Valerie Olukemi A " Kemi" Olusanya (13 October 1963 – 25 April 1999), commonly known by her stage name Kemistry, was a leading English drum and bass disc jockey of the early 1990s, half of duo Kemistry & Storm, and co-founder of the Metalheadz record label.
Career
Born in Birmingham, Olusanya grew up in
Kettering,
Northamptonshire,
and began a career as a
make-up artist before giving it up for DJing in the early 1990s. She was half of the DJ and recording duo Kemistry & Storm, which she formed with an old friend when they both lived in London. They both started out playing on pirate radio stations Touchdown and Defection FM. With
Goldie, they formed the
Metalheadz record label.
After two and a half years at the label, they moved on to concentrate on DJing and also released a widely distributed
DJ mix album,
, which has been described as "paving the way for other, younger, female DJs".
The track "Kemistry" by Goldie, originally released in 1992 when they were in a relationship together, and also featured on his 1995 album Timeless, is dedicated to her.
Death
On 25 April 1999, Olusanya was a front-seat passenger in a car travelling on the M3 motorway in
Hampshire, when a vehicle in front dislodged a cat's eye, breaking through the windscreen and hitting her. The
coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.
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