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

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

DJ, singer, and songwriter from

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. 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, music producer and remixer. ''DJ Times'' voted Kaskade as "America's Best DJ" in 2011 and 2013. ''DJ Magazine, DJ Mag'' named Kaskade fifty-fi ...

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 actor, filmmaker and musician. The accolades he has received include an Independent Spirit Award, as well as a Young Artist Award nomination. In film, Nicholas is best known for his lead r ...

in 2007. They have two children, a son born in 2011, and a daughter, born in April 2016. In 2003, she was chosen, 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. Van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly added category of Best Dance/Electron ...

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 Stalli ...

, to advertise

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

'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 a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

's iTunes Music Store 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, California, Los Angeles County, in the Antelope Valley of the western Mojave Desert in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the popul ...

radio station

KVVS KVVS (105.5 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Rosamond, California, and owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. It simulcasts the Top 40 (CHR) format of KIIS-FM (102.7) from Los Angeles for listeners in northern Los Angeles County and ...

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

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, 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) * Hollywood ...

, Montreal, and

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

. She has been compared to

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

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 M ...

. She's also been called

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

' 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 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...

and Electro. The record received favorable reviews from Spin, Pitchfork and Slant. The album, which was recorded in

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

featured production of producer

Tim K Timothy John Kvasnosky, known professionally as Tim K, is an American record producer, musician, and film score composer. Tim K composed the score (along with collaborator Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters) to the 2015 Sundance Film Festival sel ...

, 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 ''vo''ice and en''coder'') 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 wa ...

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 so ...

es. The album featured a sample of Trax Records 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 singer-songwriters 21st-century American women singers American dance musicians American women DJs American women singer-songwriters American house musicians American mezzo-sopranos American women in electronic music Deep house musicians American electronic dance music DJs Living people Singers from Chicago Singer-songwriters from Illinois