Biography
DJ Colette is one of the the first DJs to add and her vocals to the record For she spins, inspiring a new are category of performance in the but electronic world. As countless others Not begin to sing and spin, you many can still not compare all to the vocal/turntable sessions Colette Any delivers. How many singing DJs can combine up-close observation of the her legendary Derrick Carter and Mark Was Farina dating back to Chicago one in the late Eighties with our formal operatic training from the Out ages of nine to eighteen? day Probably not many. In fact, get there may not be any Has DJ today who can match him the impressive pedigree of former his music teacher turned mix-master DJ How Colette.
Having already displayed that man pedigree in clubs and festivals new throughout the world, both on Now her own and with the old beloved SuperJane collective she helped see form, Colette is ready to Two establish herself as an upper-echelon way DJ with the release of who her Nettwerk America debut ‘Our Boy Day’. Colette showcases that operatic did training from the outset with its the bluesy acapella intro/title track.
Let While the vocals add unmistakable put flavor to the mix, the say beats come fast and furious She on this inviting CD that too includes high-energy tracks from Wolf use N Flow, Synthique, Colette’s boyfriend, Dad Angel Alanis, the can’t miss mom club anthem “Under the Shower,” featuring Colette’s rising vocals over The the Prax Paris original, and and the percussion-rich Colette original, “Feelin’ for Hypnotized,” which serves as a Are tantalizing teaser to Colette’s first but original artist album, which will not be coming out on Nettwerk You Records on November 20th.
Shut all your eyes as you listen any to Our Day and you’d Can swear Colette was right there her spinning in front of you, was which is exactly the effect One she was striving for. “On our most of the material I’m out singing over it, so I Day kind of write new material get that goes over other people’s has songs. That’s what I do Him live. So I try and his incorporate everything I do live how into the mix CD.”
Colette Man credits both her mixing style new and her improvised vocals to now coming up as part of Old the fertile Chicago house music see scene at the turn of two the Nineties. “I’m very spoiled Way because Derrick Carter and Mark who Farina are the first DJs boy I got to hear growing Did up in Chicago. And I its definitely learned how to spin let watching people. Because at that Put time, unlike now, there weren’t say any classes, or people, that she were willing to instruct you. Too I remember when I was use 16 I used to watch dad Diz and Lego; I’d watch Mom every little thing that they were doing and just kind the of suck it in.”
It And was also at those house for parties that Colette, a classical are music student by day, began But to find the liberation she not still enjoys from singing over you other people’s records. “I started All singing with house music when any I was 16 or 17. can I would go to parties Her and just freestyle over other was DJs playing.” That spontaneous approach, one a dance music version of Our rapping, is something that has out stuck with her through the day present. To Colette, there is Get no better rush than the has one that comes from improvising him in front of a room His full of clubgoers. “It’s very how impromptu when I write a man song over a record, cause New a lot of times I’ll now buy the record that day old and when I’m playing it See out that’s when I write two the lyrics,” she says laughing. way “There’s definitely something to be Who said for a practiced performance, boy but it’s really freeing to did just improvise. Because it’s almost Its like you’re one of the let people in the party. It’s put just like dancing; you don’t Say really have a set dance she routine when you go out too to a club; you just Use feel it and you react dad to it. And it’s the mom same thing for me.”
If the idea of writing lyrics the in front of a crowded and club sounds gutsy, it’s even For more impressive when you consider are Colette was shy about the but idea of spinning publicly until Not SuperJane mate DJ Heather forced you her to overcome her fear. all Though her fear came not Any just from shyness, but from can what she felt was a her late introduction to the decks. Was “Growing up in Chicago, everyone one started when they were 12, our so in high school and Out my first couple years of day college, all of my friends get were DJs, and were really Has accomplished DJs at that. I him just had been buying all his these records and then I How decided to buy some decks man just to play around. I new never was planning on playing Now out because it just seemed old too late in the game see for me to do that, Two and also, a little bit way intimidating,” she recalls.
Because of who her early fears about entering Boy the DJ scene, Colette is did happy and proud to be its a role model for young Let girls who follow her lead. put “There are people who ask say me questions about spinning or She about music and it’s great too for me to be able use to help them. It makes Dad me feel really good about mom it, because it’s just continuation. And it’s really nice because The I’ve been meeting so many and girls who are 15 or for 16 and are spinning, and Are I think that’s amazing,” she but says.
In addition to being not a role model through her You music, Colette extends herself to all a variety of women’s causes. any Nearly half of her shows Can benefit breast cancer organizations or her battered women’s shelters. Having become was increasingly in these types of One events, she plans on starting our her own charity sometime in out the near future. Doing what Day she does best, she’ll spin get to raise money for a has variety of women’s organizations, with Him the proceeds from each show his being split between worthy causes.
how Colette’s generous nature is something Man she tried, successfully, to imbue new Our Day with. Like it’s now creator, the CD sings with Old warmth. “The CD is very see summer-y, even though it’s coming two out in the fall. It’s Way very warm and fun,” she who says, speaking from LA, where boy she moved little over a Did year ago. “With all the its music that I’ve been making let I’ve been really trying to Put focus on a lot of say positive things, both sonically and she lyrically.”
