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Larry Levan
Larry Levan's Paradise Garage
Larry Levan's Paradise Garage
Background information
Birth name Lawrence Philpot
Born July 20, 1954
Died November 8, 1992
Occupation(s) DJ

Larry Levan (born Lawrence Philpot, July 20, 1954 – died November 8, 1992[1]) was a DJ who spun discs at the New York City night club Paradise Garage. Events 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) Events 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great a Celebration Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar) A disc jockey (also known as DJ or deejay) is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience Events 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) Events 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great a Celebration Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar) A disc jockey (also known as DJ or deejay) is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience The City of New York A nightclub (or "night club" or "club" is a drinking, dancing, and entertainment venue which does its primary business after dark The Paradise Garage was a nightclub notable in the history of modern gay and Nightclub cultures and in dance and Pop musics ref>Violette The club has been described as the prototype of the modern dance club, because it was entirely focused on dancing, and was the first to put the DJ at the center of attention. He developed a cult following, who referred to his sets as "Saturday Mass". A cult following is a group of fans devoted to a specific area of Pop culture. Influential US DJ François Kevorkian credits Levan with introducing the dub aesthetic into dance music. François Kevorkian, alias François K, (born January 10, 1954) is a French DJ, Remixer, producer and Record Dub is a form of music which evolved from Reggae in the late 1960s

Contents

Career

Levan was openly gay and got his start alongside DJ Frankie Knuckles at The Continental Baths,[1] as a replacement for the DJ from The Gallery, Nicky Siano. Frankie Knuckles (born January 18 1955, New York) is an American DJ, Record producer and Remix artist In the late 1960s Steve Ostrow opened the Continental Baths at 230 West 74th Street in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel in New York City. Nicky Siano (March 18 1955 -)was a resident DJ at Studio 54. Siano was born in Brooklyn, New York. Levan's DJing style was influenced by Siano's eclectic style, and by The Loft's David Mancuso, who briefly dated Levan in the early 1970s. David Mancuso (born October 20 1944 is the creator of the famous "by invitation only" parties in New York City As Knuckles was still trying to make his way in the New York club scene, Levan became a popular attraction perhaps due to his "diva persona", which he developed in the city's notoriously competitive black drag "houses"). Drag in its broadest sense means any clothing one wears however the traditional use of the term is for any Costume or outfit that carries symbolic significance [2]

At the height of the disco boom in 1977, Levan was offered a residency at the Paradise Garage. Although owner Michael Brody, who employed Levan at the defunct Reade Street, intended to create a downtown facsimile of Studio 54 catering to an upscale white gay clientele, Levan initially drew an improbable mix of streetwise blacks, Latinos, and punks. Studio 54 is a New York City Broadway theater and former Discothèque located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan.

Open only to a select membership and housed in an otherwise unadorned building on King Street in Greenwich Village, the club and Levan's DJing slowly engendered themselves into the mainstream. Greenwich Village (ˌgrɛnɪtʃ ˈvɪlɪdʒ often simply called the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern Manhattan The DJ and programming director from WBLS, Frankie Crocker often mentioned the club on air and based his playlists around Levan's sets. WBLS is an Urban Adult Contemporary FM Radio station that is licensed to New York City, operating on 107 The PA system of the club included custom-designed "Levan speakers".

Filling the void left by leading remixer Walter Gibbons, Levan became a prolific producer and mixer in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with many of his efforts crossing over onto the national dance music charts. Walter Gibbons ( April 2, 1954 - September 23, 1994) was an American Record producer, early Disco DJ Among the records that received Levan's touch were his remixes of "Ain't Nothin' Goin On But The Rent" by Gwen Guthrie and "Heartbeat" by Taana Gardner,[1] as well as his production work on "Don't Make Me Wait" by the Peech Boys,[1] a group that Levan formed and was part of (and who became the New York Citi Peech Boys when the Beach Boys threatened a lawsuit due to the similar sound of the name). Gwen Guthrie ( July 14 sources say [[July 9]] 1950 – February 3 1999) was an American Singer and Songwriter, who The Beach Boys is an American rock band Formed in 1961 the group gained popularity for its close vocal harmonies and lyrics reflecting a California Youth culture With a strong gospel tinge in the vocal arrangements and driven by a tinkling piano, the latter song is a quintessential example of the deejay's soulful aesthetic. One of the first dance releases to incorporate a dub influence and an appended vocal-only edit, Levan tinkered with the song for nearly a year to the consternation of Mel Charen, whose label, West End Records, was nearing bankruptcy. When it was finally released, much of the song's momentum had been lost and it stalled in the lower reaches of the charts.

As the popularity of the Garage soared in the mid-1980s just as many of his longtime friends lost their battles with AIDS, Levan became withdrawn and entirely dependent upon PCP and heroin. Heroin ( INN: diacetylmorphine, BAN: diamorphine) is a semi-synthetic opioid synthesized from Morphine, a derivative While performing, he ensconsced himself within an entourage of drag queens and young acolytes. As beat-matching and stylistic adherence became the norm, Levan's loopy sets (spanning the gamut from Evelyn "Champagne" King and Chaka Khan to Kraftwerk, Manuel Göttsching,[1] & British synth-pop) and unwillingness to delve headlong into the more synthetic variants of house and techno elicited criticism from some quarters. Evelyn "Champagne" King (born July 1, 1960, in the Bronx, New York) is an American R&B Chaka Khan (born March 23, 1953) is a multiple Grammy Award -winning American singer known for hit songs such as "I'm Every Woman" "I Feel Kraftwerk (ˈkʁaftvɛɐk German for " power plant " or " Power station " is an influential Electronic music band from Manuel Göttsching (born in Berlin, September 9, 1952) is a German musician and composer

The Garage ended its run with a spectacular 48 hour-long party in September 1987,[1] weeks before Brody died from AIDS-related complications. The closure devastated Levan, who knew that he was now bereft of a space that would tolerate his peccadilloes. Although Brody verbally bequeathed the club's sound and lighting systems to Levan, they were left to the fallen impresario's mother in his will - a change instigated by Brody's lover and manager, who reportedly despised Levan. Despite protestations and pleas to the Brody family from Mel Cheren, the systems remained in storage as their property. Unable to secure a residency, Levan began to sell his valuable records for drug money; friends like Danny Tenaglia would buy them back for him out of sympathy. Danny Tenaglia (born March 7, 1961) is a New York -based DJ and music producer

As the nineties dawned, Levan seemed on the precipice of a comeback. Although he was regarded as a drug-addled relic in New York, his popularity had soared in Europe and Japan. Levan designed the sound system for London's Ministry of Sound nightclub[1] and DJed alongside Knuckles in its opening weeks; though still dependent on heroin, his 1992 tour of Japan received gushing accolades in the local press. Ministry of Sound ( MoS) is a global dance music brand and a Nightclub in Elephant and Castle, Southwark, South London, officially Spearheaded by Cheren, he also made a tentative return to the studio during this period and entered rehab. On the contrary, he informed his mother in June 1992 that he had "lived a good life" and was "ready to die"; Francois Kevorkian described Levan's final Japanese sets as nostalgic and inspirational, imbued with an air of bittersweetness and closure. François Kevorkian, alias François K, (born January 10, 1954) is a French DJ, Remixer, producer and Record

Shortly after returning home from Japan, Levan voluntarily entered the hospital. He died four days later of heart failure caused by endocarditis,[3] an ailment common among intraveneous drug users. Endocarditis is an Inflammation of the inner layer of the Heart, the Endocardium. In September 2004, Levan was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame for his outstanding achievement as a DJ. The Dance Music Hall of Fame was created in 2003 when music industry veteran John Parker ( Robbins Entertainment) thought that something needed to be done to honor A disc jockey (also known as DJ or deejay) is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience The 2006 album The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast by electronic music duo Matmos contains a tribute to Levan titled "Steam and Sequins for Larry Levan. The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast is a 2006 album by Matmos. Matmos is an experimental Electronic music duo from San Francisco signed to the Matador Records label "

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Bidder, Sean (June 1999). House: the Rough Guide. London: Rough Guides Ltd, 202-205.  
  2. ^ Buckland, Fiona (2002). Impossible Dance: Club Culture and Queer World-Making. Wesleyan University Press, 256 pages. ISBN 0819564982.   see p. 67
  3. ^ Larry Levan, 38; His Tastes Shaped Dance-Club Music - New York Times

References

External links

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