Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy, (born August 24, 1968) is an American DJ, radio host and curator, audiophile, and founder of the album listening event and content hub Classic Album Sundays. She is often a spokesperson about vinyl records.

Career

Radio

Originally from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, she attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

where she was Program Director and a DJ at the university radio station WNYU. Murphy has been a radio host, DJ and programme director since the age of fourteen and today hosts Cosmodelica and Classic Album Sundays Worldwide on Worldwide FM and 'This Women's Work' series for

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programmi ...

. Cosmodelica was selected by '' Time Out'' as one of the 10 best shows in London. Murphy is the writer and host of BBC 6 Music’s album series ''"Sounds of a City"'' and BBC Radio 4’s documentary series ''"Turntable Tales"''. Unfold Japan, a radio series she hosted for Worldwide FM and

Asahi Asahi (Japanese 朝日, 旭, or あさひ 'morning sun') may refer to: Places in Japan Cities * Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards * Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'') * Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'') Towns * Asahi, Aichi ...

has been nominated for an

ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

Award in 2020 Audio and Radio Industry Awards for Best Branded Content.

DJ

Murphy was mentored by David Mancuso at his seminal Loft parties in New York City and became one of his most trusted friends and artistic collaborators. Together they co-produced the compilation series David Mancuso Presents The Loft Volumes One and Two, and worked together on David's record label The Loft Audiophile Library of Music. In 2000, David told ''Time Out'' New York City "She is very devoted and very pure about the music. She’s one of the only people I would trust, both with the music and with the equipment, to fill in for me." She was asked by David to help manage his legacy and continues to be one of the musical hosts at The Loft in NYC. Murphy is also the cofounder of the Lucky Cloud Loft parties in London which she co-founded with Mancuso and friends and DJs internationally on the world's best sound systems and dance floors. In 2019, Murphy was nominated in the DJ Mag North America Hall of Fame and launched Love Dancin' Sound System with Trojan Sound System's Daddy Ad at Gilles Peterson’s We Out Here Festival, sharing some of her musical and sonic passions to dancers outside of her existing communities. Murphy was featured in '' Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution'', a 2024

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

co-production and three-part documentary about the rise of

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

music in the

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...

Music production

As a producer Murphy has remixed

Róisín Murphy Róisín Marie Murphy ( , ; born 5 July 1973) is an Irish singer, songwriter and record producer who first became known in the 1990s as one half of the Pop music, pop duo Moloko alongside the English musician Mark Brydon. After the breakup of M ...

, the Rapture, Fat Freddy's Drop, Beardyman, Candi Staton, the 2 Bears, Phenomenal Handclap Band, Cantoma, Horace Andy, Chaka Khan and more under her Cosmodelica moniker and as DarkStarr Diskotek (with Ashley Beedle). Along with former

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born 'Don Glen Vliet'; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the M ...

guitarist Gary Lucas, she recorded and produced as Wild Rumpus. She has also mixed her own compilations - ''New York Afterhours: A Later Shade of Deep'' (Nervous Records 1998), ''The Disco-Tech of DJ Cosmo'' (Yellow Productions 2003) and ''Psychedelic Disco-Tech: They Live by the Night'' as Darkstarr with Ashley Beedle.

Classic Album Sundays

Murphy's Classic Album Sundays platform tells the stories behind the albums that have shaped our culture and in some cases, our lives. She founded it as a stance against the increasing devaluation of music and sound. What began as a passion project is now the world's most popular album listening event with satellites in four continents and the website and social media channels host content on classic albums and artists such as interviews, videos, playlists and more. BBC Breakfast Television remarked, "Classic Album Sundays treat our best loved records like great symphonies." Murphy and Classic Album Sundays are one of the leading pioneers and inspirations behind the resurgence of vinyl, listening venues and high quality sound. Murphy has hosted events with talent such as

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

Guy Garvey Guy Edward John Patrick Garvey (born 6 March 1974) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and radio presenter. He is the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Elbow. He has a weekly show on BBC Radio 6 Music titled ''Guy Garvey's Fines ...

, Laura Mvula,

Max Richter Max Richter (; ; born 22 March 1966) is a German-born British composer and pianist. He works within postminimalist and contemporary classical styles. Richter is classically trained, having graduated in composition from the University of Edinbu ...

, John Grant, Pink Floyd's

Nick Mason Nicholas Berkeley Mason (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer and a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He has been the only constant member since the band's formation in 1965, and the only member to appear on every ...

KT Tunstall Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall (born 23 June 1975) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained attention with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on ''Later... with Jools Holland'', and h ...

, Jazzie B,

Sister Sledge Sister Sledge was an American musical vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed in 1971, the group consists of sisters Joni, Kim, Debbie, and Kathy Sledge. The siblings achieved international success at the height of the disco era. I ...

Lisa Stansfield Lisa Jane Stansfield (born 11 April 1966) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her career began in 1980 when she won the singing competition ''Search for a Star''. After appearances in various television shows and releasing her first ...

Elizabeth Fraser Elizabeth Davidson Fraser (born 29 August 1963) is a Scottish singer. She was the vocalist for the band Cocteau Twins, who achieved success in the UK from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. Their studio albums '' Victorialand'' (1986) and '' H ...

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...

, and many more.

References and further reading

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Colleen Cosmo American DJs American radio personalities New York University alumni 1968 births Living people