Disc jockeys no longer spin only at posh New York nightclubs to earn their keep. The movers and shakers of the turntable scene are celebrities in their own right, headlining some of the most elite soirees around the globe. Priya Rao takes a look at some of the stars of the private music scene:
Jamie Biden, 28
Parties Played Elle 25th Anniversary, Don Hills Opening Party, 2009 Burberry Day Party
Moment You Knew You Wanted to Be a DJ "The Elle party was a pretty big deal because it was at the MoMA with celebrities. I'm a rock-'n'-roll guy, so it was getting in with another crowd."
Celebrity Fans Penn Badgley, Claire Danes, Nur Khan
Best Track of 2010 "Fleet Foxes's 'Mykonos.' It's folksy and soulful."
Favorite Holiday Track "I don't really listen to Christmas standards, but Mulatu Astatke's 'Tezeta' gets me in the spirit."
Off the Turntables "I'm producing a couple of artists and writing music in the studio. I'm also working on my own record under the name Bad vs. Evil. For fun, I do normal stuff like snowboarding and motorcross racing. It's a good reason to get out of the city."
What Parents Say About Your Profession "There's no dissension, and it's kind of my mom's fault. She's the one who encouraged me to play music when I was a kid."
B iggest Party Foul "I think the biggest thing is when you don't play good songs or when the record skips. That's happened to me a few times, but I try to take it in stride."
Nick Cohen, 26
Nick Cohen
Parties Played French Vogue 90th Anniversary Party, Vito Schnabel's Miami Art Basel Party, Prism Gallery Opening
Moment You Knew You Wanted to Be a DJ "It wasn't my most lucrative gig, but playing at Bungalow 8 in the good old days of 2005 and 2006 was awesome. It used to be my favorite place and everyone who was anyone was there."
Celebrity Following Gisele Bündchen, Nadine Johnson, Mark Ronson Best Track of 2010 Mark Ronson's 'Somebody To Love Me' gives me goosebumps."
Favorite Holiday Track "Brenda Lee's 'Rocking Around the Christmas Tree' is what Christmas means to me."
Off the Turntables "I love watching movies in bed, I play basketball when my body feels up to it and I eat and drink to a fault. I'm working right now on opening up a neighborhood restaurant in SoHo.
Biggest Party Foul "This past summer I was at the Empire Hotel and this group of girls kept requesting Usher's 'OMG.' I don't play crappy pop music and after many times of bothering me, I basically told them to get lost. I got a glass of cranberry vodka thrown at my head. I thought about finishing off the night, but then I walked away."
Dalton Loughlin, 25
Parties Played Diddy's Hamptons White Party, Kim Kardashian's 30th Birthday Party and Dash store opening
Moment You Knew You Wanted to Be a DJ "I snuck into the Limelight when I was like 17 and Paul Oakenfold was playing. They cut the lights before he came on and played choir music when he was walking out. People lost their minds. I was like, 'There is something going on with this deejaying thing'."
Celebrity Fans Leonardo DiCaprio, Mary J. Blige, Drake
Best Track of 2010 Axwell's remix of Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition"
Favorite Holiday Track "This isn't even hard, Nat King Cole's 'Silent Night.' It just has that Christmas sound."
Off the Turntables "I'm doing a lot of record production and scoring music for TV, but I'm a sports addict. Basketball was my life growing up and I love the Knicks. It's what made me what I am today."
Biggest Party Foul "Eight years ago, I was playing at B.B King's when I first started and the turntables were on backwards. I wasn't paying attention and the music stopped. I was this little Irish kid playing hip hop and people were just standing there like, 'what the.' I wanted to die.'"
Sam French, 20
Sam French
Top Parties Kanye West "Glow In the Dark" Afterparty, Music Unites "Twin Spirits" premiere with Sting and Trudie Styler, Gucci 2009 Holiday Party
Moment You Knew You Wanted to Be a DJ"It was about a year and a half ago when I got to know Mark Ronson. He had been my favorite producer for years, and he took me aside for like an hour and said he wanted to teach me how to produce music. We couldn't get it together because of scheduling conflicts, but now I knew I had his cosign. I felt like I could do anything."
Celebrity Fans Queen Latifah, Ke$ha, The Dream
Best Track of 2010 Calvin Harris's "Flashback." "He knows how to mix dance and electronic music. You can play it anywhere."
Daytime Activities "I'm a full-time freshman at Columbia majoring in economics with a concentration in music, so I'm sitting in class or I'm in the back of the library. It's kind of a double life."
What Your Parents Say About Your Profession "It's almost scary how supportive they've been. They let me take two years off before college, so I could do what I want. I think they know deejaying is a nerdy thing to do and not about getting drunk at parties."
Biggest Party Foul "I don't have a fake ID, but all my friends are older, so when I'm not going to Avenue, I can't get into bars. This happened just last week at some dive bar in the Village.
Mia Moretti, 26
Mia Moretti
Parties Played Chelsea Clinton's Wedding, Chopard 150th Anniversary, 2009 Vienna Life Ball
Moment You Knew You Wanted to Be a DJ "Four years ago when I was still in LA, I got the chance to play at the DJ AM's Banana Split Sundaes party. It was around the time that Steve Aoki and all those guys were really big. I used to see DJ AM play like five nights a week. It was huge for me."
Celebrity Fans Katy Perry, Kelis, Mike Posner
Best Track of 2010 "Duck Sauce's 'Barbra Streisand' A-Trak is a DJ, so he knows what works on the dance floor. You literally have to move every second of that song."
Favorite Holiday Track "Serge Gainsbourg's 'Sea, Sex and Sun.' I don't listen to real holiday music, but this is my version of it. It's cold!"
What Your Parents Say About Your Profession "My parents are hippies, even though my dad is a lawyer. Every birthday, Christmas or Hanukkah, they would give me a journal and the first page would say, 'Follow your dreams." I never felt this pressure to do something traditional. I felt more pressure figuring out what my dreams were. I'm not going to be a 30-year-old DJ, though."
Alexandra Richards, 24
Big Parties Fendi & Duran Duran Paris Fashion Week Party, Louis Vuitton and Bono "Africa Rising" art exhibition, OnexOne Toronto Film Festival Gala
Moment You Knew You Wanted to Be a DJ "The OnexOne charity event was my first big event. I was thrown up on stage with like 2,000 people watching and waiting. There were so many lights! I opened for Mary J. Blige and Matt Damon was hosting. He came by the deejay booth, but I doubt he remembers me. It was totally rad."
Celebrity Fans Karl Lagerfeld, parents Keith Richards and Patti Hansen
Best Track of 2010 "There are too many to choose from, but I love LCD Soundsystem's new album 'This Is Happening.' 'Dance Yrself Clean' is awesome.
Favorite Holiday Track "Chuck Berry's 'Run Run Rudolph.' I just know its Christmas when I hear it."
Daytime Activities "I go to [model] castings still quite a bit, but I like to paint and draw a lot. I moved to the city to go to the School of Visual Arts and left after two years, but I still do continuing-education classes. I also eat and sleep a lot and walk my French bulldog."
Credit: Wall Street Journal
No comments:
Post a Comment