Joe Gauthreaux

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

DJ Joe Gauthreaux

Origin	New Orleans,United States
Years active	1996-present
Genres	House
Labels	Centaur Music
Website(s)	http://djjoeg.com

Joe Gauthreaux, born Joseph Edward Gauthreaux, Jr. on 16 August 1976, in New Orleans, Lousiana, is an American house music DJ and producer. In addition to his production and DJ work, Gauthreaux is also a reporter for Billboard magazine. ^[1] He currently resides in New York.

1 Background
2 Career
- 2.1 Professional DJ
- 2.2 Music
3 Discography
- 3.1 PartyGroove: Blueball (2002)
- 3.2 PartyGroove: Cherry Volume 2 (2005)
4 Trivia
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Background

Gauthreaux graduated from East Jefferson High School in Lousiana. He has one sister who is a year and four months younger than he. Before becoming a professional DJ in 1996, he worked as a bus boy at a local Chuck-E-Cheese. ^[2]

[edit] Career

[edit] Professional DJ

Gauthreaux was introduced to the club scene at an early age of 16 and immediately fell in love with the industry. His first official DJ job was in Baton Rogue during Mardi Gras. ^[3]^[4] Because he started out at such a young age, he experienced discrimination against some older and more established DJs and club-goers.^[5] He spent the first half of his career in his hometown in New Orleans, where he became a resident player at a club called "Oz" ^[6](a club which had been affected by the Hurricane Katrina).^[7] He later joined Centaur Entertainment, an independent record label for other acclaimed DJs such as Tony Moran, Ultra Nate, Boy George and Junior Vasquez^[8], for his production work. In 2003, he decided to expand his career and moved to New York City, a risk that paid off as he quickly found fame in the Big Apple in less than a year.^[9] He was then accepted as one of 140 distinguished DJs responsible for compiling Billboard magazine's weekly Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. ^[10]

Due to his increasing popularity in the club scene and especially in the gay community, he was hailed as the "Hottest DJ of 2005" by Out Magazine in their June issue.^[11] On November 28, 2005, Gauthreaux appeared on the now-defunct gay talk show called On Q Live! to discuss that recognition. For his live television debut, he also talked about his music and viewers got a glimpse of his personality outside the DJ's booth.

As of 2006, he has played in numerous high-profile venues in the United States, Canada, and the Philippines.^[12]

[edit] Music

He describes his musical selections as the "music you're more likely to hear during peak hours of the night." ^[13] His style is primarily vocal house music infused with tribal rhythms and melodic trance beats. Aside from labelmate Junior Vasquez, he cites Susan Morabito, Frankie Knuckles, Lydia Prim and David Morales as his major musical influences. ^[14] He has admitted in several interviews that he always spends long hours to look for fresh beats or long-forgotten classics in record bars and music websites for his setlist.^[15]

[edit] Discography

For his two compilation albums released in 2002 and 2005 under Centaur Music, the tracks begin with a "bright joyful feeling, with lots of vocals, pianos and instrumentation," and in the latter half, the sounds pick up the pace "with a more tribal and progressive house sound."^[16]