Celebrated for his pioneering writing on Bob Marley, reggae and punk – he wrote the first ever live review of The Sex Pistols. Spencer was NME editor between 1978 and 1985, when the paper was at the height of its influence.

Subsequently he was a founding editor of the men's magazine Arena, and of the jazz/art mag Straight No Chaser. His work has appeared in numerous magazines, including The Independent, Mojo, Uncut and Elle, and books to which he has contributed include Fatherhood (Gollancz ed Peter Howarth), Chic Thrills, A Fashion Reader (Pandora ed Juliet Ash) and David Bailey’s Rock and Roll Heroes.

He has worked for The Observer for many years, writing about music and popular culture, and now contributes a weekly sun sign column to The Observer Magazine. To read your stars this week click here.

He is the author of True As the Stars Above, Adventures in Modern Astrology (Gollancz 2000). To read more about the book click here. To read an extract from the chapter on Ronald Reagan, click here.

Since the 1990s, Spencer has worked with film maker Jeremy Wooding, first on a trilogy of prize-winning short films, Paris, Brixton, Sari & Trainers and Soul Patrol. He also co-wrote Wooding’s feature debut, Bollywood Queen (2003), ‘Britain’s first masala musical’, which was nominated for the World Cinema section at The Sundance Festival 2003. To read more about all these films click here.

Neil lives in North London with his wife and three children.