Colette Marino (born May 27, 1975, in Chicago, Illinois), known as DJ Colette or simply as Colette, is a

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground club culture in the late 1970s, as DJs began altering ...

DJ and vocalist from Chicago, Illinois. She is a resident DJ at the SmartBar in Chicago, Illinois (along with

Kaskade Ryan Gary Raddon (born February 25, 1971), better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ, record producer and remixer. ''DJ Times'' voted Kaskade "America's Best DJ" in 2011 and 2013. ''DJ Mag'' named Kaskade fifty-first on its 20 ...

and others). She first gained attention when she started singing over her mixes as DJ.

Biography

She started DJing in the early 1990s. In 1997, she helped form the all-female DJ group SuperJane with DJ Heather, DJ Dayhota, and Lady D. During the preparations for her album ''Push'', she married actor/rock musician

Thomas Ian Nicholas Thomas Ian Nicholas (born July 10, 1980) is an American film actor, film producer and singer. Nicholas is best known for playing Henry Rowengartner in '' Rookie of the Year'', Walt Disney in ''Walt Before Mickey'' and Kevin Myers in the ''Ameri ...

in 2007. They have two children, a son born in 2011, and a daughter, born in April 2016. In 2003, she was, along with

Paul Van Dyk Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...

and

Felix da Housecat Felix da Housecat (born Felix Stallings Jr., August 25, 1971) is an American DJ and record producer, mostly known for house music and electro. Felix is regarded as a member of the second wave of Chicago house Musical career Early life Stall ...

, chosen to advertise

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...

's cellular phones. Her song used in this commercial would go on to win Dancestar's ''Best Song Used in a Commercial'' for Motorola. She also received "Best Breakthrough DJ" award. Her album ''Hypnotized'' was the most downloaded house dance album on

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...

iTunes Music Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

in June 2005. Her song ''What Will She Do for Love'' from this album was a

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

No. 1 Dance Club Play Single. The title track, ''Hypnotized'', was licensed to the movie '' The Devil Wears Prada'' for the soundtrack. She hosted

Lancaster, California Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the Antelope Valley of the western Mojave Desert in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 173,516, making Lancaster the 153rd largest city in the Un ...

radio station

KVVS KVVS (105.5 FM) is a simulcast radio station in Rosamond, California owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.. The station carries the Top 40 (CHR) format of KIIS-FM (102.7) from Los Angeles for listeners in northern Los Angeles County and southeastern Kern ...

's show, ''Maximum Rotation''. She has performed all over the world, including, Detroit, Michigan,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

, Singapore, Calgary,

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

, Montreal, and Omaha. She has been compared to

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

and

Deborah Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

. She's also been called

Om Records Om Records is an American record label, established in 1995, which releases electronic music, dance music and hip hop. The label was founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Chris Smith. Om Records releases both artist albums and compilations, incl ...

' First Lady of House. In 2013, she released her third Album, "When The Music's Loud". The album featuring influences of

Italo disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the early 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, p ...

and Electro. The record received favorable reviews from Spin, Pitchfork and Slant. The album, which was recorded in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Los Angeles featured production of producer

Tim K Tim K, born Timothy John Kvasnosky, is a Los Angeles-based music producer and film composer who was born in Seattle, Washington, United States. Tim K composed the score (along with collaborator Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters) to the 2015 Sun ...

, who helped her develop the record with her over a three-year span. The record also featured the production of Santiago & Bushido, Nick Chacona and DJ Teenwolf. A studio tour in late 2012 revealed Colette recorded the vocals for the album on a Peluso P-12 and through a vintage recording chain. Sonically, the album made frequent use of

Vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

s and

Talk Box A talk box (also spelled talkbox and talk-box) is an effects unit that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto the sou ...

es. The album featured a sample of

Trax Records Trax Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It played a major part in the development of house music. History Larry Sherman was originally a collector of vintage jukeboxes, and, frustrated with ...

artist Adonis, on the second single "Hotwire". The album release date was August 27, 2013. The record was made entirely without live musical instruments. In December 2013,

named Colette's album "When The Music's Loud" one of the top 20 Dance Music Albums of 2013. In May 2022, Colette filed for divorce from Thomas Ian Nicholas.

Chart performance

Discography

Albums

* ''Hypnotized'' (2005) * ''Push'' (2007) * ''When The Music's Loud'' (2013) * ''Retrospective'' (2017)

Singles and EPs

* "Moments of Epiphany" (1995) * "Keep On Groovin'" (1996) * ''Try Her For Love'' (2000) * ''Find Your Love'' (2000) * ''Innocent'' (2001) * ''Sexuality'' (2002) * ''Do You Want Me'' (2002) * ''Keep It Down'' (2004) * ''Our Day/Smile For Me'' (2004) * '' Didn't Mean To Turn You On'' (2005) * ''What Will She Do For Love'' (2005) * ''Feelin' Hypnotized'' (2005) * "House of OM" (2006) * "About Us" (2007) * "If" (2007) * "Stay" (2008) * "Make Me Feel" (2009) * "Think You Want It" (2009) * "UR Everything" (2010) * "Call On Me" (2010) * "On A High" (2010) * "Give Something" (2011) * "Crush" (2012) * "Crush 2" (2012) * "Hotwire" (2013) * "Physically" (2014)

Mix compilations

* "In The Sun" (2000) * "Our Day" (2001) * "House of OM" (2006)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colette, Dj 1975 births 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers American dance musicians American DJs American women DJs American women singer-songwriters American house musicians American mezzo-sopranos American women in electronic music Deep house musicians Electronic dance music DJs Living people Singers from Chicago Singer-songwriters from Illinois