Roy Thode (May 15, 1949 – May 21, 1982) – Come On And Do It (Special Disco Remix) (1979)
The legendary NYC disco DJ who spun at the Ice Palace, Studio 54, and The Saint remixed this phenomenal jam by Poussez!, produced by Alphonse Mouzon.
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Roy Thode was one of New York City’s star DJ’s during the disco era. He was the resident DJ at the Ice Palace in Cherry Grove on Long Island and later spun at Studio 54, the Paradise Garage, and The Saint.
For a complete biography of Thode and a large selection of his digitized sets from iconic NYC venues of the 1970s and early 80s, visit RoyThode.com, lovingly curated by his close friend Marsha Stern.
Born and raised in the town of Wantaugh on Long Island, Thode learned to DJ alongside his friend and mentor Bob Lombardi (who later moved to South Florida and became the DJ at the original Limelight), playing together at a local club called The Corral. Around this time they became friends with fellow DJ’s Wayne Scott and Sharon White.
By the mid-70s, Thode had become the resident DJ during summers at the Ice Palace in Cherry Grove on Fire Island, where he made his reputation. Now in his early twenties, he moved to Manhattan and began playing at nightclubs in the city. When Ice Palace owner Jimmy Merry opened a second location on West 57th Street (aka Ice Palace 57), Thode became one of the residents there. But he maintained his summer weekend residency at the Ice Palace in the Grove, and was the island’s top dancefloor maestro every Saturday night. Water taxis ran all night ferrying dancers to the Ice Palace, a ritual that lasted for years.
Although his own club was at the peak of its fame and notoriety, Studio 54 co-owner Steve Rubell spent numerous Saturday nights on Fire Island at the Ice Palace during the summer of 1978. He eventually asked Thode to come DJ at Studio, which he did.
He took over Thursday and Sunday nights which quickly became known as the club’s gayest nights due to Thode’s followers coming to hear him play.
As disco entered the mainstream in the late seventies, the jazz-funk genius Alphonse Mouzon produced a disco studio group called Poussez! for Vanguard Records. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1979 and was entirely a Mouzon production (produced, arranged, and conducted by, plus “all keyboards, synthesizers, bass synthesizer, drums, percussion, vocals”).
Randy Brecker was among the guest musicians and there were several female backing vocalists (The Poussez Singers), two of whom may or may not have been featured on the cover. Patrick Adams’ longtime partner Christine Wiltshire (of Musique, Class Action and Phreek fame) was the group’s lead vocalist.
The album’s standout track was the sexy anthem “Come On And Do It,” which had an even better 12” extended version, remixed by Thode.
Also in 1979, Thode edited another stellar disco track for a studio group named Hydro from Montreal. “Stop Your Teasing” featured Lorna Di Fiore on lead vocals, was produced by Joe La Greca and Joe Marandola, and released on Prism Records. It was one of that label’s earliest releases, which had been founded in 1978. Early promos credited Thode as co-editor alongside La Greca, but commercially released copies did not. The talented engineer Gene Leone was similarly uncredited, although he mixed the track at Alpha International Recording Studios in Philadelphia.
Thode’s most well-known mixing project that year was co-mixing A Night At Studio 54 (1979), the Casablanca double LP project that attempted to package the dancefloor magic of Studio. It was one of the steps Rubell and his partner Ian Schrager were taking towards going legit, along with preparing to launch Studio 54 jeans, intent on capitalizing on their now internationally-known brand. Unfortunately for them, the feds were wise to their skimming an astronomical amount of the club’s taxable proceeds and busted them before that vision could be fully realized.
After Rubell and Schrager were sentenced to jail in January, 1980 for tax evasion, Studio 54 lost its liquor license and shut down at the end of March. It would re-open under new management in September, 1981 and Thode played there again from time to time. While it was closed, he had a residency at the Underground, a new club on 17th Street at Union Square. He was invited to be the official DJ for the Olympic Village in Lake Placid at the 1980 Winter Olympics. That same year, he tied for the title of the nation’s best DJ at Billboard’s annual International Disco Forum in NYC.
He was one of the few DJ’s besides Larry Levan and his inner circle to spin at the Paradise Garage, and continued his Saturday night summer residency at the Ice Palace in Cherry Grove (where he celebrated his 32nd birthday in a set on May 16, 1981.)
In the fall of 1980, a new gay club called The Saint opened in the former home to Bill Graham’s Fillmore East in Greenwich Village. It was the most technologically advanced nightclub of the era, with renovations costing $4.5 million (the equivalent of more than $17 million today). Thode first played there on October 25, 1980, and along with DJ Alan Dodd was one of the club’s residents during its first two years. He recorded many of his sets on reel-to-reel tapes, including an eleven-hour mix from The Saint on January 17, 1981.
Here is how Thode’s close friend and keeper of his legacy Marsha Stern described what happened next:
“It was at the peak of Roy’s career that it ended. There are many stories surrounding Roy’s passing, most of them false. The simple fact is that he died of an apparent overdose in his apartment and was found on May 21, 1982 one week after his 33rd birthday. I unlocked the apartment door for the police to enter. He looked very peaceful. There was no blood, no violence and no obvious drama. That summer there were no Saturday migrations to the Ice Palace for dancing. That migration ended with Roy and is part of the legacy that remains with him to this day…as the man behind the turntables whose greatest pleasure was in making us happy.”
Thode’s friend DJ Sharon White played a tribute set for him at the Saint shortly afterwards.
Happy Heavenly 75th Birthday to the great Roy Thode.
Further info:
“Roy Thode: Biography,” RoyThode.com.
Roy Thode on Facebook and Mixcloud
“DJ Roy Thode,” Fire Island Pines Historical Society.
“Two Decades of Fire Island DJ Sets Get Unearthed, Put Online,” Open Culture, May 10, 2022.
“Last Night a DJ Saved my Life (Sharon White and The Saint),” extract from revised edition, by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton, Caught by the River, May 24, 2022.
#soul #funk #disco #DJ #NYC #SharonWhite #IcePalace #Studio54 #RoyThode