The tale of Danny Tenaglia's love affair
with music, and the world's subsequent romance with him, is
one of the critical veins in the body of dance music. He is
every dancer's secret discovery; a random purchase at the
record store, a reluctant night out that unexpectedly turned
magic. Explosive success came not behind a major label release,
or a world tour, or a radio hit remix: It happened when enough
people had the private Tenaglia experience for themselves.
The momentum started building in early '70s New York, when
a barely 10-year-old Danny first got the feel of vinyl in
his hands. Enthralled by the music of artists like Philly
Soul's The Trammps, Motown's Marvin Gaye, African trumpeter
Hugh Masekela, and disco producer Giorgio Moroder, he started
to collect records, plumbing the depths of each one, and frequently
finding that he preferred the B-side to the A. It was 1979
when he discovered legendary nightclub Paradise Garage, where
DJ Larry Levan's rich, genre-less blend of music seemed to
mirror his own "no boundaries" policy. It was here
where Danny found the club model he would one day emulate:
Levan's bold style, the venue's plain décor, and the
party's warmth and inclusiveness.
Danny left New York in 1985 and launched a successful DJ-ing
career in Miami as a resident at Cheers nightclub. There he
schooled the locals in classic New York and Chicago house,
but five years later he returned home, tired of only playing
other people's music. He started to assemble an impressive
roster of remixes, including Right Said Fred's "I'm Too
Sexy" (1991), Jamiroquai's "Emergency on Planet
Earth" (1993), and Madonna's "Human Nature"
(1994). But his first epic was The Daou's "Surrender
Yourself" (1993): With the kick in the bass and the underlying
rhythm as the foundation, Tenaglia blanketed Vanessa Daou's
wispy vocal with grand, thick chords, a combination of classic
groove and modern club-ready depth that was, at the time,
entirely new. The title of his 1995 debut artist album on
New York's Tribal Records described it perfectly: Hard &
Soul. But even if the cocktail was his own, Tenaglia never
hesitated to declare how heavily his influences weighed in
his productions - everyone from Patti LaBelle to Kraftwerk,
with countless lesser-known Soul, R&B, Latin, Samba, and
Disco artists in between.
In 1996, after a brief stint at New York superclub Roxy,
Danny landed a Saturday night residency at white-hot Twilo,
a position that upped his profile but didn't satisfy his expanding
artistry as a DJ and producer. While New York swooned for
big-room diva anthems, Danny was turning his ear toward the
more minimal, tech-y grooves originating in European production
studios. This period produced solid remixes like Grace's "Not
Over Yet" (1996) and Janet Jackson's "The Pleasure
Principle" (1996), but by the time he moved to Tunnel
in 1998, Danny had already created "Elements," an
instant classic that caused the dance scene's collective jaw
to drop. With his own warped voice providing the narration,
"Elements" (one track off full-length Tourism) walked
the listener through the different components of a dance track
in real time, going from kick to drum loop to snare hit, letting
each layer over the other until the track exploded with dark,
drum-heavy energy. Next to ostentatious radio anthems, its
simplicity was a revelation.
It was around this time that the murmurs started to get louder:
Who is this Danny Tenaglia, and just what does he do to people
Clubbers reported seemingly inhuman mixing capabilities, booth-to-floor
telepathy, and the grittiest "modern yet classic"
grooves they had ever heard come out of a speaker. A trio
of label compilations - Mix This Pussy (1994) and Can Your
Pussy Do The Dog (1995) for Tribal, and Gag Me With A Tune
(1996) for Maxi - were the first Tenaglia sets clued-in clubbers
could take home to dissect, but the release of his first installment
in the UK-based Global Underground series of DJ mixes, titled
Athens (2000), lit the international fire. Athens (meant to
reflect the set he played at the Greek capital's club King
Size) remains one of the darkest, strangest, sexiest sets
ever released, and its tame cover photo of a gentle-looking
man in a Yankee cap just didn't seem to fit. DJ dates across
Europe dispelled the mystery and started the spread of the
infectious Tenaglia fever.
Back in New York, Tenaglia was tiring of the cavernous gloom
of Tunnel and longed for a weekly home that better resembled
where the DJ bug first bit him - the Paradise Garage. He landed
at Vinyl, a black-walled, single-environment, no-liquor club
about one-quarter the size of Tunnel. He named the night "Be
Yourself," after the self-affirming, heavy-bottomed vocal
track he had recently recorded with Chicago's Celeda. And
he took the name to heart: Without the pressure of bar minimums
or an expectant crowd, Tenaglia spread his DJ wings. Next
to new tracks by young producers like Rui Da Silva, Peace
Division, and Saeed & Palash, he played the artists of
his youth, with nary a beat dropped. If he wanted to launch
into a two-hour set of straight-up techno, he did. If he wanted
to play old Michael Jackson records, he did. If he wanted
to get on the mic and tell the crowd the name of the sound
he was about to play, or who next week's guest opening DJ
would be, or just give everyone a "verbal handshake"
to welcome them to the club, he did. And a city tired of drama
embraced the barebones, music-centered night.
The world caught up to Tenaglia in 2000. His annual party
during Miami's Winter Music Conference outgrew its home at
the cramped Groovejet and moved to just-opened superclub Space.
DJ giants like Carl Cox danced on top of the speakers with
the Deep Dish boys, Fatboy Slim mingled on the patio, and
for a day the ego inherent to DJ culture evaporated: Tenaglia
was hailed as the undisputed king, the "DJ's DJ."
His roof-raising revamp of Green Velvet's "Flash"
won "Best Remix" at the UK's Muzik Awards, where
he was also awarded the "Best International DJ"
prize.
In the two years that followed, Tenaglia released another
Global Underground installment (London); toured the world,
took the party island of Ibiza by storm, remixed Billy Nichols'
"Give Your Body Up To The Music" (a Garage anthem);
got nominated for a Grammy (for his remix of Depeche Mode's
"I Feel Loved," also nominated for Best Dance Song);
returned to Twilo for two special gigs - a President's Day
marathon with Carl Cox that shattered all its attendance records,
and the club's sixth anniversary party with John Digweed,
which turned out to be even more meaningful than it seemed
at the time (Twilo was shut down permanently a week later);
graced the cover of every major dance music magazine; and
won a Dancestar Lifetime Achievement award... all while keeping
Be Yourself buzzing every Friday.
In 2003, Danny came full circle with the release of Choice:
A Collection Of Classics, a two-CD mixed compilation that
let him pay direct tribute to many of the artists who had
influenced his sound and style. It featured everyone from
Blaze to Adeva to Imagination, as well as hefty liner notes
explaining the significance of each track, penned by the man
himself. He also remixed another Garage classic (Yoko Ono's
"Walking On Thin Ice," which became her first Billboard
number one ever), opened another Space during Winter Music
Conference (the new location down the block), and took another
Dancestar award, this time "Best Party" for Be Yourself.
Be Yourself took the same honor again in 2004, but this time
the win was bittersweet. At the time of the ceremony, Vinyl,
now called Arc, had already been sold to developers. Danny
closed the classic club on Sunday, April 25, 2004, with an
emotional set that lasted well into Monday afternoon, and
culminated with his mix of Kings Of Tomorrow's paean to unending
love, "Finally."
And as in every year since his DJ odyssey began, all across
the globe, from Acapulco to Tokyo, more people experienced
their first night with Danny Tenaglia, that clubber rite-of-passage
that forever changes how you listen to music, go out to nightclubs,
and think about DJs.
