Best Of British: Best Dance Single - Jamie Jones 'Summertime' (Crosstown Rebels)

Jamie Jones will now have to get rid of the words 'rising star' that have stuck in front of his name in print like particularly persistent chewing gum ever since he first started making waves five years ago.

Not that the Welsh boy wonder is fading from sight - far from it - but with one of 2009's biggest tracks and now the Best of British award for 'Best Single' taking pride of place on his already impressive CV, how much more confirmation that Jamie is now firmly one of Britain's premier DJs and producers could anyone possibly need?

"It's a great honour," enthuses a chuffed Jamie when DJmag breaks the news. "Especially when you consider how much other great music has been released this year."

"'Summertime' has been a big step for me career-wise because it sold a lot of numbers and the crowds that come to see me now are a lot bigger than they were before the track came out. It's opened a lot of doors."

'Summertime' might be the key that's let Jamie finally enter the DJ big league, yet it's not too hard to unlock the reasons for the track's own success. With its addictive vocal from oddball Norwegian duo Ost and Kjex, coupled with a pneumatic bassline and nagging synth hooks, 'Summertime' ticks all the right boxes for 'dancefloor anthem', even if Jamie claims he had no idea it would turn out that way when he first started piecing it together.

"I wish there was some amazing story behind it but I just started playing the basic parts at after-parties in Ibiza and people would always ask me about it," he explains. "I eventually gave Clive Henry and Damian Lazarus a copy and they started playing it in every set.

"'Summertime' was just the working title and I'd called it that because it sounded quite summery and definitely not a heads-down-in-Berghain-at-3am-style track, but by the time everyone was asking me for it, it was too late to change. The vocal came later after Damian recommended sending it to Ost and Kjex, so I had to ask them to incorporate the words 'summertime' in there somewhere!

"It's quite rare to have a big dance record without a vocal, but it's also rare to find a vocal that goes over a big dance music track that well and when they do go together they're quite distinctive. It gets the girls dancing and singing along to it and 'Summertime' had that from the outset - even when it didn't have the vocal, it was always one of those tunes that would get everyone on the floor."

'Summertime' hasn't just found favour with the ladies on the dancefloor however, also finding its way into the sets of some of the bigger US house jocks after conquering the Miami WMC this year, and even cropping up on daytime radio, as well as at the top of various dance and download charts.

The track also turned a wider range of curious ears towards Jamie's debut LP 'Don't You Remember The Future?', released in September on Crosstown Rebels, where it resided in the company of such tracks as his collaboration with electro forefather Egyptian Lover 'Galactic Spacebar', instrumental acid workouts like 'This Is How' and elegiac beauty 'Absolute Zero', all demonstrating how Jamie's sound has developed since his first single 'Amazon' in 2006.

"The album was produced over quite a long period of time, but whilst my production techniques have definitely progressed I think the ideas that I try to get into my music have remained the same," he believes.

"I'm still trying to get the same mood on the album that I tried to get on the dancefloor when I first started DJing at Fabric four years ago - where there's a slightly melancholy edge so things feel quite happy but sad at the same time."

Jamie himself sounds far from glum when he's talking about the other highlights of his past year, however. He's been caning the air miles with tours of South America and regular visits to New York and Los Angeles, and is particularly proud of his recent 'Essential Mix' for Radio 1.

"I took a bit of a risk with that by playing loads of old disco and classic house records rather than what I would in a club, but the feedback has been really good," he beams.

The 'Essential Mix' also provided an insight into the two sides of the Hot Natured label Jamie plans to launch next year: with one dedicated to pop and disco re-edits like his recent 'Electric Jones' MGMT bootleg and the other to new tech-house productions from Jamie and other handpicked young artists.

"I'm an ambitious person, so it's all broadening myself and taking on new challenges," he states.