A TRIBUTE night to legendary radio presenter and DJ John Peel who died on Monday will be held in Worcester tomorrow.

A host of county DJs will spin the decks in his honour at Evolution nightclub in Lowesmoor.

Peel - one of the most influential figures in music over the past 40 years - died on holiday with his wife Sheila in Cuzco, Peru, after suffering a heart attack.

The DJ night Passion and Pain has been running every Saturday at Evolution since 1991 and will this weekend mark Peel's death by spinning a clutch of songs from many of the acts he helped find fame.

The list of musicians he helped promote reads like a Who's Who of musical history and included David Bowie, The Smiths, Joy Division, The White Stripes, Nirvana, The Undertones and The Ramones.

Worcester DJ Andy King is teaming up with Droitwich-based DJ Michael Tibke - known as Tibbers - and Robbie 'InDaMix' for the event - taking place on Saturday from 9.30pm to 2am.

"We're making the point that if it wasn't for John Peel then we wouldn't be doing what we do on a Saturday night - We'd be stuck there in silence," said Tibbers.

"It's a case of us playing the many bands he helped to promote over the years."

The BBC's website has been inundated with tributes to the DJ from music lovers around the world since his death.

One of the entries comes from a Tim Haines of Evesham, who wrote: "I'll never forget hearing the Sex Pistols for the first time listening on headphones under the covers from ten to midnight when I was a teenager.

"For magical memories and the greatest music, thanks John and Goodbye. You will be missed."

John Peel - who received an OBE in 1998 - was born John Robert Parker Ravenscroft in Heswall, near Liverpool, in 1939, the son of a cotton mill owner.

Elvis

He claimed his life changed when he first heard Elvis singing Heartbreak Hotel while at Shrewsbury public school.

Peel joined the pirate station Radio London in 1967, after a spell in America as a DJ for WRR radio in Dallas, following National Service between 1957 and 1959.

He then transferred to the BBC's new national pop station Radio 1, where he remained ever since - his show recently running three nights a week.

He championed a mass of acts such as Marc Bolan, Captain Beefheart, The Fall and The Undertones - many of which went on to enjoy considerable success - giving some of them studio time to record Peel Sessions.

More recently John Peel presented Radio 4's Home Truths, for which he won four Sony Radio awards in 1999.

"As far as I'm concerned and for a great number of others, John Peel was the most influential person in British music for the last 40 to 50 years and will be sorely missed," said Tibbers.