Deeon Boyd (October 5, 1966 – July 18, 2023), known under his stage name DJ Deeon, was an American Chicago house DJ, credited with pioneering

ghetto house Ghetto house or booty house is a subgenre of house music which started being recognized as a distinct style from around 1992 onwards. It features minimal 808 and 909 drum machine-driven tracks and sometimes sexually explicit lyrics. The templa ...

and helping create the Dance Mania label.

Early life

Boyd was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1966. Growing up in a housing project in the South Side, he became interested in

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

after listening to "Numbers" by Kraftwerk off their 1981 album '' Computer World'', later discovering house mixes on WBMX.

Career

Boyd started DJing in 1980, with Boyd being influenced by

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

, John Rocca, and

Soulsonic Force Soulsonic Force (also referred to as Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force) is an American electro-funk and hip hop ensemble led by Afrika Bambaataa who helped establish hip-hop in the early 1980s with songs such as " Planet Rock." They were also ...

. He helped with the creation of the Dance Mania label with Ray Barney as well as creating the sound of

in the Chicago area. Boyd released his debut EP in 1994, named "Funk City". After "Funk City", he released "Freak Like Me" in 1996, which is regarded as his most successful work. Boyd would continue to release music regarded as classics in the house genre, such as "Bomb 96", "2 B Free", "Wicked", "Back 2 Skool", "House-O-Matic" and "The Freaks". He was named in the

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...

song "Teachers" from their 1997 album Homework. In 2015, the record label Numbers reissued four tracks from Boyd in the EP Deeon Doez Deeon!. In 2016, a remix of his track "Freak Like Me" by Lee Walker featuring Katy B and MNEK was released on Defected Records, reaching #80 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. In 2021, Boyd released Destiny on the label Teklife, with the proceeds of the project going to DJ Rashad's family after his death in 2014. Starting from May 5, 2023, Boyd released four EPs over the span of 2 days, those EPs being "Bad Robot", "Glasgow to London", "My CPU" and "Space Age Digital Pimp".

Personal life

In July 2020, Boyd launched a crowdfunding campaign for his health issues, having no income from gigs due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and no disability benefits due to his previous touring. In June 2022, he revealed through his

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account that he had gone through

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and

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and was in an

intensive care unit 220px, Intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensiv ...

. A GoFundMe had started to cover his medical costs. On July 18, 2023, he died of undisclosed causes.

Artistry

Boyd's style has been described as minimal and raunchy, a staple of the

genre. He personally described his work as "Get-freaky-with-a-stranger music. Girls kissing girls music. Stress-relief music." He was known for using the

Roland TR-909 The Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer is a drum machine introduced by Roland Corporation in 1983, succeeding the TR-808. It was the first Roland drum machine to use samples for some sounds, and the first with MIDI functionality, allowing it to sy ...

drum machine as the main backbone of his tracks, the instrument "pushed to the breaking point, asked to provide a waterfall of drum sounds".

Discography

Singles and EPs by DJ Deeon

*''Funk City'' (EP) ( Dance Mania, 1994) – incl. "House-O-Matic" *"Freak Like Me" (1996) *Work This M.F. (EP) (DiKi, 1997) – with DJ Puff *"Feel Good" / "Akceler 8" (Caution, 1998) *"2 B Free" *"Let Me Bang" (Databass, 2003) – incl. "Ride This MF" *"The Freaks" (Juke Trax, 2005) *"Wanna Go Bang" (

Drumcode Drumcode Records is a Swedish techno label managed by Adam Beyer. The label was founded in 1996 and has enjoyed a streak of success in its releases, talent scouting, radio efforts, and general international label camaraderie ever since. As of Au ...

, 2022) *"Bad Robot" (2023) *"Glasgow to London" (2023) *"My CPU" (2023) *"Space Age Digital Pimp" (2023)

Music with contributions by DJ Deeon

*"Work It" by Dance System – DJ Deeon contributed vocals

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Deeon 1966 births 2023 deaths Record producers from Illinois African-American record producers African-American DJs DJs from Chicago