This isn’t an easy one to write. I’m never in favour of kicking a man when he’s down – it just strikes me as the ultimate form of cowardice. Unfortunately, the genie is now out of the bottle, so I feel it’s really a Hobson’s choice.

Numerous allegations of improper business practices by Sterling Void have started to circulate once more. I’ve heard rumours before, but nothing robust enough that I could publish. I’ve seen claims of releasing records without permission, claims of taking the money and doing a runner, and others.

So why am I uncomfortable publishing this? It’s because of his current circumstances. His mother is seriously ill in hospital and I also understand his girlfriend was involved in a fatal car accident just days ago. Frankly, I’ve considered not going to print with this more than once.

For what it’s worth, I’ve come across Sterling Void before. All the way back in 2016, I was promoting my remix of “Don’t Forget About Love” by Steve Lucas all over the place when he contacted me on Twitter. It wasn’t long before he dangled a carrot in front of me – the opportunity to remix his song “Runaway Girl”.

Call me naïve if you like, and I probably was, but as someone who was starting out, I was honoured to get the attention of someone I considered a legend of the scene. The chance to remix one of my favourite house records of all time was simply too good to turn down.

He offered me numerous remix jobs. These include a track he did with FrankStar called “This Night”, his track “I Don’t Wanna Go” which featured the worst acapella I’ve ever heard, and a track called “Power of Music” with Cleveland P Jones – amongst others.

Oh, and something that was going to be released on Defected. Inevitably, it wasn’t, and inevitably, my mix wasn’t either. All of them remain unreleased to this day. I stopped doing them after getting tired of him never putting any of them out despite telling me they were “hot” or “on fire”.

Surely if something was “fiyah”, to quote that ever-modern slang term, you’d want the world to hear it? Sterling Void appears to think not. All very strange and all a bit sad too.

Edit – Anyone reading this is more than welcome to comment, whether they agree or disagree with anything written here. Criticism, I will accept. Abuse, I will not. Expect to be deleted and banned if you do.