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Greetings. My name is John Crockett. I'm originally from Newark, NJ. I'm a songwriter. Music composition and lyric writing have always been a natural part of my life since I can remember. I wrote songs all throughout my childhood and into my early teens.
In 1982, at age 14, I discovered DJ-ing. I took to DJ-ing as naturally as I had taken to songwriting and it seemed much cooler to my friends, so I put songwriting on the back burner to DJ. I got exposed to Tony Humphries in 1984, which made me stop cutting breaks to mix Disco and Dance Music. There really was no such thing as House music then. It would come out of Chicago about a year later. When it did, it changed everything. House music exploded onto the scene in NJ
I met singer Libby Jones in Club Zanzibar back in 1988. She introduced me to Ace Mungin, who allowed me to be a protoge'/junior producer in his legendary 6th Ave. Studio, that produced the likes of Jomanda, Intense, Charvoni... and the list goes on. I was back into songwriting, but I continued to DJ. It was here that I met DJ Nick Jones. In 1991, I sat in on a session as his keyboardist, which resulted in my first commercial recording exposure, "Get Down" and "Mizuho" - The Nick Jones Experience with Kalim Shabazz on Bobby Konders' Massive B Records. These songs were engineered by my most influential Ace Beat mentor, Ben Rebel, with Ad Libs by Cassio Ware and the A side with Keyboards by Satoshi Tomiie. Not a bad first effort. I was off to a pretty fast start.
During that time, I tried with my Ace Beat recording partner, Arthur Perkins, to get independent deals with the many labels in and around New York, but nothing ever materialized. I grew frustrated and eventually, after a year or so of the most valuable teaching, instruction and exposure that I could have ever hoped to have gained, I left Ace Beat to partner up with Nick Jones.
Nick and I began recording out of his apartment. We put a few things together but again, nothing truly materialized. At this point, I'd had it with the politics of music. I also had no regular access to a studio, so I had no regular outlet for my ideas. In 1992, I quit production and writing all together. But I kept DJing. I hooked up with Omar Abdallah in 1994. We began throwing a party at club Mirage in Newark on Thursday nights called "3AM Behavior". It was a very icy and cold four-week stretch in February with very low turn out. We decided to call it quits. I decided to get out of this music thing completely. I got a corporate job and got on with my life.
Although I was away from DJ-ing, I had been stockpiling music; classic Rock, Disco, 70's Pop and R&B on CD. I got a CD deck for mixing CD's and I started playing again. In 2001, I won a mix contest on the The Deep House Page. As a result, I met Charles Gatling. Charles was a DJ that played all over the world while in the military. Now at home, he played a few local spots regularly, like Loretta's and Club America in Newark. He also played a lot of mobile gigs. At the time, he had a residency at Club 1199 in Orange, NJ. He heard my DHP set and invited me to come out and play a guest spot with him. We became friends instantly. Weeks later, Charles mentioned that he was interested in getting into music production. I told him about my past experiences and associations and he was surprised. Not long after that conversation, in August of 2001, we formed Working Underneath to do our own productions. Thanks to Charles, I was back into songwriting and production.
We worked on our sound for nearly two years. In 2003, we got our first record deal with Siesta Music (SM044 "I'm the Wind" (feat. Libby Jones) and "How Lucky We Are" (feat. Toni Bowens). We went on to get deals with Spacekat Records (UK), Phuture Sole Recordings (NJ) and we did one song as "jE'zus bAk'flip" called "Sushi Roll" with Undo (Gossip). In 2004, we launched our own label, "Haus' Flor Recordings " and at the same time I launched my own personal imprint, "Twirlspace Recordings ". In spring of 2006, I started "Stimuli Recordings ", to have a vehicle for more progressive/"big room" style projects.
In the winter of 2006, Charles and I reluctantly and very amicably decided to close the chapter on Working Underneath and to transition the bulk of operations for Haus'Flor Recordings over to me to continue to run. The Working Underneath era had simply run its course and ended as even good things do sometimes. We're still really good friends and we talk/Email/IM several times per week.
In May of 2006 I formed a new partnership with DJ's Master Kev and Dave "Vibes" Tobon. We decided to go by "MKDV feat. John Crockett". My composition/keyboard skills, Dave's exceptional engineering and Kev's uncanny dancefloor feel made for a rock-solid, hit-minded production team
Our first single, "Twisted", was a huge smash at the 2006 WMC. The buzz lasted well through the summer and the song was signed by Code Red Records and was officially released in October of 2006. Next, we remixed Ian Friday's "Carib's Leap" which was released in February of 2007 on a West End Records remix compilation. Our follow up to "Twisted" ("Hysteria") was also released in February of 2007 by Code Red. Tony Humphries (Tony Records) released our "6:56 Forever" on his Tony Records imprint in April of 2007. Finally, our remix of Louie Vega/Sara Divine's "Special", was released by Louie Vega on his Vega Records imprint also in April of 2007. Unfortunately, financial and contractual issues brought our 7-month, monster streak to a grinding halt when we disbanded during late spring of 2007. Differences aside, the fact remains that we were an amazing team that made great songs.
Since then, I’ve released a number of projects on my Twirlspace, Haus’flor and Stimul imprints. In summer of 2007, I licensed “Liar King†(from the Primal Dirges EP/Twirlspace) to House Afrika Records of South Africa and I licensed both “Detroit Respect “(from the Detroit Respect Double EP/Twirlspace) and “Walks on Wednesdays†(from the Candy for Breakfast EP/Twirlspace) to Sheer Music, also of South Africa.
In addition to the five solo EP's that I released in 2008, this year became a year of collaboration for me. I began to team up quite regularly with DunnEasy (Ed Dunn/3 Degrees and Ethan White/Tortured Soul) on a number of remix projects. "Rise Up" - DunnEasy feat. Danil (Centric/UK), "My People" - DunnEasy ft. Kayo (United Music Records) and "Won't Stop" - DunnEasy ft. Monique Bingham (Jellybean Soul)- all contain John Crockett mixes/dubs. In August of 2008, 'Darshay Jenkins' "Bippity-Bop" was released on my "Stimuli Recordings" Label. It features mixes from myself, Gene King (Toronto/Shines Recordings) and Rick Miranda (Noble Square). There's currently a healthy flow of mixes between Gene King, Ricardo Miranda and myself. I also put in a great deal of keyboard work for Jersey Soul (Dave Lalla/Big Logan), DJN Project/DJ Rubin Swift and DJ Nef Nunez ("Feel It" EP - Seed Recs). My recent collaborative efforts with club DJ Stephen LaMorte have resulted in an upcoming signing of "Vida Verde" by Centric UK (Summer 09) The year ended with a licensing agreement for "You Shine" (from my Twirlspace label) with Sheer Music (South Africa).
2009 has been very productive so far. As of Mid May, I've partnered again w/Dave Tobon on a very promising, deep, potuguese-spoken word track- I can't give you more than that... Hahaha. I've released 4 EP's on my three labels. I've just completed a remix of "Free to Be Loved" for Gene King and his "Shines Recordings" imprint to be released in the coming weeks. He, in turn, is working on a remix for my upcoming "Light of Love" EP feat. Natalie to be released on Haus'Flor this summer. I'm also finishing up a new DEEP, minimal three- tracker to be released on Twirlspace this month.
For Info and Booking:
[email protected] are a couple of Disco/Rare Groove sets that I have on the Deep House Page:
"Disco (July 2006) "
1. Adventures in Success (Vocal) Will Powers 2. Dont Take it Away WAR 3. Jungle Fever The Chakachas 4. We Dont Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) Tina Turner 5. Porcupine Natural Zone 6. Come Into My Life The Supremes 7. This is the Me Me (Not the You You) - Richard "Groove" Holmes and Brenda Jones 8. Love is Always on Your Mind Gladys Knight and the Pips 9. Lets Dance Together Wilton Felder 10. I Love You More Rene and Angela 11. Do the Bus Stop Fatback Band 12. Steady Panache 13. I.C. Love Affair Gaz Nevada 14. Body Movement (Jose Diaz Edit) Larry Page Orchestra 15. Going Back to My Roots (Reprise) Lamont Dozier 16. Theme From Baretta Sammy Davis Jr. 17. New Day For You Basia 18. Peace Frog The Doors 19. Shakedown Street Grateful Dead 20. Nighttime in the Switching Yard Warren Zevon 21. Green Earring Steely Dan
"Disco (October 2005) "
1. Think Lyn Collins > 2. Black Sinned Blue Eyed Boys Derrick Harriot > 3. Im Gonna Let My Heart Do The Walking The Supremes > 4. 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (Blow Your Whistle) The Rimshots > 5. That Friday Pay (Part 1) Sonny Jenkins and the New York > Potpourri Strings > 6. Time Waits For No One (Leonard Part Sixx Edit) Jean Carne > 7. Aint It Time Queen Yahna > 8. Aint It Time (Leonard Part Sixx Edit) Queen Yahna > 9. Sweet Dynamite Claudja Barry > 10. Dr. Doo Dah Kongas > 11. Theme From Wonder Woman Wonderland Band > 12. Evil Earth, Wind & Fire > 13. Fools Paradise Rufus & Chaka Khan > 14. Get Up And Do Something Ashford And Simpson > 15. It Aint Your Sign, Its Your Mind Roy Ayers Ubiquity > 16. Rolling Down A Mountainside The Main Ingredient > 17. How Long Lipps, Inc. > 18. Dont Stop Your Love Booker T. > 19. Pass The Buck Love Committee > 20. The Love Boat Jack Jones
Thanks for taking time out to visit my page. Below are the latest releases from the Stimuli, Haus'Flor and Twirlspace labels on traxsource.com.
Peace. John
------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------Twirlspace Recordings catalog on Traxsource
Stimuli Recordings catalog on Traxsource
Haus'Flor catalog on Traxsource