the broader his music became. French events introduced him to artists he had never encountered in the UK. Work in Mauritius and the Maldives brought Russian, Arabic, and international club sounds into his sets, while contracts from Miami required everything from hip-hop and R&B to pop, country, and LGBTQ+ dance-floor classics.
“With every contract or every country you work in, you pick up a new sound,” he says. “The more you travel and the more places you play, the better DJ you become.”
Glen describes himself as an open-format DJ. Rather than arriving with a rigid set list, he reads the room and adapts to the people in front of him. One evening might call for beach-club house music, while another might move between Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, ABBA, and 1990s R&B.
What luxury sounds like
Performing in a spectacular setting does not automatically make someone a luxury DJ. For Glen, the difference lies in the details.
“Everything has to be considered,” he says. “How you look, how you present yourself, how loud the music is, whether you turn up on time, and how professional you are.”
The music must complement the setting rather than compete with it. A sunset set at a resort requires a different approach from a wedding in the South of France or a late-night party aboard a yacht.
“As a luxury DJ, you need to look as good as you sound. You should be able to walk through the lobby of a five-star hotel and not look or feel out of place,” Glen says. “It is about being the most professional version of yourself you can be.” Working towards becoming the best possible DJ he could be, Glen credits becoming sober for his career taking off. “I stopped drinking alcohol ten years ago, and my career went through the roof. Removing alcohol changed everything for me, and that one decision turned DJing from a passion at the weekend into a full-time profession.”
His career has taken him to hotels and resorts across the Maldives, Mauritius, the Seychelles, and the Côte d’Azur. He has performed during the Monaco Grand Prix, at major events in Cannes, and at sea with Explora Journeys and Four Seasons Yachts.
Despite the scale of those settings, Glen says the most memorable moments often come down to a single song played at exactly the right time.
“You can make a memory for someone that will last forever,” he says. “If you get the song, the lyrics, or the feeling just right at sunset, it is something they can remember forever.”
That is especially true at sea. Guests may begin the evening with relaxed music as the sun goes down, then find themselves dancing under the stars hours later.
“DJing under the stars, in the middle of the Caribbean, on an open deck at 11 p.m. is an experience you can only have at sea,” he says.
Bringing queer culture to weddings
Glen’s work also remains closely connected to the LGBTQ+ community. He founded Pride Talent after noticing that many same-sex couples struggled to find wedding entertainment that understood their music, culture, and experience.
“I wanted to provide same-sex couples with someone from the community who can play to the community,” he says.
For Glen, that means couples should not have to explain the small but important details. They should not face outdated assumptions or have a DJ arrive without understanding queer nightlife and its musical references.
“The reason I created Pride Talent is to give our clients the opportunity to bring gay club DJs and queer culture into their wedding, to make it the best possible party it can be,” he says. “It is such an important day for same-sex couples, and a great DJ can turn a wedding party into the highlight of the night.”
Pride Talent now supplies DJs and performers for weddings in the UK & Europe. It allows Glen to combine the worlds that have shaped his career: LGBTQ+ culture, destination travel, and luxury hospitality.
He is proud to be an openly gay DJ but equally clear that this should never restrict the audiences or spaces in which he can perform.
“You can be openly gay and play to everyone,” he says. “You don’t have to pigeonhole yourself into one or the other.”
From Soho clubs to private islands and luxury yachts, Glen’s career has followed an unconventional route. Its success comes not only from the places he has played but also from his ability to understand a room, choose the right song, and turn a beautiful setting into a moment people remember.
