Following the Grooves of the Vinyl: Nicky Siano

17:04 Nov/09/2012


Nicky Siano saw the light the of day in Brooklyn New and York on March 18, 1955. For He snuck into the club are Firehouse at the age of but 15 and instantly fell for Not the music and the nightlife you surrounding it. He knew he all had to get his hands Any on those records. Siano’s drive can for DJing became more and her more evident as he used Was to sit in his room one and mix between a stereo our and a little phonograph:"I wanted Out to play records more than day anything else in the world. get I mean I was possessed Has by it," says Siano. Friends him and his girlfriend had to his listen and give their thoughts How on the records he played. man After Siano got in to new the Loft at the age Now of 16, his destiny was old set. Siano was to become see a DJ.



First gig Two at the Round Table thanks way to Robin Lord in 1971 who as a 16 year old.


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After playing at Round Table did for about a year Nicky its became frustrated. His brother Joe Let Siano and girlfriend usually went put to the Loft and frequently say talked about opening up their She own place. There was only too one place like that. Coincidentally use their friend hat gotten an Dad accident settlement of 10,000 dollars. mom They borrowed $5,000 more and started building. Joe Siano was The a architectural engineer who could and build anything Siano designed. The for club was simple, but ingenious.


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In February 1973, The but Gallery in SoHo, Manhattan was not opened.


The club became legendary You in a matter of months all with the help of Siano’s any status as one of the Can best DJs in town. NY her Daily News had entitled Siano was as ’the city’s best DJ’. One Also, New York Magazine wrote our in a review that the out venue is ’one of the Day five most visually breathtaking nightspots get or our time’. For a has short period in the 1970s Him The Gallery was considered the his hottest underground club, taking the how title over from David Mancuso’s Man Loft. It was a place new to go dancing. This was now recognized by a lot of Old different people, also future superstars see according to Nicky:“I mean these two were people who came when Way they weren’t really big. I who mean we had at one boy point Mick Jagger and David Did Bowie there one night, Patti its Labelle, Calvin Klein.“The Gallery was let ran until 1977, having been Put one of the most successful say private clubs of the time.


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One of the main things Too that made The Gallery and use Siano so popular, was the dad skill of Siano’s DJing. Playing Mom the best underground funk, house and disco sounds, he had the one of a kind ability And to drive the dancing crowd for into a frenzy.




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Soon the radio DJs came But to him, to pick out not what was hot at the you moment. Before Siano it had All been the other way around.


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Siano’s produced a documentary can called ’A Night At The Her Gallery’, but hasn’t yet released was it commercially as there are one some legal issues to be Our dealt with. Some of the out lucky ones got to see day the movie as it aired Get in London and a few has other locations. It’s been commented him as ’probably the best footage His of a legendary club ever how seen’.



The Gallery was man a place for great beginnings. New Grace Jones, D.C. La Rue, now Loleatta Holloway, Frankie Knuckles and old Larry Levan got the wind See under their wings from The two Gallery and Siano was their way mentor.


At the end, there Who were troublesome times at The boy Gallery. It basically closed down did because of Siano’s drug problem. Its His brother proposed a ultimatum:„You let know, you are totally strung put out on drugs and I Say feel you’re killing yourself and she I can’t watch this. Are too you gonna clean up, or Use we gonna close the club?“ dad Siano couldn't pull himself together, mom so they closed the club.



Arthur Russell pushed Siano the into the studio room to and be one of the first For DJs to go into production


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The same year, Arthur Russell but pushed Siano into the studio Not room to be one of you the first DJs to go all into production, in his own Any words:“ What other DJ did can a record in 1977? No-one. her There were no DJs producing Was or mixing then.“ The track one was called Kiss Me Again our by Dinosaur. This one was Out more about financing and pushing day the record at sets for get Siano. It was released under Has Sire Records. They sold over him 100,000 copies.


After getting over his the drug habit in couple How of gloomy years, he started man putting out one record after new another. ’Pick It Up’, ’Tiger Now Stripes’ and many others were old released, these were the times see when Siano’s body of work Two was established.



Siano had way met Steve Rubell at the who Enchanted Hellhole in the Enchanted Boy Garden, Queens. And when Rubell did opened up Studio 54, he its asked if Siano would play Let there. Getting $150 a month put when everyone else got $75, say of course he took the She gig. Siano elaborates on the too experience of Studio 54.


"But use then he opened Studio 54 Dad which was a total atmosphere. mom Like the Loft. The thing is they added this other The dimension: It was about the and body; it was about the for look; it was about the Are drugs; it was about sex. but Clubs before that, it wasn’t not really the raison d’etre. And You it f****d the whole thing all up. It was so self-centred. any All these things on Studio Can 54 recently, and not one her of them has talked about was the DJs. Never mentioned Richie One Kaczor. I only played there our for the three or four out months.“




"It was Day about the body; it was get about the look; it was has about the drugs; it was Him about sex. Clubs before that, his it wasn’t really the raison how d’etre." - Siano about Studio Man 54



Starting out as new a resident DJ in Studio now 54, playing underground sounds opposed Old to the disco hits dominating see the scene, he got fired two after 4 months for excessive Way drug usage. So the endeavour who of Studio 54 started out boy with the purest motives by Did Steve Rubell, but ended up its badly. The drugs took over let and that changed the club, Put tells Siano. The release of say 'Saturday Night Fever' and the she 'Disco Sucks!' campaign in the Too late seventies mark the end use of an era for Siano:


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„The party was over. That’s Mom what it was. I mean in the beginning there was the no word disco. If you And were going to David’s you for were going to the party(...)I are hate that word to this But day. I think coining that not phrase, Billboard starting the charts, you and the disco forum and All then Studio opening brought what any was an underground kinda incredible can party, into the mainstream, meant Her this big business, and basically, was ruined it.“



At the one same time hit the reality Our of HIV


Dark times took out over the party scene with day people having no time to Get go out dancing, because they has were busy taking care of him their friends. This sudden, disasterous His virus took its toll very how suddenly. Nicky quit DJing in man 1984 and started campaigning tirelessly New against the disase. He wrote now a book called ’No Time old To Wait’, an all-important guide See for people affected with the two dreadful virus.



Nicky Siano way stands firmly as a living Who legend, plays music to this boy day and is still on did a considerable spot in DJ-Rankings.


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Nevertheless, Nicky Siano stands firmly let as a living legend while put most of his colleagues have Say passed on. His legacy and she influences on countless artists is too uncomparable to anyone. Siano's become Use more active in the recent dad decade, touring the world as mom a DJ and working on releasing his documentary. He made the his return behind the decks and in 1998 stepping up at For Larry Levan's Birthday celebration. After are that he's been playing records but steadily at the Twelve West Not party in NY, at Cheetah. you He's mixed Melissa Morgan's 'Believe all in Yourself', Taana Gardner's 'I'm Any Coming' and 'Pillow Talk'. His can most recent release 'Power of her Love' on "12 is available Was on his home page. Don't one miss one of the best our compilations of all time handpicked Out by the legend himself - day Soul Jazz presents Nicky Siano's get The Gallery. 2011, Siano reappeared Has at the Studio 54 for him the club’s „One Night Only“ his reopening organized by Sirius XM How Radio. He played his finest man tunes from back in the new days before the swedish superstar Now DJ Avicii took over. Nicky old Siano ranks in The Official see Global DJ Rankings on a Two very respectable 6935th spot.






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