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Nicky Siano | |
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| Birth name | Nicky Siano |
| Born | March 18, 1955 |
| Origin | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Remixer, DJ, producer |
| Years active | 1971–present |
Nicky Siano (born March 18, 1955, in Brooklyn, New York) is a former resident DJ at Studio 54. [1]
In 1971, aged 16, Siano got his first DJing gig at The Roundtable. In February 1973, aged 17, he opened The Gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan with his older brother Joe Siano. [2] [1] New York Magazine called it "one of the five most visually breathtaking nightspots of our time". [3] The Gallery was, alongside David Mancuso's Loft and Paradise Garage one of the three most important clubs in the 70's New York underground disco scene. [2] Both Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles worked there before starting DJing. [2] Knuckles said that he and Levan "spent a lot of the time hanging out in the booth, watching Nicki's every move. He pretty much taught us what we were doing." [2]
When Steve Rubell opened Studio 54, he asked Siano to be one of its resident DJs, to which he agreed, while remaining at The Gallery at weekends. [3] Siano DJed at Bianca Jagger's infamous Studio 54 birthday party, and was playing as Bianca Jagger entered on a white horse. [2] He was known for playing underground alternative music as opposed to the disco hits that were dominating the nightclub scene.[ citation needed ]
Siano was fired from Studio 54 after four months, due to excessive drug use. [4] He claims that he was fired because Rubell 'wanted the club to be the star and not the DJ'.[ citation needed ]
In 1977, Siano went into production with the single "Kiss Me Again" on Sire Records, co-written and produced with Arthur Russell, which sold more than 300,000 records. [3]
Siano dropped out of the scene around the start of the 1980s. He recounted to the Sydney Morning Herald that in 1982, he became sober, his best friend died of AIDS, and he "wound up in a 15-year career helping people with AIDS". [5]
Siano continued to tour and produce. His release Power of Love, featuring Arline Burton, was launched at the 2007 Winter Music Conference. Siano also released a film documenting the Gallery nightclub, with footage shot in the club during the 1970s. [6]
On October 18, 2011, Siano reappeared at Studio 54 for the club's one-night reopening, organized by Sirius XM Radio. He played all 1970s disco from the club's original days.
Siano is featured in the 2024 PBS series Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution. [7]
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars.
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's Black gay underground club culture and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, House became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat.
Lawrence Philpot, known as Larry Levan, was an American DJ best known for his decade-long residency at the New York City night club Paradise Garage, which has been described as the prototype of the modern dance club. He developed a cult following who referred to his sets as "Saturday Mass". Influential post-disco DJ François Kevorkian credits Levan with introducing the dub aesthetic into dance music. Along with Kevorkian, Levan experimented with drum machines and synthesizers in his productions and live sets, ushering in an electronic, post-disco sound that presaged the ascendence of house music. He DJ'd at Club Zanzibar in the 1980s as well, home to the Jersey Sound brand of deep house or garage house.
Paradise Garage, also known as "the Garage" or the "Gay-rage", was a New York City discotheque notable in the history of dance and pop music, as well as LGBT and nightclub cultures. The 10,000 square feet (930 m2) club was founded by sole proprietor Michael Brody, and occupied a building formerly located at 84 King Street in the SoHo neighborhood. It operated from 1977 to 1987 and featured resident DJ Larry Levan.
Francis Warren Nicholls Jr., known professionally as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer, and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music, a genre of music that began in Chicago during the early 1980s and subsequently spread worldwide. In 1997, Knuckles won the Grammy Award for Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical. Due to his importance in the development of the genre, Knuckles was often called "The Godfather of House Music".
Charles Arthur Russell Jr. was an American cellist, composer, producer, singer, and musician from Iowa, whose work spanned a disparate range of styles. After studying contemporary composition and Indian classical music in California, Russell relocated to New York City in the mid-1970s, where he became involved with both Lower Manhattan's avant-garde community and the city's burgeoning disco scene. His eclectic music was often marked by adventurous production choices and his distinctive voice.
Steve Rubell was an American entrepreneur and co-owner of the New York City disco Studio 54.
David Paul Mancuso was an American disc jockey who created the popular "by invitation only" parties in New York City, which later became known as "The Loft". The first party, called "Love Saves The Day", was in 1970.
Walter Gibbons was an American record producer, early disco DJ, and remixer. He helped pioneer the remix and 12" single in America, and was among the most influential New York DJs of the 1970s.
The Loft was the location for the first underground dance party organized by David Mancuso, on February 14, 1970, in New York City. Since then, the term "The Loft" has come to represent Mancuso's own version of a non-commercial party where no alcohol, food, nor beverages are sold. Mancuso's vision of a private party is similar to, and inspired by, the rent party and house party. Unlike conventional nightclubs or discotheques, attendance is by invitation only. In the late 1970s, Mancuso abandoned the generally accepted and expected practice of beatmatching, preferring to play songs in their entirety on his renowned audiophile-quality sound system. The Village Voice wrote that Mancuso's sound system was the best in New York and even described him as "more of a party engineer than a DJ." Mancuso required that the music played had to be soulful, rhythmic, and impart words of hope, redemption, or pride.
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life is a book written by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton about the history of DJing published in 1999. A compilation album of the same name was released with the book. The album contains various clips ranging from 1970s reggae to Handel's Largo, the first song to reach radio airwaves, in 1906. The book takes its name from the Indeep single "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life." In 2006, The Observer named Last Night... #45 on their list of the greatest music books.
The Gallery was a disco in SoHo, Manhattan which was opened in February 1972 by disc jockey Nicky Siano and his older brother Joe Siano. The first location of The Gallery, located on 132 West 22nd Street, closed in July 1974. It reopened in November 1974 at 172 Mercer and Houston Streets and closed in October 1977. Famed DJs Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles both worked at the club, but not at the DJ booth. Grace Jones and Loleatta Holloway both made their debut performances at The Gallery.
Joe Siano was the vocalist for the psychedelic rock band the Head Shop, which released an album on Epic Records in 1969.
Richard Paul Kaczor was an early DJ during disco's infancy in the 1970s.
When Disco Ruled the World is a music documentary that aired on VH1 in 2005.
James Michael Burgess was a disco record producer and New York DJ of the 1970s. He was openly gay.
DJing is the act of playing existing recorded music for a live audience.
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.
Studio 54 is a 2018 American documentary film directed by Matt Tyrnauer, examining the meteoric history of the Studio 54 nightclub, an extravagant disco venue infamous for hedonistic excess. Those responsible for the club's wild success reflect on the scene they sparked in 1977. Discotheque co-owner Ian Schrager recounts his role at the center of it all, including the club's fraudulent accounting and legal consequences.
Richard Long (1933–1986) was an American sound designer. He is known as the preeminent sound designer of the disco era, having installed systems at clubs including Paradise Garage, Dorian Gray, Studio 54, City Hall, Max's Kansas City and Roxy Roller Rink.
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