Nathaniel Pierre Jones, better known by his stage name DJ Pierre, is an American DJ and performer of house music based in

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

. He helped to develop the house music subgenre of acid house, as member of

Phuture Phuture is an American house music group from Chicago, founded in 1985 by Earl "Spanky" Smith Jr., Nathaniel Pierre Jones aka DJ Pierre, and Herbert "Herb J" Jackson. The group is famous for inventing and defining the sound of acid house, a subge ...

, whose 1987 EP ''

Acid Tracks "Acid Tracks" is a 1987 acid house song by Phuture produced by Marshall Jefferson and released by Trax Records. Phuture consisted of Nathan Pierre Jones, better known as DJ Pierre, Earl Smith Jr (known as "Spanky"), and Herbert Jackson. Jones h ...

'', is considered the first acid-house recording. Allmusic.com calls Jones a crucial DJ and the production wizard partly responsible for the development of Chicago acid-house. Jones' first single, "Generate Power," became standard fare for scores of producers during the next few years. Philippe Renaud, a journalist for '' La Presse'' in Montreal, states that the term ''acid house'' was coined in Chicago in 1987 to describe the sound of the Roland 303 bass machine, which made its first significant recording appearance on Phuture's Acid Trax (DJ Pierre) in that year.

Musical career

Phuture

Jones has recorded under the names Audio Clash, Darkman, Disco Fuhrer, DJ Pierre, DJ Pierre's Afro Acid Project, Doomsday, M & M, Nathaniel Pierre Jones, One Screaming Idiot, P-Ditty, Pfantasia, Photon Inc., Phugitive, Phuture Scope, Pierre's Pfantasy Club, Raving Lunatics, the Don, Time Warp, X Fade, and Yvette. He formed the group

with his friends Spanky (Earl Smith Jr. –founder/technical producer) and Herb J (Herbert R Jackson Jr. - keyboards). During the mid-1980s, the trio began using the squelch sound that became common in Acid House recordings after the group's initial experiments with a

Roland TB-303 The Roland TB-303 Bass Line (also known as the 303) is a bass synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in 1981. Designed to simulate bass guitars, it was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1984. However, cheap second-hand units were ...

bass line synthesizer. Living in the Chicago area, they were exposed to many house artists, such as

Hot Mix 5 The Hot Mix 5 are an American DJ team originating from Chicago, Illinois, who were chosen by WBMX Program Director, Lee Michaels in 1981. The founding members were Farley "Funkin" Keith (later known as Farley "Jackmaster" Funk), Mickey "Mixin" O ...

artists (Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, Ralphi "The Razz" Rosario, Kenny "Jammin" Jason, Mickey "Mixin" Oliver, and Scott "Smokin" Seals) who were producing many

tapes Tape or Tapes may refer to: Material A long, narrow, thin strip of material (see also Ribbon (disambiguation): Adhesive tapes * Adhesive tape, any of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive * Athletic tape, pressure-sensiti ...

and

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

recordings. Frankie Knuckles was DJing and the Warehouse club (from where house music may have derived its name).

First recordings

Pierre and Spanky had been to Chicago DJ Ron Hardy's club called Muzic Box. The first Acid House track the group recorded was "Acid Tracks" (renamed by Ron Hardy from its original title, "In Your Mind"), which had a slow burning, bass-heavy, deep sound, and that was over eleven minutes long. Their first track was put on tape and first played in the Music Box club in the mid-1980s. Ron Hardy played it several times on its first night. It was rerecorded at Trax Records (produced by Marshall Jefferson) and released in 1986. DJ Pierre went on to record many of the early Acid House tracks on

Trax Records Trax Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It played a major part in the development of house music. History Larry Sherman was originally a collector of vintage jukeboxes, and, frustrated ...

under the names Phuture, Phuture Pfantasy Club, Pierre's Pfantasy Club (with Felix Da Housecat), and Phortune with songs such as "Your Only Friend," "The Creator," "String Free," "Got the Bug," "Box Energy," "Dream Girl," "Mystery Girl," "Fantasy Girl," "We are Phuture," "Slam," and "Spank Spank." One of the tracks has a voiceover proclaiming "We are the creator of acid music, and we're back." DJ Pierre's track "Your Only Friend" has an anti-drug message.

Post-Chicago

In 1990, DJ Pierre moved away from Chicago, where the house-music scene was slowing down and joined Strictly Rhythm records, where he was also briefly the A&R manager. One of the problems that DJ Pierre and other Chicago house-music artists faced was that they did not usually own their own copyrights; the music they produced was sometimes exported and licensed overseas, and they were not able to share in these revenues. Other hits he released since leaving Chicago include "Generate Power" by

Photon Inc A photon () is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are massless, so they alway ...

, "Follow Me" by

Aly-Us Aly-Us is a house music group from New Jersey that was active mostly in the early 1990s. Their most famous record was “Follow Me” from 1992. Members and history Aly-Us originally started as trio composed of vocalist “Supa” aka Eddie L. Lew ...

, and "The Horn Song" featuring Barbara Tucker, later released as "

Everybody Dance (The Horn Song) "Everybody Dance" ("Everybody Dance (The Horn Song)" in international releases) is a 1998 house song recorded by American singer Barbara Tucker, who co-wrote the track with LaVette Gordon, and produced by DJ Pierre, which was based on an instrumen ...

." He is still DJing and producing; on January 14, 2007, he appeared on

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...

Essential Mix The ''Essential Mix'' is a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 currently broadcast between 0:00 and 2:00 a.m. UK time on Saturday morning. Originally broadcast on 30 October 1993, the ''Essential Mix'' features contemporary DJs and music produce ...

on British

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. Tong inducted DJ Pierre into his dance music Hall of Fame in 2013. He appeared on the

program again in 2017. In 2011, he released the Track "Alpha Omega" together with

Kris Menace Kris Menace (born Christoph Hoeffel) is a German electronic musician and music producer. History Christophe Hoeffel began to work as a producer and writer in the mid-1990s for different projects and started using the pseudonym "Kris Menace" in 2 ...

on the PIAS sub-label Different.

References

External links

DJ Pierre Official Website

Phuture on Discogs.com

DJ Pierre on Resident Advisor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierre, Dj African-American musicians American DJs American house musicians Acid house musicians House musicians House music House DJs DJs from Chicago Musicians from Chicago Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Electronic dance music DJs 21st-century African-American people