“He was very gangly and geeky,” recalled Pickering – who had a major musical career of his own with M People and as a DJ, which is recounted in his new book Manchester Must Dance.
“He looked nothing like he does now – he just looked like a normal kid from Scotland or the north of England.”
However, he said he recognised something in Harris that would work for his label.
“Adam always knew what he wanted to do, always, and I used to look for that in an artist,” he said.
“You get artists who sometimes may be talented, but they don’t really have an idea of what they want to be and that’s a bit of a battle.
“He didn’t know he wanted to be the world’s number one DJ – you know what I mean – but he had belief in the music that he was making and he was obviously a very talented songwriter.”