Erick Morillo
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Erick Morillo (1971-) is an American DJ, music producer and record label owner. Having produced under a number of pseudonyms, including Ministers De la Funk, The Dronez, RAW, Smooth Touch, RBM, Deep Soul, Club Ultimate and Li'l Mo Ying Yang, Morillo is best known for his international work in house music, in particular for the label Strictly Rhythm, and the 1993 hit “I Like to Move It”, which he produced under the pseudonym Reel 2 Real, and which was featured in commercials, movies and ringtones.
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[edit] Early Life and Career
Morillo was born in New York City, and raised in Colombia and Union City, New Jersey, where he attended grammar school at Saint Joseph’s and Michael’s School, a private Catholic school. His childhood musical influences include exposure to Latin rhythms, reggae, and hip hop.
Morillo began his DJ career at age eleven, DJing on the local party circuit, and paying his dues by “spinning” at weddings for family and friends. After seeing television commercial ad for New York City’s Center for the Media Arts, Morillo enrolled at the school to learn audio engineering. While working at a club in nearby Weehawken, Morillo met Latin reggae star El General, with whom Morillo became friends. The two collaborated in 1992 on the single, “Muevelo”, a mixture of reggae, house music, and a sample of T99’s techno single “Anesthasia”. The single went platinum, and Morillo’s records and remixes became familiar staples of Latin club music.
Morillo decided to branch out musically, and became friends with a then-unknown singer-songwriter Marc Anthony, who introduced Morillo to his partner on the 1992 house anthem “Ride On The Rhythym”, Little Louie Vega, who advised Morillo to focus on vocals.
[edit] Reel to Real and “I Like to Move It”
Morillo created a new act, Reel 2 Real, which was signed by the label Strictly Rhythm. Morillo’s first release for Strictly Rhythm was “The New Anthem”, which fared well in the music charts and in clubs, and garnered Morillo considerable attention.
Morillo would surpass this success with the 1994 hit “I Like to Move It”, a mix of European and latin house with ragga vocals by native Trinidad and Tobago rapper Mark Quashie (also known as “The Mad Stuntman”). “I Like to Move It” became an international smash, enjoying mainstream radio airplay, reaching #89 on the Hot 100, #5 on the UK Singles Chart, and made Morillo a millionaire. Both I Like To Move It and House Of Love (a song he released as part of Smooth Touch) hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, and Morillo became a world traveler, often traveling between Europe, where he would tape for MTV Europe, and The United States, where he would return for promotional work.
In 1994 “I Like to Move It” was used in a series of promotional television advertisements for the Australian National Basketball League. It was a montage of various players slam dunking with the song played over the top of it, to highlight the game's fast pace. In the late 1990s, the song was used in adverts for the confectionery Chewits, with the lyrics changed from "I like to move it" to "I like to chew it". The song would later be used in DreamWorks' 2005 animated film Madagascar, making it a hit once again. The song was covered by the Crazy Frog that same year, and released both as a ringtone (with an accompanying ad) and on the album Crazy Frog Presents Crazy Hits.
Reel 2 Real's other top 10 dance hits, which featured vocals by The Mad Stuntman, Barbara Tucker, Charlotte Small and Proyecto Uno. Estimates are that Morillo made over $2 million from Reel 2 Real’s two albums.
[edit] From Reel to Real to Subliminal
Fearing that his financial success from Real 2 Real may have hurt both his creative drive and his street credibility. Morillo abandoned the Reel 2 Real alias in 1996, after which he spent a few years establishing himself as an underground DJ, of which he is one of the top-five highest-paid in the world.
His desire to produce respectable house music, and to distance himself from Reel to Real’s pop music past resulted in the successful “Jazz It Up” which he produced under the “The Erick Morillo Project”. He and Louie Vega collaborated as Lil’ Mo’ Ying Yang and released the 1995 single “Reach.” Morillo intended a third album for Reel to Real, but his relationship with the Mad Stuntman soured, which derailed the project.
Finishing his relationship with Strictly Rhythm, Morillo took the advice of Strictly Rhythm owner Mark Finkelstein, whom Morillo calls “a fair person and a business mentor”, and decided to the launch the Double Platinum management company in 1997 with fellow DJs and producers Jose Nunez, Harry Choo Choo Romero, Carlos Sosa (aka “DJ Sneak”), and Junior Sanchez, and his own imprint, Subliminal Records. Its first single was 1998’s “Fun” which featured Chicago diva Dajae’s, which drew positive response via test pressings and buzz across the Atlantic. Dajae refused to sign the contract with Subliminal, and vocalist Jocelyn Brown was brought in to re-record the vocals. Brown’s collaboration with Subliminal is known as “Da Mob”, and their version of “Fun” became a #1 Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play hit. Soon after, however, DJ Sneak left the group for Toronto to start his own management company, and Junior Sanchez united with Roger S. to start one of their own. The remaining trio of Morillo, Romero and Nunez formed the finalized core of Subliminal, and are also known as the remix team The Dronez. With the Subliminal label, which is based in Weehawken, New Jersey, Morillo managed to find the balance between "underground" respectability and financial success. The trio won the Remixer of the Year award in 2001. In 2004, he released his first album under his real name, My World, which features collaborations with such artists as Sean “Diddy” Combs, who collaborated with Morillo on three tracks. The label has also spawned other labels, such as Sondos, Subliminal Soul, Bambossa and SUBUSA. The label was distributed by Strictly Rhythm until that label ceased operations in 2002. Today, Subliminal is independently distributed, although Strictly Rhythm reopened its doors in 2007.
[edit] Club Nights
In the fall of 1999, Morillo completed a U. S. tour and his club night, dubbed “Subliminal night”, is credited with single-handedly resuscitating New York City’s ailing club scene, a feat he accomplished by signing up Danny Tenaglia, Darren Emerson, Bob Sinclar, Derrick Carter, Mark Farina and Tony Humphries in guest spots. Morillo has also hosted various other club nights across the globe, such as his weekly “Sessions” parties in New York, the annual Crobar party in Miami(ULTRA), and his legendary Subliminal Sessions parties at Pacha in Ibiza, which was named "Best International Club" of 2002 and "Best Ibiza Party" of 2001 by Muzik magazine. Ibiza is also where Morillo was crowned "Best International DJ" in 2002 and "Best House DJ" in 1999 and 2001 at the Pacha Ibiza awards. He has been known to play up to 30 gigs a month in locations including Greece, Malta, Amsterdam, London, Madrid, Belfast, and Russia. According to Morillo, his most memorable job was on Ibiza’s White Isle after the September 11 attacks:
- "I was playing the closing party of the Space Terrace straight after September 11th. I ended the night with Frank Sinatra's “New York, New York”. People were crying and waving American flags, everybody was singing. It's my most emotional memory as a DJ."
In addition to his MTV UK appearances, Morillo has also hosted MTV Ibiza for two years, and presented the UK’s Dancestar Awards and starred in a seven-part Channel 4 series documenting his world travels as a party DJ.
[edit] Subliminal Hits
Mixer magazine compiled a list of ten essential Subliminal releases in the April 2000 edition:
- “Subliminal Get the Message” by Various Artists
- “Good Love” by Richard F.
- “Hold On” by Jose Nunez Feat and Octahvia
- “I Need Your Love” by Full Intention Presents The Rule
- “Hazin’ + Phazin’” by The “Choo-Choo” Project
- “Just Can’t Get Enough (rmxs)” by Harry “Choo-Choo” Romero Feat and Inaya Day
- “Big Love” by Pete Heller
- “It’s All Good” by Da Mob Feat and Jocelyn Brown
- “Believe (rmxs)” by Ministers De-La Funk Feat and Jocelyn Brown. (Voted Best Label at the Muzik Awards in both 1999 and 2000)
- “I Want You” b CZR Featuring Delano
[edit] References
- Ressler, Darren; “Erick Morillo Shakes Up New York”; Mixer magazine; April 2000.
