The Very Reverend Sir Monti Rock III (born Joseph Montanez, Jr. May 29, 1942 in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

) is an American musician and performer.

Biography

Early life and first appearances on TV

Joseph Montanez, Jr. was born on 29 May 1942 to a

Puerto Rica Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Oriental Mi ...

n family in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. After several appearances and performances on ''

The Merv Griffin Show ''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series had runs on two different networks on NBC (1962–1963) and CBS (1969–1972) but is most known for its run on first-run syndication from 1965 to 1 ...

'' beginning in 1966, Rock's personality brought him to the national stage when he began appearing regularly as a guest on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

''.

The Disco era with his band: "Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes"

Rock is generally considered to be one of the first

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 ...

artists to cross into the mainstream. In February 1975, he released '' Disco-Tex & His Sex-O-Lettes Review'', an LP of Disco songs and collaboration with producer

Bob Crewe Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. Crewe co-wrote and produced a string of Top 10 singles with Bob Gaudio for the Four Seasons. As a songw ...

, also featuring musician

Jerry Corbetta Gerald Anthony James Corbetta (September 23, 1947 – September 16, 2016) was an American singer-songwriter, keyboardist and organist, record producer, best known as a frontman for the Colorado rock band Sugarloaf, best known for their classic ...

of band

Sugarloaf A sugarloaf was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses, ...

. Two of the album's tracks, "

Get Dancin' "Get Dancin'" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan and performed by Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes, led by Monti Rock III. The song was produced by Bob Crewe and arranged by Bruce Miller. The song was featured on their 1975 album, ''Di ...

" and "

I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo (Doo Dat Dance) "I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo (Doo Dat Dance)" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Denny Randell and performed by Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes. The song was featured on their 1975 album, ''Disco Tex & His Sex-O-Lettes Review''. The song was produc ...

", became hit singles in the United States and instant staples at burgeoning New York City dance clubs including

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater and former nightclub at 254 West 54th Street (Manhattan), 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served ...

. The two songs were also Top 10 hits in the United Kingdom. By the end of the 1970s, Disco music was fully mainstream, and Rock also appeared in the movie ''

Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American Dance in film, dance Drama (film and television), drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian Americans, Italian-America ...

'' as the DJ.

Recent years: changes of nickname and religious ministry

After reinventing himself several times as "Monti Rock II", "Monti Rock IV", "Monti Rock V", and "Sir Monti Rock", Rock settled on just "Monti Rock". He currently resides and performs in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. Monti Rock is also now an ordained minister, according to his

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page.

References

American performance artists 1942 births Living people {{US-entertainer-stub