Nathaniel Pierre Jones, better known by his stage name DJ Pierre, is an American DJ and performer of

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

music based in

Chicago 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 ...

Musical career

Phuture

Jones has recorded Audio Clash, Darkman, Disco Fuhrer, DJ Pierre, DJ Pierre's Afro Acid Project, Doomsday, M & M, Nathaniel Pierre Jones, One Screaming Idiot, P-Ditty, Pfantasia, Photon Inc., Phugitive, Phuture Scope, Pierre's Pfantasy Club, Raving Lunatics, the Don, Time Warp, X Fade, and Yvette. He formed the group

Phuture Phuture is an American house music group from Chicago, founded in 1985 by Earl "Spanky" Smith Jr., Nathaniel Pierre Jones aka DJ Pierre, and Herbert "Herb J" Jackson. The group is renowned for inventing and defining the sound of acid house, a ...

with his friends Spanky (Earl Smith Jr. –founder/technical producer) and Herb J (Herbert R Jackson Jr. - keyboards). During the late-1980s, the trio began using the squelch sound that became common in Acid House recordings after the group's initial experiments with a

Roland TB-303 The Roland TB-303 Bass Line (also known as the 303) is a bass synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in 1981. Designed to simulate bass guitars, it was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1984. However, cheap second-hand units we ...

bass line

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

. Living in the Chicago area, they were exposed to many house artists, such as

Hot Mix 5 The Hot Mix 5 are an American DJ team originating from Chicago, Illinois, who were chosen by WBMX Program Director, Lee Michaels in 1981. The founding members were Farley "Funkin" Keith (later known as Farley "Jackmaster" Funk), Mickey "Mixin" ...

artists (Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, Ralphi "The Razz" Rosario, Kenny "Jammin" Jason, Mickey "Mixin" Oliver, and Scott "Smokin" Silz) who were producing many tapes and

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

recordings.

Frankie Knuckles Francis Warren Nicholls Jr. (January 18, 1955 – March 31, 2014), known professionally as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer, and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music, a genre of mus ...

was DJing and the Warehouse club (from where house music may have derived its name).

First recordings

Pierre and Spanky had been to Chicago DJ Ron Hardy's club called Muzic Box. The first Acid House track the group recorded was "Acid Tracks" (renamed by Ron Hardy from its original title, "In Your Mind"), which had a slow burning, bass-heavy, deep sound, and was over eleven minutes long. Their first track was put on tape and first played in the Music Box club in the late-1980s. Ron Hardy played it several times on its first night. It was rerecorded at Trax Records (produced by Marshall Jefferson) and released in 1986. DJ Pierre went on to record many of the early Acid House tracks on Trax Records under the names Phuture, Phuture Pfantasy Club, Pierre's Pfantasy Club (with Felix Da Housecat), and Phortune with songs such as "Your Only Friend," "The Creator," "String Free," "Got the Bug," "Box Energy," "Dream Girl," "Mystery Girl," "Fantasy Girl," "We are Phuture," "Slam," and "Spank Spank." DJ Pierre's track "Your Only Friend" describes his addiction to drugs at the time.

Other releases

In 1990, DJ Pierre briefly moved from Chicago and joined Strictly Rhythm Records, where he was also briefly an A&R executive. DJ Pierre did not have a contract that stated if music he produced was licensed overseas to other record labels, he would share in this revenue. Other songs he released included "Generate Power" by Photon Inc, "Follow Me" by

Aly-Us Aly-Us is a house music group from New Jersey that was active mostly in the early 1990s. Their most famous record was “Follow Me” from 1992. Members and history Aly-Us originally started as trio composed of vocalist “Supa” aka Eddie L. Le ...

, and "The Horn Song" featuring

Barbara Tucker Barbara Tucker (born March 19, 1967), is an American house and soul singer, songwriter and choreographer born in Brooklyn, New York, US. Tucker had six No. 1 hits on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart in the 1990s and into the 2000s, and severa ...

, later released as " Everybody Dance (The Horn Song)." He is still DJing and producing; on January 14, 2007, he appeared on

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong (born 30 July 1960) is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for ...

Essential Mix The ''Essential Mix'' is a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 currently broadcast between 0:00 and 2:00 a.m. UK time on Saturday morning. Originally broadcast on 30 October 1993, the ''Essential Mix'' features contemporary DJs and music pr ...

on British

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

. Tong inducted DJ Pierre into his dance music Hall of Fame in 2013. He appeared on the

program again in 2017. In 2011, he released the Track "Alpha Omega" together with

Kris Menace Kris Menace (born Christoph Hoeffel) is a German DJ, record producer, remixer. History Christophe Hoeffel began to work as a producer and writer in the mid-1990s for different projects and started using the pseudonym "Kris Menace" in 2005. Mena ...

on the PIAS sub-label Different.

References

External links

DJ Pierre Official Website

Phuture on Discogs.com

DJ Pierre on Resident Advisor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierre, Dj African-American musicians American house musicians Acid house musicians House musicians House music House DJs DJs from Chicago Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American electronic dance music DJs 21st-century African-American people