A 38-year-old music producer who went from growing up on a Maidstone council estate to producing Grammy nominated hits has been honoured by the Prime Minister for his work to inspire the next generation.

Dani Stephenson, who has worked with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Drake, has received the Boris Johnson's daily 'Points of Light' award for helping improve access to the industry for disadvantaged young people.

He was presented with the gong by the Mayor of Maidstone, Cllr Fay Gooch and the Mayor’s Consort, Peter Gooch.

Cllr Gooch said: “I was delighted to meet Dani to warmly congratulate him on his award.

"I was very impressed by his achievements, all through hard work and determination.

"What particularly struck me was his mission to voluntarily share his experiences with young people in low income households, to encourage them to take positive steps to shape their own futures, he’s an extraordinary chap."

Every week day the Prime Minister recognises an inspirational volunteer with the Points of Light award.

It recognises outstanding individual volunteers, people who are making a big impact in their community.

The music veteran is the founder of 'Straight Forward Giving’, an initiative founded in 2015 which helps to provide opportunities for the next generation of young people from deprived communities nationwide, who, like himself, were raised in lower-income households, whilst struggling to gain access into the music industry.

The multi-platinum, Grammy-winning executive launched 'Straight Forward Giving' as a branch of his entertainment company, Straight Forward Music Group to focus on creating voluntary charity initiatives in aid to help deprived communities gain access to education, mentorship and employment opportunities.

In 2018, Straight Forward Music signed a deal with Virgin EMI Records, part of the global Universal Music Group.

Dani has worked with many global artists like Don Diablo, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Terry Pastor, KSI and many more. Recently he was involved in working with Marvel Studios and Disney to executive produce and compose music for the newest Marvel Studio’s production called “Eternals”.

The Park Wood and Shepway native, who attended Maplesden Noakes school, explained his initial shock when he found out he had received the award. He said: “It was a surprise, It was funny how it happened.

"I got an email from the Prime Minister's assistant, I thought it was spam initially, so I almost ignored it.

“They gave me a call and congratulated me, and told me I had won the award and that I will receive a letter from Boris Johnson in a week or so.”

Mr Stephenson went on to explain how his upbringing influenced his desire for charity work.

He said: “I’ve been doing voluntary work for more than 20 years on and off.

“I started when I was 16, helping out kids in the local community.

“I’ve been a mentor for The Prince’s Trust foundation for the past couple years.

“I was raised in a community where unfortunately crime was high and drugs can be rife.

“For me, I was just very lucky that I had a strong mother who installed principles and morals that a kid needs to stay on the right track.

“She always encouraged me to follow music and always encouraged me to follow what I was passionate about."

“Which is one of the reasons why I continue to do music, she helped to support it in a motherly way.

"I started by going out and writing songs, whilst working out how to DJ by mixing my mum's vinyl's to create mixtapes and MCing through my headphones over the tape I recorded.

“That’s the whole reason why doing community work has been so important to me because I can relate to the community, I've lived it.

“It’s very important for me to give back and educate kids, to change their mentality.

“There’s so many opportunities out there, so many jobs, so many courses that guys can be doing.

“What I want to try and do is install education and install knowledge and change the mentality of kids.

“The only limits in life are those that you create, anything is possible if you put your mind to it.