Mark Ronson spent three days a week waiting outside record label offices.

The 'Uptown Funk' hitmaker was desperate to get his big break and would skip school so he could wait near the buildings for the right person to come out and notice his music.

He said: ''You got gigs just by hustling, trying to get your break. If you wanted to play a new song that wasn't in the shops, the only way to get it was to go up to the label and wait for the promo guy to come out. That was three days of my week: cutting school, trying to get promos.

''I remember they had a really small lift in the old Bad Boy Records (founded by Puff Dadd) office on 19th Street and one time Biggie Smalls and Faith Evans got in the lift with me! Eventually I got a bit of a name for myself because being English, that rare grooves thing was in my blood. Puffy and the guys started to notice me because I could play a set of all the soul and funk stuff that other hip-hop DJs weren't touching.''

And the 40-year-old music producer credits Notorious B.I.G's album 'Ready to Die' for helping him forge his path in the DJ world.

He told Q magazine: ''When that album came out it felt like it was the only record the whole city was listening to. It was amazing.

''When I was DJing you could put on any song from that record and the reaction in the club was insane. Not all the songs were that commercial. They were rugged records.