Larry Levan

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Larry Levan was an American DJ from New York. He was born in Brooklyn in 1954 as Lawrence Philpot and got his love of blues, jazz and gospel from his mother. As a teenager he left school and worked as a tailor in the ballroom scene of Harlem, where he became friends with Frankie Knuckles. Through David Mancuso he got to know The Loft, a private dance party with an exceptional sound system. There his idea of music that would never stop took shape. Together with Knuckles he began as a DJ at the Continental Baths.

Music and breakthrough

In 1977 Levan got a regular slot at the Paradise Garage, a members-only club in Greenwich Village. For ten years he played there on Saturday nights, and his regular crowd called those evenings the Saturday Mass. He was known for his deep, dark bass and for his idiosyncratic choice of records, from Chaka Khan and Evelyn Champagne King to Kraftwerk and British synth-pop. He brought the echoes and open spaces of dub to dance music and experimented with drum machines and synthesizers. In the 1980s he made remixes of, among others, Gwen Guthrie's Ain't Nothin' Goin On But The Rent and produced Don't Make Me Wait by his own group, the Peech Boys.

Influence

The Paradise Garage closed in 1987 with a 48-hour party. Levan became addicted and no longer found a regular place in New York, but in Europe and Japan he was still thoroughly celebrated. He died in 1992, aged 38. The Garage was regarded as the model for the modern dance club, and his name lives on in the style garage house.

Listening

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 6: Fear of a Black Planet^NL Reader
• Mixtape 7: The 1980s^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Garage GenreThe Paradise Garage in New York, with the DJ Larry Levan, was one of the most important dance clubs from 1977 to 1987.