AN up and coming DJ from Cirencester, who will be performing at ReVa nightclub, spoke about overcoming depression and pursuing her musical passion at a time when her sister was terminally ill.
Leigh Holmes, nee Roughton, a 33-year-old former Cirencester Deer Park School pupil and former Cirencester College student, is a DJ playing at various nightclubs across the country and at music festivals like Creamfields in Liverpool.
The young DJ with bright blue hair, known as ‘LilRockit’, will be entertaining ReVa clubbers on Saturday with house, bass and techno tunes, thrown in with songs that ‘everyone can sing to’.
But just a few years ago, Leigh was suffering from depression and working as a glass collector at the local bar and nightclub Seventeen Black.
Leigh moved to Cirencester in 1997 with her family and spent a year at Deer Park School before going on to study at Cirencester College.
She was bullied at school and spoke of her experiences: “I think it’s because I’m little and my teeth were wonky. I was also an outsider coming into somewhere new.”
After leaving Deer Park, however, she said she felt even more alone and fell deeper into depression for the next 13 years.
Leigh studied several subjects at the college then worked different jobs in Cirencester but none of them, she said, really worked for her.
Her younger sister Lyndsey became terminally ill with brain tumour in 2009/10 and she later moved to Manchester to care for her.
It was during her sisterly nights out in Manchester that she discovered her dream to become a DJ after seeing her favourite DJ, Eddie Halliwell, play.
She said: “When my sister got sick, it made me realise: what am I doing stuck in my house doing nothing?
“I started going on nights out with her and I saw my favourite DJ, Eddie Halliwell, and I realised I wanted to do what he was doing.”
After a few weeks of DJing, she was offered a chance to play at Creamfields in Liverpool, one of the biggest festivals in the country. She then played at a nightclub in Scunthorpe, before her sister died in February 2014.
Leigh went on to play at a nightclub in Ibiza, and was given the opportunity to play with DJ Tchami in Liverpool. She was also invited to play at Creamfields for the next few years.
She said: “My sister saw me play two times and passed away. All these other things I’ve done, they happened when she passed away.”
Leigh, who has dubbed herself LilRockit from one her nicknames ‘pocket rocket’ because of her fiery character, said: “I’ve always struggled to find a place where I fit work wise and being happy.
“With DJ work, I love making people happy through music. I watch the crowd, I make sure the crowd are enjoying it. The feeling of the speakers pumping and the crowds.
“I don’t have to speak to anyone because I’m quite nervous.
“It isn’t about money or fame, it’s about making people happy and I feel free because I can be myself, I can express myself through music. I do not play any track that I do not like.”
Leigh’s favourite genre is tribal house with her roots being in Motown music. Her favourite artists include Sam Cooke, The Temptations, Michael Jackson and The Supremes.
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