Larry Levan (July 20, 1954 – November 8, 1992) – Life Is Something Special (1983)
The legendary DJ co-wrote this magnificent jam with Michael de Benedictus and Bernard Fowler, the title track from their only N.Y.C. Peech Boys LP.
Watch full video on Twitter.
View most updated version of this post on Substack.
The legendary Larry Levan is considered by many to be the greatest DJ of all time. From his behind-the-scenes days at David Mancuso’s Loft and Nicky Siano’s Gallery, to his early residency with Frankie Knuckles at the Continental Baths, to the nearly decade he spent from 1977-86 as the turntable maestro of the Paradise Garage, Levan helped shape the disco movement and club culture that took hold in New York City and spread throughout the world.
Born Lawrence Philpot in Brooklyn, New York, Levan began DJ’ing when he was three years old. According to his mother, “I'd make him put records on so that we could dance together.”
He dyed his hair orange while in high school during the early 70s, and was frequently bullied for being gay. Eventually he dropped out and began making dresses in Harlem’s drag scene, where he met his best friend Frankie Knuckles.
Levan had a brief affair with David Mancuso, who ran The Loft, the highly influential, invitation-only, ongoing party at the New York City apartments he lived in during the 1970s and 80s. He started helping put on the Loft parties, then he and Knuckles were hired as decorators by Nicky Siano at his new nightclub The Gallery, which was inspired by The Loft. Siano taught them both his turntable techniques.
Levan and Knuckles became DJ partners at the Continental Baths, New York City’s infamous gay bathhouse, located in the basement of the beautiful but decaying Beaux-Arts style Ansonia Hotel. In the late 70s, the same space was re-purposed as the swingers’ club Plato’s Retreat.
After the Baths closed in 1976, Levan DJ’ed at a club called Reade Street, owned by Michael Brody. The following year, Brody and his silent partner Mel Charen opened a new club, the 10,000 square foot Paradise Garage, in a building that formerly housed a parking garage at 84 King Street in Greenwich Village. Charen was the owner of West End Records, and the partners aimed to create a downtown version of Studio 54 for upscale white gay men. But a disastrous opening night alienated their target audience, and instead it became a more inclusive club frequented primarily by Black and Latino gay men of all social classes.
As the Paradise Garage’s resident DJ, Levan became one of the city’s most influential tastemakers. The records he spun at the Garage were almost immediately added to the playlists at NYC’s #1 R&B radio station WBLS, courtesy of the station’s top DJ and Garage regular Frankie Crocker.
Levan evolved into a highly skilled remixer and producer, lending his magic touch to exclusive mixes he created that topped the dance charts in the early 80s and helped dance music survive the racist, homophobic anti-disco backlash.
In 1983, Levan released Life Is Something Special, the full-length LP by his N.Y.C. Peech Boys project. The cover art was done by his close friend Keith Haring. He co-wrote and co-produced the album’s magnificent title track with the group’s keyboardist Michael de Benedictus, and singer/percussionist Bernard Fowler. Other N.Y.C. Peech Boys members were Steven Brown, Robert Kasper, and Darryl Short.
Levan and de Benedictus also co-wrote and co-produced the LP’s closing cut, the magical jam “On A Journey.”
It was one of the only tracks ever released featuring Levan on vocals.
Further info:
“Episode 21: Larry Levan (1991),” interview by Judge Jules, Are We On Air, originally broadcast on KISS FM, 1991.
“The Godfather of Disco: Mel Charen and West End Records,” documentary, 2013.
“Larry's Garage: The story of Larry Levan and the Paradise Garage,” documentary, 2019.
#disco #funk #garage #LarryLevan