Beloved veteran Sydney DJ Paul Holden has died after falling in his Mosman home aged 51.

Holden was considered a pioneer of the Sydney dance music scene during the late 1980s and 90s, playing to huge crowds at Mardi Gras events, annual Sleaze Ball parties and the Big Day Out festival.

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The popular DJ specialised in hard house, happy hardcore and disco genres among many more, also working as a music producer, remixer and event promoter during his 34-year career.

A number of prominent local DJs expressed their shock and sadness at the news on social media on Wednesday evening, including his Jack The House party partner DJ Mark Dynamix.

“I have no words right now, I can’t speak, utterly shocked. I have just heard that my partner in Jack The House, Mr. Paul Holden has passed away. Absolutely devastated,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

Fellow Sydney DJ Robbie Lowe also expressed his grief in an emotional Facebook post.

“As a DJ I put him up there as one of the best that’s ever graced this planet. One of the originals. A super talented natural that was in a league of his own. He was such a massive inspiration to me in my early years,” wrote Lowe.

Holden started his decade-spanning career playing the Exchange Hotel in Oxford Street in 1980, eventually playing alongside some of the world’s biggest DJ names, including Laurent Garnier, Carl Cox and Paul Van Dyke.

On Thursday, messages of support and fond memories of Holden were being posted to a memorial page setup by Mark Dynamix.