Mr Scruff
1 catalogued object connected to Mr Scruff.
Biography
Person.
Mr Scruff is the stage name of Andy Carthy, a British DJ, producer and illustrator whose career has made drawing, record collecting and club culture parts of the same creative practice. Based in Manchester, he began DJing publicly in the early 1990s and developed unusually broad sets that moved between soul, funk, hip-hop, jazz, reggae, electronic music and records that resisted easy genre labels.
Carthy’s hand-drawn characters became inseparable from the music: they appeared on flyers, sleeves, animations and club visuals, giving Mr Scruff a graphic identity as recognisable as his sound. After early releases through labels including Rob’s Records and Grand Central, he signed to Ninja Tune in 1998; Keep It Unreal followed in 1999 and included “Get a Move On,” the track that brought his work to a much wider audience.
Reviewed 2026-08-19Selected sources
- Ninja Tune — Mr. ScruffAndy Carthy as Mr Scruff, his Manchester DJ and producer career, eclectic genre-spanning approach, signing to Ninja Tune in 1998 and later releases.
- Ninja Tune — Mr Scruff biographyEarly Manchester gigs, releases through Rob’s Records and Grand Central, cartoons and animation as part of his visual identity, and Keep It Unreal.
- Mr Scruff — official siteCurrent official identification of Mr Scruff as DJ, producer, cartoonist and illustrator.