DJ Keoki

Last updated
Superstar DJ Keoki
DJ Keoki.JPG
Background information
Birth nameGeorge Lopez
Also known asKeoki Franconi
Born (1966-10-23) October 23, 1966 (age 57)
El Salvador
Origin Kihei, Maui, Hawaii, U.S.
Genres Electronic
Occupation(s)Musician, producer, DJ
Years active1980s–present

George Lopez [1] (born October 23, 1966), known by his stage name DJ Keoki or Keoki Franconi, is a Salvadoran-American electronic musician and DJ. Born in El Salvador and raised in Hawaii, Keoki began advertising himself as "superstar" shortly after moving to New York City. [2]

Contents

Biography

Keoki Franconi was born in El Salvador. He moved to Kihei, Maui, when he was 8. [2] After graduating from Kailua High School, he moved to the mainland to study at an airline school in California. Franconi worked at several airlines in New York City, among them the now defunct Trans World Airlines. [3] He also was a busboy at Danceteria club during this time. [2] That was where he began to start DJing. He recalls,

I kept bugging a nearby club's manager to, please, please, please let me DJ there. I told him I knew how to do it, even though I only had a small collection of records and one turntable at home. He let me play a lounge gig on some of the slower nights. He told me to 'play whatever the fuck you want, so long as they stay,' words I've continued to live by to this day.

DJ Keoki, [2]

Club Kids and Michael Alig

While in New York City, he met and began a romance with Michael Alig. [4] Alig rose to international notability as the head of the Club Kids, a group of diverse people who would dress in costumes each night and form parties in New York and across the United States.

Dance music writer Jennifer Warner remembers,

I was marking the side of a mile-high stack of party invites with a huge purple pen and this body appeared, covered in silver glitter, wearing what looked like a diaper and dragging a boy [Michael Alig], also sporting a falling-off diaper, minus the glitter but made up like a clown.

Jennifer Warner, [2]

While DJing at "Disco 2000", Alig's party night at the Limelight, Franconi was alleged to have passed out on the turntables while performing a set. He has completely denied the allegation, stating that it indeed never happened. [5]

Franconi had a successful career during the late 1990s and early 2000s as DJ Keoki;[ citation needed ] he released a number of CDs over that decade and was hired to play for thousands of people at massive raves.[ citation needed ] In 2006 and 2007, he toured in the United States and Europe on the Club Party Monster Tour, a tribute to the film Party Monster (2003) as well as a nod to the Club Kid scene that shot him into stardom. During the tour, he was known for dressing extravagantly, wearing makeup, and sporting a number of tattoos.[ citation needed ]

Keoki toured and performed at The Viper Room in Los Angeles, California, Shag in Denver, Colorado, Club Tantra in Tampa, Florida, VIA Afterhours in Houston, Texas, Amazura Concert Hall in Queens, New York, Hard Rock Cafe in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. [ citation needed ] He also makes annual appearances in Moscow at the Gaudi Fest during Halloween,[ citation needed ] and has played at the Love Parade in Berlin, Germany.[ citation needed ] In January 2017, he was arrested in New York City after a man in his apartment died of a drug overdose, [1] when the officers entering his apartment found it contained illegal narcotics. Following the incident, he entered a rehabilitation program and announced the cancellation of all of his upcoming events. [6]

Discography

1991 – DJ Keoki Presents Disco 2000 – Volume One (12")
1991 – DJ Keoki Presents Disco 2000 – Volume Two (12")
1993 – We Are One
1994 – Journeys By DJ 1995 – All Mixed Up
1996 – Disco Death Race 2000
1996 – The Transatlantic Move
1997 – Ego Trip
1998 – Inevitable Alien Nation
1998 – Altered Ego Trip (The Remix Album)
2000 – djmixed.com/keoki
2001 – Jealousy (also released in a Limited Edition 2XCD version with bonus CD w/ exclusive remixes)
2002 – Keokiclash
2002 – Misdirected Jealousy: The Remix Album
2003 – Kill The DJ
2004 – The Great Soundclash Swindle
2010 – Talking to Yourself
2019 – Born to Attack

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disc jockey</span> Person who plays recorded music for an audience

A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs, club DJs, mobile DJs, and turntablists. Originally, the "disc" in "disc jockey" referred to shellac and later vinyl records, but nowadays DJ is used as an all-encompassing term to also describe persons who mix music from other recording media such as cassettes, CDs or digital audio files on a CDJ, controller, or even a laptop. DJs may adopt the title "DJ" in front of their real names, adopted pseudonyms, or stage names.

<i>Party Monster</i> (film) 2003 American film

Party Monster is a 2003 American biographical crime drama film written and directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, who are also producers along with Jon Marcus and Christine Vachon. It stars Macaulay Culkin as the drug-addled "king of the Club Kids". The film tells the story of the rise and fall of the infamous New York City party promoter Michael Alig. This was Macaulay Culkin's first film in nearly nine years since his starring role in the 1994 film Richie Rich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Alig</span> American club promoter socialite

Michael Alig was an American club promoter and artist who was convicted of felony manslaughter. He was one of the ringleaders of the Club Kids, a group of young New York City clubgoers who became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In March 1996, Alig and his roommate, Robert D. "Freeze" Riggs, killed fellow Club Kid Andre "Angel" Melendez in a confrontation over a drug debt. In October 1997, Alig pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter. Both men were sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. Riggs was released on parole in 2010. Alig was released on May 5, 2014.

The Club Kids were a group of young New York City dance club personalities. The group was notable for its members' flamboyant behavior and outrageous costumes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Tee</span> Musical artist

Larry Tee is a Berlin-based DJ, club promoter, and music producer who curated the electroclash scene in New York in the early 2000s, and helped launch the careers of such artists as RuPaul, Scissor Sisters, Fischerspooner, Peaches, W.I.T., and Avenue D. He has written songs for and collaborated with Afrojack, Shontelle, Princess Superstar, Santigold, RuPaul, Sean Garrett, Steve Aoki, and Amanda Lepore.

Francis Grasso was an American disco music disc jockey from New York City, best known for being one of the first people to beatmatch.

<i>Disco Bloodbath</i> Book by James St. James

Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland is a 1999 memoir written by James St. James about his life as a Manhattan celebutante and Club Kid. The book specifically chronicles his friend Michael Alig's rise to fame, and Alig and his roommate's subsequent murder of fellow club kid and drug dealer Andre "Angel" Melendez. St. James was Alig's mentor, rival, and collaborator in the Manhattan party scene and was familiar with many of its key figures. The memoir was later retitled Party Monster after the 2003 motion picture of that name starring Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green, Chloë Sevigny, and Marilyn Manson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andre Melendez</span> Murdered dancer and purported drug dealer

Andre Melendez was a member of the Club Kids and drug dealer who lived and worked in New York City. He was killed by Michael Alig and Robert "Freeze" Riggs on March 17, 1996. His life and death have inspired several pieces of media, including books, films, music, and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James St. James</span> American TV & internet personality and author

James St. James is a television & internet personality, author, celebutante, frequent collaborator with Mathu Andersen, and former "Club Kid", a member of the New York City club scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunnel (New York nightclub)</span> Defunct nightclub (1986–2001)

Tunnel was a nightclub located at 220 Twelfth Avenue, in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It operated from 1986 to 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subway party</span> Celebration on a mass transit system

A subway party is a celebration that occurs on a mass transit system. Generally, people meet at a predetermined station in their city's mass transit system, wait until their numbers have achieved critical mass, and board the train. From there, revelers may engage in many different activities, from playing music and dancing to exchanging gifts.

Peter Gatien is a Canadian club owner and party promoter. He is best known as the former owner of several prominent New York City nightclubs, including Club USA, The Limelight, Palladium, and Tunnel.

<i>Party Monster: The Shockumentary</i> 1998 American film

Party Monster: The Shockumentary is a 1998 documentary film detailing the rise of the club kid phenomenon in New York City, the life of club kid and party promoter Michael Alig, and Alig's murder of fellow club kid and drug dealer Andre "Angel" Melendez. It was directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.

Nicky Siano is a former resident DJ at Studio 54.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DJ Kool Herc</span> Jamaican American DJ (born 1955)

Clive Campbell, better known by his stage name DJ Kool Herc, is a Jamaican American DJ who is credited with being one of the founders of hip hop music in the Bronx, New York City, in 1973. Nicknamed the Father of Hip-Hop, Campbell began playing hard funk records of the sort typified by James Brown. Campbell began to isolate the instrumental portion of the record which emphasized the drum beat—the "break"—and switch from one break to another. Using the same two-turntable set-up of disco DJs, he used two copies of the same record to elongate the break. This breakbeat DJing, using funky drum solos, formed the basis of hip hop music. Campbell's announcements and exhortations to dancers helped lead to the syncopated, rhythmically spoken accompaniment now known as rapping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The World (nightclub)</span> Defunct East Village, Manhattan nightclub between early 1980s and 1991

The World was a large nightclub in New York City, which operated from the early 1980's until 1991 at 254 East 2nd Street, in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood. The venue, which included a secondary establishment called "The It Club," was housed in a former catering hall and theater. The World attracted a clientele that was economically, racially, and sexually diverse, and included artists, celebrities, and fashion designers, such as Keith Haring, Afrika Bambaataa, Madonna, Brooke Shields, Prince, Stephen Sprouse, RuPaul, and Carolina Herrera, together with banjee boys and members of voguing houses

Screamin' Rachael, born Rachael Cain, is an American musician and Chicago native dubbed the "Queen of House Music" by Billboard magazine,. Rachael has been connected to the evolution of the House music genre. She has worked with performers such as Grandmaster Melle Mel, Marshall Jefferson, Colonel Abrams, Afrika Bambaataa, and many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of DJing</span>

DJing is the act of playing existing recorded music for a live audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tallulah (DJ)</span> British DJ, record producer and club promoter (1948–2008)

Martyn Allam, known professionally as Tallulah, was a German-born, London-based, British DJ, recording artist, producer, and club promoter. Tallulah's music career spanned from 1972 until his death in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dianne Brill</span> American fashion designer

Dianne Brill is a fashion designer, model, author, and former club kid. Brill was a fixture in the 1980s downtown club scene in New York City. Andy Warhol deemed her the "Queen of the Night".

References

  1. 1 2 Romero, Dennis (21 January 2017). "DJ Keoki aka George Lopez Arrested in New York After Drug Overdose Death". LAWeekly.com. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Gary C. W. Chun (December 7, 2001). "Superstar DJ Keoki keeps the party going". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Archived from the original on 8 August 2002. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  3. "Keoki Biography". famousdjs. 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
  4. Michael Musto (March 26, 2002). "NYC Life". villagevoice. Archived from the original on March 13, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-22. Alig and his then boyfriend, Keoki,
  5. DJ Keoki (2007). "DJ Keoki". djkeoki.net. Archived from the original on 2008-03-19. Retrieved 2008-03-25. The 'I passed out on the turntable' story that I have heard forever that never happened. I guarantee you that never fu*kin' happened.
  6. "Iconic '90s DJ Speaks Out On Arrest After Man OD's In His Apartment". The Music Australia. February 13, 2017.
  7. James St. James (1999). Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland (August 11, 1999 ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 2222. ISBN   0-684-85764-2.