Kool DJ Red Alert, from Harlem New York, grew up listening to the Caribbean music of his grandparents as well as his brother's record collection. He was greatly inspired the day he first ...
Keith LeBlanc was one of the first drummers who used his funk music background to create beats that helped popularize hip-hop music. Keith was there in the beginning and while working for...
Dave Lopez grew up in East Los Angeles and witnessed the explosive evolution of the mobile DJ, beginning in the late 1970s. During high school, Dave was asked to provide the music for a d...
Money Mark grew up fascinated with music and musical instruments. He read all he could about the latest keyboards and synthesizers, which were becoming popular during his childhood. In hi...
DJ Melo-D saw his first mobile DJ set up during a middle school dance and was more interested in the set up than the dance itself. He begged his parents for a turntable and would seek out...
Neal Pogue has a special touch when it comes to being a recording engineer. Perhaps his talents and skills can be traced back to childhood when he began playing the drums. He was trained ...
DJ Qbert brought new energy to Hip-Hop as a DJ in the digital world of turntables. Keeping to the traditions of the pioneering DJs who influenced him, Qbert added new flare to the craft o...
DJ Quest thought he was going to be a rapper while his cousin would DJ but once he saw the turntable set up at home he was hooked and never looked back. Quest is a founding member of the ...
DJ Ralph M still remembers a Halloween party he attended in 1982, where he was first introduced to hip-hop and break dancing. He was fascinated by the turntable and his dream was to becom...
DJ Revolution can still remember the first time he heard Grand Master Flash’s 1981 album Adventures on the Wheels of Steel and being blown away that this music was created with existing s...
DJ Rhettmatic is an architect of the West Coast Hip Hop sound, jumping into the role of DJ in the very early days of its development. In 1983 he became a member of Double Platinum, a grou...
Mark Ronson accepted the Music for Life Award during the NAMM Show in January 2024. During the Industry Insights session with NAMM President/CEO John Mlynczak, Mark spoke of his musical i...
Martin Shore began playing drums at the age of six and always found great comfort in music. When the idea of a documentary about Memphis music came up, Martin ran with the idea, which ha...
DJ Sir Jinx’s uncle played an important role for him growing up and in inspiring his passion for music. His uncle possessed an eclectic record collection and a DJ equipment set up at his ...
Stephen Webber is a professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and helped create the Music Production/Engineering program. After working at Mid South Recording Studio in Nashvill...
Christie Z is an arts advocate who, lucky for each of us, focused on encouraging young artists and musicians in the Bronx, New York. She organized park concerts and later DJ battles that ...
