We at Hi-Life Entertainment are celebrating 20 years in business in 2026. What a journey it has been!
Initially most of our work was bar & club gigs, but soon we were doing more & more mobile DJ work for weddings, parties and corporate events. Mark, the founder of Hi-Life was still involved in music retail at this time, as a partner in Soul Alley records in Grand Arcade, Leeds.
Gradually our reputation became much better known & we found ourselves travelling further around the country & expanding our team of DJs. Regular residencies in Leeds, Manchester, York , Harrogate, Sheffield & Derbyshire were established.
In the late 2000’s DJ technology advanced rapidly & we at Hi-Life embraced it, allowing us to be much more versatile in terms of what we could offer to clients. At this time Mark ceased work in the record shop & concentrated on full time operations at the DJ agency, as well as DJing 2 or 3 times per week. Darren Baxter is the only original DJ remaining from those early days. He remains a key member of the team, being based in Derbyshire now.
Gradually we built up relationships with many wedding venues, from boutique hotels to purpose built wedding barns and glamping sites for festival style celebrations. They saw how our versatile approach meant that every wedding was a little bit different, to suit client requirements. Our unique music planner software & the knowledge of our experienced DJs have been key to making sure every client got the music they wanted for their special day.
We’ve also done many large events for Leeds University, schools, the NHS and large national & international corporations.
Expansion continued, right up to March 2020, when we were effectively shut down for 18 months, due to the covid pandemic. Once we got the green light to resume DJing events we ensured that we rescheduled every single wedding that we had booked in. Everyone was accommodated, sometimes at completely different venues & at no extra cost.
Since the break we have largely focussed much more on the mobile DJ work, than the bar / club environment, but we do still take on such work from time to time, when we have availability and feel it is the right fit for our team of DJs. We largely find the client based bespoke events fit our ethos more these days, whether we are playing for wedding couples, private clients or large organisations. We do love to play LGBTQ+ weddings and events, multicultural celebrations & we travel far & wide. We have played as far north as Elgin in Scotland as, well as covering London and the south coast of England.
If you are looking for something out of the ordinary, whatever it is, we can do it!
Mark Hepworth, Hi-Life Entertainment Ltd