Lenny Dee (born 1968) is the performing name of Leonard Didesiderio, a DJ based in New York City. Starting as a

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 ...

DJ in the 1980s, Dee quickly moved towards harder sounds such as

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

and

gabber Gabber ( ; ) is a style of electronic dance music and a subgenre of Hardcore (electronic dance music genre), hardcore, as well as the surrounding subculture. The music is more commonly referred to as hardcore, and is characterised by fast beats ...

. He set up the well respected record label Industrial Strength in 1991.

Early life

Leonard Didesiderio was born in 1968. He grew up in

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn Sheepshead Bay is a neighborhood in southern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bounded by Ocean Parkway to the west; Avenue T and Kings Highway to the north; Nostrand Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue to the east; and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. ...

and became a DJ at 17, when he started working at the local

roller disco A roller disco is a combined discothèque and Roller rink, skating rink, where attendees are encouraged to participate in roller skating while dancing, or to observe skilled dancers from the sidelines. Quad skates and (more recently) inline skate ...

, the

Sheepshead Bay Roll-A-Palace The Roll-A-Palace Disco Skating Rink was a roller disco rink established in 1977 in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, United States. Housed in a former movie theater, it reopened as a rink at 1728 Sheepshead Bay Road. In 1979, ''Billboard'' an ...

. Taking the DJ name Lenny Dee, he made his first record in 1985. He started playing house music and developed a rivalry with

Frankie Bones Frankie "Bones" Mitchell is a prominent figure in the development of dance music in the United States, widely regarded as the “Godfather of American Rave Culture.” Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Bones played a major role in shaping New York ...

, another young DJ.

Tommy Musto Tommy Musto is an American record producer from New York, who gained fame throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the dance music scene as a DJ and producer. In 1990, he collaborated with fellow New York DJ Frankie Bones as 'Musto and Bones', yielding t ...

told the two to work together and they started music under the name Looney Tunes. Their first record sold 15,000 copies and they were invited to England to play at

raves A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

. When he travelled through Europe, playing at dance parties in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, Dee's style became harder and faster. He started making

and

Career

Not having trained as a musician, Dee taught himself to DJ and produce records. He began to work as a production assistant for Arthur Baker and later produced sample collections of loops. Having started DJing with vinyl, Dee later moved to using

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

. Dee has played at many venues worldwide and at festivals such as

Electric Daisy Carnival Electric Daisy Carnival, commonly known as EDC, is an electronic dance music festival organized by promoter and distributor Insomniac. The annual flagship event, EDC Las Vegas, is held in May at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and is the largest e ...

Love Parade The Love Parade () was an electronic dance music festival and technoparade that originated in 1989 in West Berlin, Germany. It was held annually in Berlin from 1989 to 2003 and in 2006, then from 2007 to 2010 in the Ruhr region. Events scheduled ...

and

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Tomorrowland (Disney Parks), a theme land at a number of Disney theme parks around the world * Tomorrowland (festival), an annual electronic dance music festival in Boom, Belgium * ''Tom ...

. He played at the 25th anniversary party of Thunderdome in 2017.

Industrial Strength Records

Lenny Dee founded Industrial Strength Records in 1991. The first release was a double A side from

Marc Acardipane Marc Trauner (born April 7, 1969) better known by his numerous aliases including Marc Acardipane, Mescalinum United, The Mover, Pilldriver, Marshall Masters and Resident E, is a DJ and producer based in Frankfurt, Germany. History Trauner wa ...

, whom Dee met when he was stranded after playing at a rave in Frankfurt. Acardipane offered him a place to stay and played him some tracks. Dee promised to release them, then IS001 became "We Have Arrived" by Mescalanium United and "Nightflight (Non-Stop To Kaos)" by The Mover (both artist names being pseudonyms of Arcadipane). Industrial Strength has released records from Dee himself and amongst others

Thomas Bangalter Thomas Bangalter (; born 3 January 1975) is a French musician. He is best known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft Punk, alongside Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. He has recorded and released music as a member of the trio Music S ...

Ralphie Dee Ralph D'Agostino, better known as Ralphie Dee, is an American D.J. known for a career spanning disco, electronic and rave music. He was resident D.J. at 2001 Odyssey Disco in Brooklyn, New York at the time when "Saturday Night Fever" was filme ...

and

Nasenbluten Nasenbluten were an Australian electronic music group, formed in Newcastle in 1992. The group was made up of Aaron Lubinski, David Melo, and Mark Newlands, and released six studio albums before disbanding in 2001. They have been described as a s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dee, Lenny 1968 births Living people DJs from New York City American electronic dance music DJs 21st-century American musicians 20th-century American musicians American remixers