Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey by Brewster Bill

Author:Brewster, Bill [Brewster, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Published: 2014-05-12T16:00:00+00:00

Party starter – an invitation to Larry Levan’s birthday bash on 18, 19 July 1986, drawn by his good friend Keith Haring.

People recall Levan selling his records – unthinkable for a DJ who loved music so much – in order to finance his escalating habit. After the closure of the Garage, whenever he was booked to DJ, his friends had to trawl the rummage sales to buy back his collection, just so he could fulfil the date. Danny Krivit remembers finding Levan’s unique acetate remix of Syreeta’s ‘Can’t Shake Your Love’ on a record stall and realising that most of the other records there were his also.

Justin Berkman, an English wine dealer and DJ who had lived in New York, opened a club in London directly inspired by the Garage, called Ministry of Sound. He booked Levan to come over and play.

‘We brought him over for three days,’ recounts Berkman. ‘He arrived eight days late with no records and ended up staying for three months. I was like, “Larry, where are your records?” He said, “I haven’t got any. I’ve sold them all.”’ But records were scraped together, and even in the depths of addiction Levan pulled off a great set.

His final trip abroad was on a tour of Japan with François Kevorkian in August 1992. They played together at a club called Endmax. ‘Larry went in to a set of Philadelphia classics,’ recalls Kevorkian, ‘which was just so poignant, so emotional, because the message of all the songs said he was really hurting. We all felt it at the time – I think he pretty much knew he was dying – and all the songs he played were so deeply related to how fast life goes, how temporary it is. He played a song by Jean Carn called “Time Waits For No One” and the Trammps’ “Where Do We Go From Here?” and all these other things. I was just standing there in the booth looking at Larry playing these records, and then I realised that this was one of the best moments of greatness that I had ever witnessed in my life. It was so obvious, so grand. There was such drama to it, that you just knew.’ Three months later, on 8 November 1992, Levan died.

With his epic club and his grandiose personality, Larry Levan epitomised what it is to be a DJ – to play music you love to people you love. His success included an element of being at the right place at the right time, but no one can deny the profound effect he had on the New York dance scene. He dramatically bridged the uncharted territory between disco and house. He inspired more world-class DJs than anyone before or since, and he showed that with the right effort and attention to detail, a club could express the ideals of togetherness and love, no matter how large it was.

‘Larry could take two thousand people and make them feel like they were at a house party,’ says Mel Cheren, co-owner of the Garage.

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