TRIBUTES have been paid to a ‘gentle giant’ house DJ who died recently after a short illness.

Friends said Peter Ryan, who died on Sunday (September 8) aged 42, had an all-consuming passion for music.

Mr Ryan became well known in Darlington during the 1980s and 1990s for his DJing at the now-defunct nightclub Club Lucy’s in the town centre. He also ran a record shop opposite the Civic Theatre.

He is credited with helping to bring House music to Darlington and was invited to perform in a number of locations around the world, including Barcelona and electronic music capital Ibiza.

Friends and fellow DJs Dave Moore and Mike Dowson are planning to use Mr Ryan’s equipment to set up a recording studio in his name.

The studio facilities will be made available to charities and organisations working with underprivileged children, with the aim of building a legacy for Mr Ryan.

Hundreds of people are expected to attend his funeral on Tuesday (September 17).

Mr Moore said his friend ‘never had a bad word to say about anybody’.

He added: “Pete was always one for moving on and embracing new technologies, more so than anyone I’ve ever known.

“A few of us, as we got older, stopped doing the DJing as much, but he powered on, he was so obsessed by music.

“But he was not one of these ‘rave’ DJs, he was a very intelligent guy.

“He was just starting to reap the benefit of all those years of hard work, starting to get recognition and make big money and being put up in five-star hotels.

“He was just starting to make it, when he was struck down by this illness.”

Mr Ryan had been involved in a number of charity fundraisers in recent months, after losing his mother, Gwen, to cancer last year.

Mr Dowson echoed Mr Moore’s view that their friend was on the verge of widespread acclaim before illness robbed him of that chance.

He added: “My best memory of Pete is of his passion for music, I have never met anybody with the same unwavering enthusiasm.”

Mr Ryan’s funeral will be held on Tuesday (September 17), at St Cuthbert’s Church, at 12.30pm.