Larry Tee

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

Larry Tee, born in Seattle in 1959, is an American DJ, club promoter and producer who brought the electroclash scene together in New York. He grew up in Seattle and in Marietta, Georgia, and moved to Atlanta in the early 1980s, where he hung out with RuPaul, Michael Stipe and Lady Bunny. In 1986 he moved to New York with RuPaul and others. There he became a figure in the Club Kids scene with his party Love Machine, and played in clubs such as Palladium, Roxy and Twilo.

Music and breakthrough

In 1992 he co-wrote RuPaul's hit Supermodel (You Better Work). In the early 2000s, at the party Berliniamsburg, he trademarked the word electroclash. The word later found its way into the Oxford Dictionary. In 2001 he organised the Electroclash Festival, featuring Scissor Sisters, Fischerspooner and Peaches, among others. He also came up with the girl group W.I.T. In 2007 he made the song Matthew with Andy Bell, a tribute to Matthew Shepard. In 2009 his album Club Badd appeared, with Perez Hilton, Princess Superstar and Jeffree Star, among others. He also wrote for and with Afrojack, Shontelle, Santigold and Steve Aoki, and in 2014 launched the clothing line TZUJI.

Influence

His music is electronic, playful and provocative, with a direct, festive energy. Tee helped get the careers of RuPaul, Scissor Sisters, Fischerspooner and Peaches under way and showed how important a club promoter can be to pop history.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2009Club Badd

Mentioned in other articles

• Electroclash GenreThe DJ Larry Tee coined the name and in October 2001 organised the Electroclash Festival in Williamsburg, a district of Brooklyn in New York.