danny holloway spins profile picture

danny holloway spins

Are-Oh-See-Kay-Ee-Are-Ess!

About Me

hola..i spin records at clubs, lounges. parties and on radio. (You can hear several mixes of mine at Dublab.com/Holloway.) There was an article about my record collection in Re-Up mag 12. I began selecting in 1997 and became a regular at AFRO FUNKE, RESPECT MONDAYS reggae nite, plus sets on DUBLAB.COM. From '97 to '05, i spent up to 12 hours a day pursuing obscure funk music. traveled to Brasil, Jamaica, Nigeria, Ghana, France, UK, Mexico and Canada digging for records...BORN IN THE LONG BEACH, CALI and discovered 45's at the age of 5. Played bass in rock and soul bands in my teens and moved to London at age 20. Worked in a record store and within a year, left and became a freelance music journalist. That led to joining the staff of the NME and spending two years writing feature articles for them. Then i met Chris Blackwell and went to work for Island Records as his right hand guy. i mainly did creative stuff like overseeing album graphics, mastering records, talent scouting and compiling albums. i enjoyed compiling lp's because i got to put together the entire package. These are some titles i remember: CISSY STRUT by THE METERS, THIS IS REGGAE MUSIC volumes one and two, SOUL OF JAMAICA, the U.S. version of FUNKY KINGSTON LP by TOOTS & THE MAYTALS and JIMMY CLIFF'S STRUGGLING MAN. i also learned to produce at Island's Studios. I recorded 'live' shows of BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS, the last UK tour with PETER and BUNNY (Leeds and 3 other dates, i think) and in 1975 their historic Lyceum gig with the I-THREES. In 1975, i moved to Jamaica for a year and produced the HEPTONES' NIGHT FOOD album. THE WAILERS, ROBBIE SHAKESPEARE, SANTA DAVIS, BENBOW, CHINNA and TOUTER created incredible tracks for the HEPTONES to voice over. It was an exciting time there, before reggae became international. Following Jamaica, i came back to California and have been based in Los Angeles since....Locally, i produced records by SHOCK, THE FURYS, THE FRONT, THE ACCELERATORS, THE PLIMSOULS and KING COTTON before re-joining Island in 1982. i created the Soundtrack department and ran it for 14 years and worked in music publishing....During a leave of absence in 1992, i had a label called TRUE SOUND and signed SUBLIME, rapper VOOODU and beatmaker BIRD. Also had a hip hop radio show called SMOKIN' VINYL with regulars: photographer B+, CUT CHEMIST, DJ KIILU and BIG BOY, now on POWER 106.....Blackwell sold Island and the workplace quickly became very corporate. By 1996, i had to get out and re-claim my life. i make a living doing what i love these days. Recently returned to music journalism, i'm the music supervisor on a Marley feature film and do consulting work for iTunes...and, of course, i continue to discover unusual wax and share it by spinning out...a compilation or mix cd is in the works....paz, dh

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 9/5/2007
Band Members: Again, you can hear several of my mixes at: Dublab.com/Holloway.ROLL CALL: Together, drummer STEVE ROOSH and i were a rhythm section, before i moved to London. After that, Steve played on funk classics by BUDDY ACE ("Begging For Your Love") and PAM KELLUM ("What You See You Can't Get") and he drummed with soul singer ALEXANDER PATTON'Sband.photographer B PLUS is the homie who schooled me in a variety of ways in the early 90's before becoming a notable film maker. A lot of musical movements begin with B+ and his influence is felt around the world....i first met CARLOS NINO with B+ when he was a youngster at KPFK and he's blossomed into a tastemaker - promoter - producer - songwriter - dj - compere and probably a few other skills i can't recall--a truly soulful brother with a perceptive taste in music....Peruvian brothers RENZ + RICH own the LISTEN clothing company and are committed to vinyl discovery with their LISTEN RECOVERY project--true bros with a strong sense of purpose!....DAM-FUNK is a top spinner - musician - collector - impresario. D-F is clearly thee man in LA for the early 80's melodic funk and Boogie sound. As an artist, he's creating unique Future Funk for Stones Throw. Expect to hear a lot from DAM-FUNK in '08....J-ROCC is one of the best cats on the decks ever and in recent years has developed a deep wax collection tooCUT CHEMIST has been hitting the decks since before he was in his teens and has superior taste in international releases, Random Rap, deep funk, garage rock or psych. Heavyweight digger and spinner....PB WOLF moved to LA over 10 years ago from the Bay and started a small label called Stones Throw which releases MADLIB'S recordings and other progressive jamz. WOLF snagged EGON as ST's GM and he brings deep music knowledge and marketing savvy to the operation....FROSTY from DUBLAB is a gentle but potent force with his worldwide podcasts and memorable 'live' events--so listen to Dublab.com, peephole!..DAVID ORLANDO a/k/a the BOSS HARMONY spins often, including every Wednesday night at L.A.'s llargest roots reggae gig, the DUB CLUB, with TOM CHASTEEN...Coming over the hill from the Valley, trumpeter/flugel horn player TODD SIMON, ORGONE and THE LIONS are a talented and incestuous group of groove merchants. New Angelinos: i first saw MAHSSA last summer at the Do-Over and like her a lot. She's armed with major heat from Eastern Europe and the Middle East, feauturing fuzz guitars and funky beats-right up my alley...DISCO TOM NOBLE moved from Milwaukee a couple years ago, co-owns the Lotus Land record label and unearths scarce Disco + Boogie 12"s...In the 80's, these cats kept Jamaican music alive in los angeles: ROGER STEFFENS and HANK HOLMES on KCRW and MATT ROBINSON (still spinning L.A. clubs) with his historic FUNKY REGGAE club and MILT WILSON with a series of amazing 'live' shows at the Music Machine...DJ KIILU from the early 90's heavyweight / Freestyle Fellowship crew is Macey Gray's dj + still spins intimate clubs around these parts....Leimert Park's BROWN RICE + BBQ clique gets mad love for their upful spirit--big ups to BIG AL JACKSON, a man who has successfully blended jazz and hip hop throughout his spinning career....My nephew CARLOS P + niece CHARLINE help run LEXANI LIFESTYLE and i write for their in-house mag too....ON THE ROAD: In Brasil, DJ NUTS is a world class dj/digger embraced worldwide for his definitive knowledge of Brasilian music....Gotta love NUTS...In Montreal, ANDY WILLIAMS has forever been a club and radio dj and promotes a memorable monthly night called THE GOODS with partner SCOTT C. Also in the MTL, Jerome DJ KOBAL has become an international touring funk dj and is responsible for releases on the funkee Afro Kats record label.... in Jamaica, my daughter Deli and her man Wayne compose and release original tunes as JUST THE TWO OF US. In NYC, hipster SMALL CHANGE weaves abstract sets at discos and loft parties every night of the week and hosts a Friday nite show on WFMU, while MATT "MR. FINE WINE" and FREDDIE the Boogaloo Omnibus are two deep soul cats working the Manhatten/BK turf...In the nation's funk capital, New Orleans, DJ SOUL SISTER rocks nightly 'down n dirty' sets in the city's hottest of hot spots. She's runnin' ish and keeping it mad fonky...Holding down the rural midwest is a man called CHRIS BALL, y'all. C-BALL (or Indiana Funk) devotes all his waking hours to unearthing uncommon soul + funk 45's from neighboring states....in San Francisco, spinning Boogie + Disco is the one and only JON DRUNCK. JD is my brotha from anudda mudda. He holds down a fresh monthly night and flogs 45's at Rookie Ricardos vinyl store....also in the Bay is COOL CHRIS from Groove Merchant Records. He's a mellow, straight-ahead bro who consistently turns up scarce, exotic wax at fair prices....DJ GUILLERMO is an LBC bro who spins Latin, Funk and Boogie and always has a packed gig calendar....and in the UK, original funksters GERALD, KEB, GIANLUCA, FRYER, PUM and soulster ADAM LEVER have dedicated their lives to collecting and exposing exceptional 45's....In London is my long time friend and ex-Shriekback/Pigbag member BRIAN NEVILL--a debonair cat who puts together interesting re-issues for Ace Records....These are some of the heads who put it down proper and are a pleasure to deal with....
Influences: Drummers Tony Allen and Bernard Purdie, Poets of Rhythm from the early 90's, Sly & Robbie, the great jamaican vocalist Cornell Campbell, Joao Donato, Gwen Guthrie's voice during her Paradise Garage period.
Sounds Like: sonic connector
Record Label: azaka
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Beginning of UK Record Collecting Shops

Record collector's stores began after i arrived in London in 1970. The first ones to open were dedicated primarily to the Brits' love of 50's rock and roll. These included Moondog's in London's east e...
Posted by danny holloway spins on Fri, 26 Oct 2007 07:06:00 PST