Growing up near Brampton, Jez Willis would spend family holidays at Silloth.

He’s spending this bank holiday weekend just up the road, headlining Solfest as one half of Utah Saints.

The Saints and Dutty Moonshine Big Band were the last big names to be added to the Solfest line up and Jez will close the Drystone main stage tonight.

Jez started DJing when he was living in Hayton and a 13-year-old pupil at William Howard School.

He remembers: “I had some mobile disco stuff and used to do heavy metal and rock discos at the village hall and all my pocket money used to be spent in the Pink Panther record shop in Carlisle.”

After university in Leeds, Jez got into the music business and alongside Tim Garbutt formed the electro dance band in 1991.

They are best known for the huge hits Something Good and What Can You Do For Me.

They have chalked up nine top 40 singles, four of which hit the Top 10, they have sold over two million records worldwide and were major influencers on the rave scene in the early Nineties.

The pair met when they were both DJing at a club and got together to remix the Eurythmics for What Can you Do For Me and then Kate Bush with Something Good.

Their last track was a remix of What Can You Do For Me in 2012 and Jez admits they’re long overdue a new release.

But he added: “We take our time, particularly because we worry about whether something is good enough.”

Despite that, they are festival regulars and this summer, the duo have performed at Camp Bestival and curated their annual stage at the Beatherder Festival.

They have appeared at Solfest before and Jez, now 51, admits it’s a bit special: “We are honoured to come back to Solfest and it’s great to be on Main Stage on Saturday night, particularly for me because of where I’m from.

“Even though I’ve lived in Leeds for year, I still think I’m from Brampton.”

Closing on Sunday night is Solfest 2017 favourites Dutty Moonshine Big Band, a 14-piece act fusing UK heavy bass with worldwide jazz to produce high octane live shows fronted by Grime and Hip Hop MCs.

They join The Coral, From The Jam, Krafty Kuts and Hybrid Theory and Baka Beyond at what could be the last ever Solfest.

The event has struggled financially and this weekend’s show was originally planned as the last one.

But new owners mean that if the event is a success, a decision may be made to bring it back again next year.

The Coral are one of the UK rock indie bands, with hits such as Dreaming Of You, In The Morning and Thinking Of You.

The Saturday is being dedicated to the Lost N’Found crew who have been involved in the festival for many years, while Friday afternoon has a reggae take-over from Strictly Good Vibes.

Solfest is at North Lakes Country Park, north of Aspatria until Sunday.

Tickets for the weekend are charged at £105.19 for adults, £62.69 for 13-17-year-olds, £37.19 for children aged four to 12 and free for anyone three and under.

Visit www.solfest.org.uk