Tim Kash

Tim Kash (born February 1982) is a former presenter of BBC1's Top of the Pops and MTV News on MTV UK and Ireland, MTV Europe, MTV Africa and MTV Arabia. In 2007, Kash signed a new deal as the new face of MTV and MTV News at the channel's headquarters in New York. He is now seen on the US edition of MTV News, TRL and on MTV channels worldwide -and now lives in New York.

Early life and career

Born in Kingston in 1982, and educated at St Paul's School, Tim knew from an early age that he wanted to work in the music and entertainment industry.

Upon a friend's suggestion, Tim chose to try for a job in the music industry during a summer holiday while his friends were all off travelling Europe.

After spending his teenage years in A&R, and later in Management for a major UK record label, London born and bred Kash made his name by becoming the youngest VJ ever at the channel when hired. He was instrumental in creating and leading the launch of the new-look MTV News in 2003- a format which exists today. His hands-on approach to television production and the MTVNews brand helped make the slot a hit as he built a reputation based on enthusiasm, credibility and knowledge in his reporting and interviewing over the past four years as the host of MTV News and TRL. As the main host of MTVNews, the show is seen across 70+ countries around the world and airs up to 20 times a day.

Within just over a year, Kash's on-air talent caught the eyes of BBC's Director of Programming Wayne Garvie and the newly appointed Executive Producer of Top Of The Pops - Europe's premiere music TV show - Andi Peters. Kash signed a major deal with the BBC as the new host of Top of the Pops and took the prestigious role of the shows permanent host and relaunched and re-established TOTP live on Friday night prime-time television to hit ratings. He continued to fulfil his role at MTV at the same time.

Andi Peters, who joined the BBC from Channel 4 earlier this year, said: "Tim's confident and charismatic presenting style made him an obvious choice to present All New Top of the Pops.

"He's a true talent, and does an outstanding job on MTV so Tim really will be a great new face for the show as it launches live with its all-new look."

On 28 November 2003, the show saw one of its most radical overhauls in what was widely reported as a make-or-break attempt to revitalise the long-running series. In a break with the previous format, the show went live and TOTP played more up-and-coming tracks ahead of any chart success, and also featured sit-down interviews with big name artists and film stars.

Kash continued to present TOTP for a year and the show saw an influx of high-profile performers including Sting, U2, Alicia Keys, Britney Spears, Green Day, Kanye West, Blink 182, Marilyn Manson, Destiny's Child, Blue, Jessica Simpson, Joss Stone, Fatman Scoop, Janet Jackson, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Pete Doherty, Ozzy Osborne, LL Cool J, Victoria Beckham, 50 Cent, The Libertines, Tenacious D, Pharrell Williams, Black Eyed Peas, Nelly Fertado and more. According to a British newspaper, the show reportedly pulled in one of its highest ever ratings in the history of the show on Christmas Day 2003.

Kash later left the show to a new deal at MTV, that saw him behind and in front of the cameras on critically-acclaimed shows like MTVNews: A Gun Crime Forum, Rap Under Fire, MTV's Roll Call, MTV's Chris Martin goes to Africa, the MTV: Made To Vote Campaign and much more.

MTV's Gun Crime Forum was a live studio show that examined the relationship between the hip hop industry and the rise in gun crime in the UK. Aimed at raising the issues to an MTV audience, guests to the debate included film director Jon Singleton (Boyz in the Hood), musicians Ms Dynamite, So Solid Crew, Roll Reep, Estelle, the Cultural Advisor to the Mayor of London Lee Jasper, Diane Abbot MP, the sister and family of murdered Birmingham teenager Charlene Ellis, the founders of Mothers Against Guns and the Don't Trigger campaigns, record label executives, industry experts and the Chief of Police in the UK alongside young offenders and young adults from around the UK.

The BBC website reported : Michael Barry, VP of Production and Development for MTV Networks UK says that

"The evening has been specifically planned to examine all sides of the debate. Tim Kash and the MTV News team have been working closely with wide spectrum of contributors from Ken Livingstone to 50 Cent. It is imperative that MTV brings important issues such as gun culture to the forefront of its viewers' minds and by partnering with Mothers Against Guns we can do that and help their campaign profile."

Rap Under Fire was a critically acclaimed documentary that saw the biggest names in hip hop and music including Diddy, Ja Rule, The Game, 50 Cent, Snoop, Xzibit, LL Cool J, DMX talking on the issues of gun crime and hip hop alongside gang members, young people, record label executives, victims of gun crime and young offenders.

The success of these shows led to a new wave of MTVNews programming including MTV meets Prime Minister Tony Blair saw Kash travel to South Africa with Prime Minister Tony Blair to interview him on the issues facing young people in Africa, the HIV pandemic, the future of the continent, 3rd world debt and the aftermath of the Iraq war. This show was the first of many head to heads between Tim Kash and the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Kash continued to play an important and integral role to MTVNews, and was responsible for spearheading the launch of MTVNews on MTV Base (Europe's premiere hip hop channel) and MTVNews on MTVBase Africa. He regularly features on TRL and various other shows for ITV and the BBC.

Kash launched the BOOM! Music Video Academy in 2004 - a scheme set up to inspire students (11-18yrs) to realise their talents and teach them the skills needed to produce music videos and short films.The programme was widely successful and supported by the DfES, who in the same year launched the Music Manifesto, designed to increase children's accessibility to music over the next three to five years. (To find out about how BOOM! is supporting the Music Manifesto, visit: http://www.musicmanifesto.co.uk)Last year, BOOM! Music Video Academy helped teachers all over the UK bring the National Curriculum alive with music video production and inspired hundreds of students to realise their creativity by making music videos. Teachers who attended the interactive seminars last year learnt how BOOM! can drive students' desire to learn and engage in technology, improving motivation for better results.

Tim has been an Ambassador for the Prince's Trust, and a patron of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital for 4 years and continues to work closely with them, consistently raising funds and awareness for both charities- and often bringing in big name artists to surprise patients of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

He is also an Ambassador for MTV's Staying Alive Organisation and has been heavily involved with them for 4 years, most recently paying a visit to Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street to discuss and bring to the fore the issues of safe sex, HIV and the growing numbers of STI's in young people in the UK and around the world.

For MTV's Staying Alive Foundation, Tim Kash was the brainchild behind the MTV / Rolls Royce Auction. He successfully negotiated a partnership with the prestigious car company that saw Rolls Royce lend him a $650,000 Roll Royce Phantom at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Copenhagen. All the artists in attendance signed the back seat of the vehicle on their way-out including Madonna, Chris Martin, Sir Bob Geldof, Kanye West, Diddy, Shakira, Foo Fighters, Sean Paul, The Pussy Cat Dolls and more. The Phantoms back seat was then transformed by a well-known British designer into a sofa and auctioned off at renowned auction house- Christie's. The Hard Rock Cafe won the bid and the sofa is now a travelling display at Hard Rocks around the world. All proceeds from the charity went to MTV's Staying Alive- to raise awareness and help young people all around the world living with AIDS.

In 2004, just days after the Asian tsunami hit, Kash (who is of Sri Lankan descent) flew with a small team to the most devastated regions of Sri Lanka to help with the relief effort. Whilst there, he filmed and documented the relief effort and the witnessed first-hand the immediate effects the tsunami had on people - especially young people- across the region in the MTV-global production called MTVNews : After the Tsunami. The show was nominated for a handful of awards and firmly established Kash as one of MTV's leading on-air talents.

A few months later, Kash was asked to host a production for CNN highlighting the different issues related to the AIDS / HIV pandemic around the world. The critically acclaimed show aired globally on World AIDS day, 1 December and was the first time CNN had used an MTV VJ for a major production.

Late 2006, an opportunity came about that saw Tim make the biggest move of his career so far when MTV asked Kash to present some shows in America but didn’t let on that they were actually screen-testing him. He obviously impressed as the American channel then pursued Kash to be one of the flagship channels new main hosts based permanently in New York.

Kash makes no attempt to hide his excitement at this incredible opportunity. “A chance like this is a dream come true for any presenter and it’s a real honour to have MTV US ask me to do this. I can’t wait to get started but I’ll still be involved with the MTV UK News team and won’t take my eyes and ears off the UK music scene.”

The move will also benefit UK artists in America as Kash is committed to promoting UK talent within MTV US. “I see this as a great opportunity to help British artists by being an Englishman in New York, giving acts an easier path to making it in the US” said Kash.

As well as appearing daily on MTV and often on TRL in the US, Kash hosted the live pre-show for the MTV Movie Awards 2007 in Los Angeles as well as the New York coverage of the recent Live Earth concert.

On 9 September 2007, Kash hosted the live pre-show for the MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas - MTV's flagship and most-watched awards show of the year. The pre-show and the main show were a huge ratings success for MTV.

External links

* [http://www.mtv.co.uk MTV Homepage]
* [http://www.timkashblog.com/ Tim Kash's blog]