Steve Fabus | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 29, 1951 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Origin | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Disco, hi-NRG, R&B, house |
| Years active | 1975–present |
Steve Fabus is an American disco, hi-NRG and house music disc jockey from Chicago, known for popularizing the 1970s version of the tea dance style of Sunday disco dancing, as well as the gay bathhouse sound of San Francisco, emphasizing emotional R&B vocals and slower tempos. [1] Fabus has served residencies at the San Francisco nightclubs the I-Beam, the Trocadero Transfer and The EndUp, at the New York City River Club and Tracks, and in Los Angeles at Probe, Axis and Asylum. He has deejayed major circuit parties, private parties and international festivals. He co-founded Go BANG!, a disco revival party in San Francisco. He has been a resident deejay at Hothouse. [2] He regularly mixes for the Burning Man group Comfort & Joy. [3]
Fabus was born and raised in Chicago, where he grew to appreciate the R&B music of artists such as Stevie Wonder and Etta James. [4] He gravitated to mixing vinyl records with reel-to-reel tapes at house parties. Fabus was coming out at the time, discovering Chicago's gay bars such as Den One and PQ's. He began to visit San Francisco in 1971, returning home each time after a few months. [5] In Chicago, he was intrigued by unusual dance music such as Hamilton Bohannon's "Bohannon's Beat" that he heard at Dugan's Bistro, a gay club with music spun by Louie DeVito, Fabus's first major career influence. [6] [7]
Fabus relocated to San Francisco in 1975 and kept mixing house parties; at one of these, he met the Cockettes, led by the effervescent Sylvester. [5] He started deejaying for gay bathhouses. [6] [4] His style was known as "sleaze", a kind of mid-tempo music mix with uplifting or romantic vocals. [8] Fabus felt that the bathhouse scene was more relaxed and freeform, allowing him to play music with a tempo around 90–100 beats per minute (BPM). He later said, "With the music, you could get intimate, you could get spacey." [9] He was chosen by disco promoter Rod Roderick to headline the Boiler Room in 1977, a massive private party. His bathhouse contacts led to a residency at the I-Beam, newly opened by Bob Wharton and Sanford Kellman as San Francisco's biggest disco. Fabus deejayed there during 1977–1978, emphasizing the R&B and soul side of disco music, with vinyl releases from Salsoul, Prelude, Casablanca and West End Records. [5] Fabus was inspired by Tim Rivers, a fellow I-Beam disc jockey. [7]
For almost three years, 1976–1978, George Moscone served as Mayor of San Francisco with a friendly view regarding the gay community. After Moscone was murdered, Dianne Feinstein succeeded him, and she began reining in what she saw as the community's excesses. Fabus was mixing a huge private event called the Red Hanky Party in April 1979 when the SF police entered the Gay Community Center at 3 am, surrounded Fabus in the DJ booth, and demanded he shut down the sound system. Fabus announced over the microphone that "the cops are here" and they were closing the party. Fabus recalled that Feinstein had also made it more difficult for gay bathhouses to obtain business licenses. [10]
Fabus was hired to mix at the Trocadero Transfer, a new club styled after 12 West in New York City. "The Troc" was the first San Francisco discotheque to be allowed to stay open all night, bringing Manhattan-style dance parties lasting many hours. Other clubs followed suit, and San Francisco became the center of the West Coast gay disco scene. [6]
In 1980, Fabus started deejaying at The EndUp on Sunday mornings. [6] The time slot allowed Fabus to reinvigorate the gay tea dance concept, fusing his "morning music" sleaze style with the hi-NRG sounds popular at the time. [4] Patrons at the Sunday morning event began calling it "church". Fabus joined Sylvester's engineer/composer Patrick Cowley to mix music for special events at The EndUp. In 1981, HIV/AIDS was identified as a disease common to gay men, and in 1982, Cowley died of AIDS, though it was misdiagnosed. More men died of the disease, shocking the gay community, and Fabus observed that the disco scene had lost its "psychedelic, laidback vibe". [9] This was replaced by a sense of fatalistic desperation, the dancers pushing to enjoy whatever remaining time before the mysterious disease might attack. [2] [5] This audience wanted a more powerful "tribal" experience, with pounding beats preferred over R&B and soul. [9]
Fabus was invited by Sylvester to serve as deejay for a record release party in December 1982, celebrating Sylvester's new album All I Need , Cowley's final collaboration. Fabus mixed for a packed house at the former Dreamland club on Harrison Street (now The Vendry.) [11]
Fabus was invited to New York City to mix vinyl at Tracks and the former 12 West which was operating as the River Club. He stayed current with his peers at The Saint and Paradise Garage. He worked in New York to develop an eclectic musical style, incorporating the new house music along with European tracks and more. Fabus said, "I would say there were more developments and different directions established in the ’80s than in any other decade of dance music. It was arguably the most musically diverse decade." [6]
Fabus returned to San Francisco in 1988 to re-open Dreamland. He also mixed at Crew, the new name of the Trocadero Transfer. While deejaying at Dreamland one night, Fabus was informed by management that Sylvester was visiting, looking down at the dance floor from the balcony. Sylvester was emaciated by AIDS, and had last been seen in public in a wheelchair at San Francisco's Gay Pride Parade in June. Fabus announced on his microphone that Sylvester was in the house, and the dance floor erupted in applause and foot stomping. Fabus put together a 45-minute set of Sylvester songs, then it was time for Sylvester to leave. Fabus brought the music mix to a complete halt, and in the silence Sylvester waved at the crowd and said "Thank you so much. Goodbye." Everyone started crying and shouting "We love you", and Fabus closed down the booth, knowing the night was over. [8] Sylvester died in December 1988.
Fabus moved to Los Angeles in the early 1990s to mix at Probe, Axis and Asylum. He was part of a recurring after-hours disco party called Does Your Mama Know? [2]
Fabus took a break from deejaying in 1995–1998 to treat and control his own case of HIV. Back in San Francisco, he co-founded Go BANG! in 2009, a recurring disco party styled after the 1970s and 1980s, with fellow DJ Sergio Fedasz. [5] Fabus plays dates at festivals and clubs around the world, including Cocktail d'Amore in Berlin, Glastonbury Festival, Horse Meat Disco in London, and many more. [2] Unusually, he played a silent disco in 2017 at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, presenting a New York house set ranging from The Loft to Paradise Garage. [12] He mixes regularly for Comfort & Joy, a queer-themed Burning Man organization hosting activities in San Francisco. [3] [13] [14]
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.
Sylvester James Jr., known simply as Sylvester, was an American singer-songwriter. Primarily active in the genres of disco, rhythm and blues, and soul, he was known for his flamboyant and androgynous appearance, falsetto singing voice, and hit disco singles in the late 1970s and 1980s.
The Weather Girls are an American female duo whose best-known line-up comprised Martha Wash and Izora Armstead. Formed in 1976 in San Francisco, California, Wash and Armstead began their musical careers as Two Tons O' Fun, the female backup duo for disco singer Sylvester. After several years of singing background for Sylvester, the duo was signed in 1979 to Fantasy Records as Two Tons O' Fun. The duo changed their name to The Weather Girls and were launched into somewhat more mainstream recognition following the release of the single, "It's Raining Men" (1982), which became their first number-one song on the US Dance Chart and their biggest hit. Despite having several hit songs on the Dance Chart as Two Tons O' Fun and The Weather Girls, the duo never achieved a top 40 hit on the main US Hot 100 and ultimately disbanded in 1988 after the release of their self-titled fifth album The Weather Girls.
The San Francisco Bay Guardian was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. Parts of the paper were relaunched online in February 2016.
Patrick Joseph Cowley was an American disco and hi-NRG dance music composer and recording artist, best known for his collaborations with disco singer Sylvester. Along with Giorgio Moroder, he has been credited as a pioneer of electronic dance music.
The Trocadero is a historic building located in San Francisco. Formally it was a lively roadhouse at the turn of the 20th century it had offered gambling at roulette tables and dancing, as well as the best trout pond in California.
Martha Elaine Wash is an American singer and songwriter. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as half of the Two Tons O' Fun, along with Izora Armstead, as they sang backing vocals for the disco singer Sylvester including on his signature hit "You Make Me Feel ". After gaining their own record deal, they released three consecutive commercially successful songs which all peaked at number two in the dance charts. The duo was renamed The Weather Girls in 1982 after they released the top-selling single "It's Raining Men", which brought them to mainstream pop attention. The Weather Girls released five albums and were heavily featured on Sylvester's albums.
Jeanie Tracy is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as a background singer of Sylvester, an American disco singer. Her first album, Me and You (1982), featured post-disco hits "I'm Your Jeanie","Sing Your Own Song" and the overlooked 1983 smash R&B and Funk hit,"Can I Come Over And Play With You Tonight". From late 1984 to early 1985, she performed on television Show Star Search where she was the winner in the Female Vocalist category for six weeks. In 1995, Tracy released her second album It's My Time.
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.
The EndUp is a nightclub in San Francisco, California. Opened in 1973, the club is located at 6th Street and Harrison in the South of Market district. Known for its status as an afterhours club, the venue has hosted a variety of benefits and events during its time as part of San Francisco's nightlife community.
The I-Beam was a former popular nightclub and live music venue active from 1977 to 1994, and located in the Park Masonic Hall building on the second floor at 1748 Haight Street in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. The I-Beam served as one of San Francisco's earliest disco clubs, as well as serving as a "gay refuge".
The Trocadero Transfer, or The Troc, was an after hours dance club in operation from December 1977 to the late–1990s in San Francisco, California, U.S.. It was located at 520 4th Street at Bryant in the SoMa neighborhood. The club has been compared to Studio 54 in New York City, and their patrons would travel from other cities to attend the party.
Flagging dance is a performing art form often called "Flag Dancing", "Spin Flagging", "Flow Flagging", "flagging" and "Rag Spinning", but more commonly referred to as "Colorguard (Guard)". The flagging dance is the undulation, spinning and waving of flags in a rhythmic fashion with music. Practitioners of this form of performance art and dance are usually referred to as "Flaggers" and "Flag Dancers."
Audrey Joseph is an American record executive, nightclub owner and manager, and LGBT rights activist.
"You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" is a song by American disco/R&B singer Sylvester. It was written by James Wirrick and Sylvester, and released by Fantasy Records as the second single from the singer's fourth album, Step II (1978). The song was already a largely popular dance club hit in late 1978, as the B-side of his previous single "Dance (Disco Heat)", before it was officially being released in December. It rose to the number one position on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. Music critic Robert Christgau has said the song is "one of those surges of sustained, stylized energy that is disco's great gift to pop music".
Moby Dick Records was a small disco record label founded by Boys Town Gang producers Bill Motley and Victor Swedosh in 1980. Its headquarters were located at 573 Castro Street, San Francisco, California, United States. Swedosh also owned the Moby Dick Bar located in the Castro district.
Death Guild is the oldest continually operating gothic/industrial dance club in the United States, and second in the world. Death Guild opened on March 15, 1993, and is currently held every Monday at DNA Lounge in San Francisco.
All I Need, later reissued as Do Ya Wanna Funk is the sixth studio album by the American recording artist Sylvester and first released on Megatone Records. The album was praised by the LGBT community media as a return to form, recalling the energy of "You Make Me Feel " released four years earlier. The San Francisco Sentinel wrote that the album was "pure pop geared directly for the I-Beam crowd that wants to boogie down for seven cuts." The Bay Area Reporter said the album was "masterful", gushing "Syl doesn't just present music, he is music at its dynamic best." Mainstream music magazine Billboard noted that the album was "his most consistent [and] interesting" since the late 1970s. In a retrospective review, AllMusic assessed the album poorly, writing that Sylvester "was now floundering, with his high-energy brand of disco out of fashion." In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked "Do Ya Wanna Funk" number 179 in their list of 200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time.
Robbie Kowal, also known by his professional names Motion Potion or MoPo, is an American DJ, record producer, and concert promoter. Known for blending electronic music with the genres of funk, hip hop, and psychedelic rock, he first started mixing live in 1995.
