A DETOUR to Ibiza has set a Widnes man on the road to London and potential club culture stardom, culminating in a place in a DJ-ing final to be broadcast on nationwide radio this month.

Kevin McDiarmid, from Darley Close in Hough Green, has been garnering rave reviews from clubbers ever since he won a respected dance magazine's new talent award.

Kevin, who uses the pseudonym DJ-K, first got behind the mixing desk 10 years ago while on holiday in Ibiza - the dance aficionado's Mecca.

Kevin, 29, dabbled in DJ-ing after that, but his major break came a couple of years ago, via speciality dance magazine Muzik.

"What got me to this stage was when I sent a mix tape to Muzik magazine. The editor sent me a letter saying I'd won their Bedroom Bedlam award," explained Kevin.

"So they signed me up to their agency and I've been doing gigs for them ever since."

He has been doing a steady diet of club gigs ever since, including dates at prestigious venues across the country.

Amazingly, he manages to cram all this in while holding down a full-time job with a finance company.

How does he manage to accommodate both?

"It's very difficult. The company has been very understanding. I book holidays when I need to go away and try and keep to Fridays and Saturdays.

"DJ-ing is my way of escaping."

Future ambitions will be very much dependent on the outcome of the competition, although Kevin has been booked for Miami for a week in December.

"If I win then the sky's the limit for me," said Kevin, who is currently in the process of making an album for release on an indie label."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.