Larry Levan
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Larry Levan (; born Lawrence Philpot, July 20, 1954 – November 8, 1992) was an American DJ best known for his decade-long residency at the
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
night club A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...
Paradise Garage 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 club was founded by sole proprietor Michael Brody, and ...
, which has been described as the prototype of the modern dance club. He developed a
cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
who referred to his sets as "Saturday
Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
". Influential
post-disco Post-disco (also called boogie, synth-funk, or electro-funk) is a term to describe an aftermath in popular music history circa 1979–1985, imprecisely beginning with an unprecedented backlash against disco music in the United States, leading to c ...
DJ
François Kevorkian François Kevorkian (born 10 January 1954), also known by the stage name François K, is a French-born, U.S.-based DJ, producer, remixer and label owner of Armenian descent, who started his career DJing in clubs such as the Paradise Garage an ...
credits Levan with introducing the dub aesthetic into dance music. Along with Kevorkian, Levan experimented with drum machines and
synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s in his productions and live sets, ushering in an electronic, post-disco sound that presaged the ascendence of
house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
. He DJ'd at
Club Zanzibar Club Zanzibar was a dance club that opened in 1979 at 430 Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey. Its presence in Downtown Newark was noted for its influence on house music and garage house genres and scene. Club Zanzibar, along with other gay and ...
in the 1980s as well, home to the Jersey Sound brand of deep house or garage house.


Early life

Levan was born at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, New York, to Minnie (née Levan) and Lawrence Philpot. He has an older brother Isaac and sister Minnie who are biological twins. He was born with a congenital heart condition and suffered from
asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...
from a very young age which would make him prone to fainting in class. Although a fragile young boy, he excelled in math and physics, leaving an impression on his teachers that he would become an inventor one day. He inherited his love for music from his mother who loved
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
,
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
, and
gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...
, and he was able to use a record player from the age of three. As his mother reflects, "I'd make him put records on so that we could dance together." While attending
Erasmus Hall High School Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899–925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It was founded in 1786 as Erasmus Hall Ac ...
in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the neighborhood of Flatbush transitioned to a predominantly African-American population amid
white flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...
, the flamboyantly vanguard Levan (who dyed his hair orange nearly a decade before the ascendance of punk rock), was frequently bullied by his classmates. Eventually, he dropped out of high school and found assuagement in
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
's longstanding
ball culture The Ballroom Scene (also known as the Ballroom community, Ballroom culture, or just Ballroom) is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture that originated in New York City. Beginning in the late 20th century, Black and Latino ...
as a dressmaker, where he first became acquainted with fellow designer and lifelong best friend
Frankie Knuckles Francis Warren Nicholls, Jr. (January 18, 1955 – March 31, 2014), better known as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music in Chicago during the 1 ...
. He became infatuated with an idea of making the "music that would never stop" during a brief affair with
hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
DJ
David Mancuso David Paul Mancuso (October 20, 1944 – November 14, 2016) 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 ...
, who introduced Levan to Manhattan's burgeoning underground downtown dance culture.Pareles, Jon (Nov 1992). Archives >
Larry Levan, 38; His Tastes Shaped Dance-Club Music
" ''The New York Times Company'' Retrieved 06-20-2014.
Mancuso was the proprietor of
The Loft The Loft may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * The Loft (British band), a British indie band * The Loft (Danish band), a Danish band * ''The Loft'' (film) (2014) an American film * The Loft (Sirius XM), a music channel on satellite r ...
, a minimally decorated, members-only dance club (uniquely situated in his home) where "punch, fruit and candy" were served in lieu of alcohol and music was processed by a state-of-the-art sound system. According to the pseudonymous "Apollo," an acquaintance of Levan and Knuckles, "You could only get into the Loft by private invitation. This was not because Mancuso wanted to create an elitist environment; he intentionally wanted to bring together diverse groups of gays who wouldn't ordinarily party together to create a democratic, integrated venue. David was powerfully attracted to black music and culture as well as men, so this Loft party was instrumental in bringing together wealthy, white gay men, many of them music executives, with this black musical dance culture he adored."


Musical career

Levan got his start alongside
Frankie Knuckles Francis Warren Nicholls, Jr. (January 18, 1955 – March 31, 2014), better known as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music in Chicago during the 1 ...
at the
Continental Baths The Continental Baths was a gay bathhouse in the basement of The Ansonia Hotel in New York City, which was operated from 1968-1976 by Steve Ostrow. It was advertised as reminiscent of "the glory of ancient Rome". It opened after Ostorow obser ...
, as a replacement for the DJ from The Gallery,
Nicky Siano Nicky Siano (born March 18, 1955 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former resident DJ at Studio 54. Biography In 1971, aged 16, Siano got his first DJing gig at The Roundtable. In February 1973, aged 17, he opened The Gallery (disco), The Gallery in C ...
, who briefly employed both men as decorators at The Gallery and taught them his pioneering three turntable technique. Accordingly, Levan's DJing style was influenced by Siano's penchant for
Philadelphia soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often feat ...
and upbeat rock and Mancuso's jazz-inflected eclecticism; as with Mancuso, he briefly dated Siano during the epoch. While Knuckles was still trying to make his way in the New York club scene, Levan soon became a popular attraction at venues such as SoHo Place due to his "diva persona," which he had previously developed in the city's notoriously competitive black drag "houses". At the height of the disco boom in 1977, Levan was offered a residency at the Paradise Garage. Although owner Michael Brody—who employed Levan at the defunct Reade Street in 1976, where he "developed the techniques as well as the sound – the deep, dark bass, the queasy, dubby emotion that he would extract from records – that would make him a legend"—intended to create a downtown facsimile of
Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater was ...
catering to an upscale white gay clientele, the new venue initially drew an improbable mix of streetwise blacks, Latinos, and punks after a disastrous opening night alienated the target demographic; according to West End Records founder
Mel Cheren Melvin Cheren (1933 – December 7, 2007) was a record executive who helped start the Paradise Garage, also known as "Gay-rage", a New York City gay discothèque popular in the 1970s and '80s. Early life Melvin "Mel" Cheren was born on January 21 ...
, Brody's former companion and a silent partner in the venture, "The sound equipment got stuck in a blizzard at an airport in
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
. And people were kept outside in 17-degree weather. Some of them never came back... the club didn't really take on the atmosphere that people remember it for until 1980." Open only to a select membership and housed in an otherwise unadorned building on King Street in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
, the club and Levan's DJing slowly entered the mainstream. Influential
WBLS WBLS (107.5 MHz) is an urban adult contemporary formatted FM radio station, licensed to New York City. It is currently owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared services agreement, along with sister stations ...
DJ/programming director
Frankie Crocker Frankie "Hollywood" Crocker (December 18, 1937 – October 21, 2000) was an American disc jockey who helped grow WBLS, the black music radio station in New York. Early soul radio According to popeducation.org, Crocker began his career in Buffal ...
often mentioned the club on air and based his playlists around Levan's sets. The Richard Long & Associates Sound system (RLA) of the club included custom-designed "McLaughlin" bass speakers. Filling the void left by leading DJ/remixer
Walter Gibbons Walter Gibbons (April 2, 1954 – September 23, 1994) 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. Career Gi ...
following his conversion to
evangelical Christianity Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
, Levan became a prolific producer and mixer in the 1980s, with many of his efforts crossing over onto the national dance music charts. Among the records that received Levan's touch were his remixes of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by
Inner Life Inner Life was an American club-oriented soul studio project formed in 1979 that enjoyed success with "I'm Caught Up (In a One Night Love Affair)" (1979), "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (1981), and "Moment of My Life" (1982). Tracks featured th ...
, "Ain't Nothin' Goin On But The Rent" by
Gwen Guthrie Gwendolyn Guthrie (July 9, 1950 – February 3, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter and pianist who also sang backing vocals for Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Peter Tosh, and Madonna, among others, and who wrote songs made fa ...
and "Heartbeat" by
Taana Gardner Taana Gardner (born September 3, 1960) is an American disco and post-disco singer who found her success through West End Records since 1979. She is also a former member of the Aural Exciters. Early life Born in Newark, New Jersey (where sh ...
, as well as his production work on the long-awaited "Don't Make Me Wait" by the Peech Boys, a group that Levan formed and was part of (and who became the New York Citi Peech Boys when the
Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...
threatened a lawsuit due to the similar sound of the name). With a strong gospel tinge in the vocal arrangements and driven by a tinkling piano, the latter song is a quintessential example of his soulful aesthetic. One of the first dance releases to incorporate influences from
dub music Dub is an electronic musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican re ...
and an appended vocal-only edit, Levan tinkered with the song for nearly a year despite the looming bankruptcy of West End Records. When it was finally released, much of the song's word-of-mouth momentum had been lost, leading it to stall in the lower reaches of the charts. As the popularity of the Garage soared in the mid-1980s just as many patrons and friends succumbed to
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
, Levan became increasingly dependent upon PCP and
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
. While performing, he began to ensconce himself within a protective entourage of drag queens and younger acolytes. At the Paradise Garage, Levan was described as being "worshipped, almost like a god." As beat-matching and ideological stylistic adherence became the norm among club DJs, Levan's idiosyncratic sets (running the gamut from
Evelyn "Champagne" King Evelyn "Champagne" King (born July 1, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. She is best known for her hit disco single "Shame", which was released in 1977 during the height of disco's popularity. King had other hits from ...
,
Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...
and Deodato with Camille to
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 ...
,
Manuel Göttsching Manuel Göttsching (9 September 1952 – 4 December 2022) was a German musician and composer. As the leader of the groups Ash Ra Tempel and Ashra in the 1970s and 80s, as well as a solo artist, he was one of the most influential guitarists of ...
, and British
synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
) elicited criticism from some quarters. Nevertheless, he remained at the forefront of dance music; recordings of Levan's final sets at the Garage demonstrate his affinity for the insurgent sounds of
Chicago house Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the first ever house music productions, which were by Chicago-based artists in the 1980s. History and origins Disco ...
and hip-hop. The Garage ended its run with a 48-hour-long party in September 1987, weeks before Brody died from AIDS-related complications. The club's closure and Brody's death devastated Levan, who knew that few club owners would tolerate his quirks and drug dependencies. Although Brody had verbally bequeathed the club's sound and lighting systems to Levan, they were instead left to Brody's mother in his will. This change was reportedly instigated by the late impresario's lover and manager, who reportedly despised Levan. Despite protestations and pleas to the Brody family from Mel Cheren, the systems remained in storage as their property. Unable to secure a long-term residency after a stay at the short-lived Choice in the East Village alongside DJ/proprietor Richard Vasquez and Joey Llanos, Levan began to sell his valuable records for drug money. Friends like Danny Krivit would buy them back for him out of sympathy. As the 1990s dawned, Levan was on the brink of a comeback. Dismissed as a relic in New York despite managing occasional appearances at the au courant Sound Factory, his popularity had nonetheless soared among connoisseurs of disco and early American electronic dance music in Europe and Japan. In 1991, he was brought over to London for a weekend by
Justin Berkmann Justin Berkmann (born December 1963), is a DJ and nightclub owner. He is the second son of Joseph Berkmann and his second wife, Jean Berkmann (née Barwis) and younger brother of Marcus Berkmann, an author. They were both educated at Highgate S ...
to DJ at the
Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio. James ...
nightclub. To the mutual surprise of both parties, he ended up staying for three months; during this period, he remixed and produced tracks for the club's record label and helped to tune the venue's acclaimed sound system. Although he was still dependent on heroin, Levan's 1992 tour of Japan garnered gushing accolades in the local press. Encouraged by Cheren, he entered rehab and continued his tentative recording forays. Francois Kevorkian described Levan's final Japanese sets as nostalgic and inspirational, imbued with an air of bittersweetness and closure.


Later months and death

Levan informed his mother in June 1992 that he had "lived a good life" and was "ready to die". Having been mildly injured on the Japanese tour, he was voluntarily hospitalized at
Beth Israel Medical Center Mount Sinai Beth Israel is a 799-bed teaching hospital in Manhattan. It is part of the Mount Sinai Health System, a nonprofit health system formed in September 2013 by the merger of Continuum Health Partners and Mount Sinai Medical Center, an ...
following his return to New York. Three days after being released into the care of his mother, he was re-hospitalized at Beth Israel with hemorrhoid symptoms. He died, aged 38, of
heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
caused by
endocarditis Endocarditis is an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium. It usually involves the heart valves. Other structures that may be involved include the interventricular septum, the chordae tendineae, the mural endocardium, or the ...
at 6:15 p.m. EST, on Sunday, November 8, 1992.


Personal life

Levan was openly gay. He was previously romantically involved with
Nicky Siano Nicky Siano (born March 18, 1955 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former resident DJ at Studio 54. Biography In 1971, aged 16, Siano got his first DJing gig at The Roundtable. In February 1973, aged 17, he opened The Gallery (disco), The Gallery in C ...
(a fellow Brooklynite and Mancuso disciple who had been in a relationship with Mel Cheren).
Frankie Knuckles Francis Warren Nicholls, Jr. (January 18, 1955 – March 31, 2014), better known as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music in Chicago during the 1 ...
and Levan were lifetime friends who were introduced to each other by a "drag queen called Gerald" when Levan was 15 years old; Levan and Knuckles both were active in the local drag scene.


Legacy

In September 2004, Levan was inducted into the
Dance Music Hall of Fame The Dance Music Hall of Fame was an organization established in 2003 to honor and remember significant contributors to the genre of dance music. It had its first inductions in 2004 but went inactive after the 2005 induction ceremony. History The Da ...
for his outstanding achievement as a DJ.


Tributes

* ''Anything Goes!'' (1994), the second album by dance group
C+C Music Factory C, or c, is the third letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C" ...
, contains a tribute to Levan titled "A Moment of Silence for Larry Levan." (It also contains a track "A Moment of Silence for Chep Nunez"; Nunez was an American music producer, editor, and mixer who reached chart success with the group
2 Puerto Ricans, a Blackman, and a Dominican 2 Puerto Ricans, a Blackman and a Dominican was a short-lived house music group featuring David Morales and Robert Clivillés (Puerto Ricans), David Cole (Black), and Chep Nuñez ( Dominican). In 1987, they scored a hit in dance clubs with thei ...
.) * The album ''
The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast ''The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast'' is the sixth studio album by Matmos. Each of the album's songs is dedicated to a notable gay or lesbian person who has influenced the duo, and this influence is reflected in the songs themselves. For ...
'' (2006), by the electronic music duo
Matmos Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing in Baltimore. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their per ...
, contains a tribute to Levan titled "Steam and Sequins for Larry Levan". *The 2003 documentary Maestro, directed by Josell Ramos, tells the story of the underground dance music movement and the importance of Larry Levan as one of its key figures. * In 2019,
Corrado Rizza Corrado Rizza (born 4 August 1961) is an Italian DJ and producer. Career Rizza was born in Rome, Italy and was working as a DJ from the early 80's in some of the main clubs of Rome/Italy and in US: from Histeria and Gilda. in Rome to Lavo in NY ...
directed and produced a documentary movie titled ''Larry's Garage'' about Larry Levan.


See also

* LGBT people from New York City


References


Bibliography

* *


External links

*
West End Records
– Larry Levan's associated label
Larrry Levan
featured on the free Emancipation podcast (October 2008)
Larry Levan
at
SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

''Legends of the dance floor: A piece of Paradise''
("Garage-Gate-Tape") – Larry Levan 1979, full five hour show at
BBC Radio 6 BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

''Legends of the dance floor: A piece of Paradise''
("Garage-Gate-Tape") – Larry Levan 1979, full five hour show at
SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levan, Larry American garage house musicians Record producers from New York (state) DJs from New York City American house musicians House musicians Remixers Post-disco musicians African-American Episcopalians African-American DJs Club DJs LGBT DJs LGBT African Americans Musicians from Brooklyn 1954 births 1992 deaths Drug-related deaths in New York City American gay musicians American drag queens African-American drag queens Erasmus Hall High School alumni 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American businesspeople Deaths from endocarditis LGBT people from New York (state) Electronic dance music DJs 20th-century American Episcopalians 20th-century LGBT people 20th-century African-American musicians