Aaron Albano (born January 1, 1972), better known by his

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Ming (stylized as MING), is a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-nominated American DJ,

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

. MING rose to prominence during the American

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

and

turntablist Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating new music, sound effects, mixes and other creative sounds and beats, typically by using two or more turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into a PA syste ...

movements in the late 1990s alongside DJs such as

Z-Trip Zach Sciacca (born July 22, 1971), better known as DJ Z-Trip, is an American DJ and producer. He is a pioneer of the mashup movement. He was the 2009 recipient of the "America's Best DJ Award". As a producer he has worked with artists across ...

DJ Spooky Paul Dennis Miller (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is an American Electronic music, electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics "illbient" or "trip hop". ...

, The Beat Junkies, J-Boogie and

DJ Craze DJ Craze (born Arist Delgado; November 19, 1977) is a Nicaraguan American DJ and record producer who plays hip hop, Miami bass, trap, breaks, dubstep, drum and bass, and practices turntablism. He was, until 2020, the only solo DJ in history to ...

Early life

He was born in

Syosset, New York Syosset is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place in the Oyster Bay (town), New York, Town of Oyster Bay, in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state ...

, United States. He grew up in Stony Brook, New York and attended

Ward Melville High School Ward Melville High School is a public high school in the Three Village Central School District of Suffolk County, New York on Long Island, serving grades ten through twelve. It is fed by the two junior high schools in the district: Paul J. ...

. He attended University of Miami where He graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in audio.

Early career

MING was one half of the experimental hip-hop and turntablist duo, Ming + FS, founded in 1996. The duo used breakbeats as the foundation for most of their work, but were best known for eschewing musical boundaries, freely incorporating elements of house, electro and drum and bass into their music. They dubbed this smashed-up style "junkyard", a moniker that got picked up in dance music press, and on their own releases (like 1998's "Junkyard Drum 'n' Bass"). Over the course of a decade, Ming + FS performed over 1,000 live shows in the United States and abroad. The pair released three albums on

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

based Om Records; ''Hell's Kitchen'', ''The Human Condition'' and ''Subway Series''. Ming + FS also released a five-song EP ''Applied Pressure'' on Sound Gizmo Records and a fourth album on NYC based Spun Records entitled ''Back to One'', as well as many singles on their own Madhattan Studios label. In 2003, MING co-wrote five songs on Toby Lightman's debut record ''Little Things'' on

Lava Records Lava Records is an American record label owned by Jason Flom, in partnership with Universal Music Group. Company history In 1995, Flom launched Lava Records in partnership with Atlantic Records. For the next decade, he continued to discover an ...

Current career

In 2006, MING opened his own label and music production company, Hood Famous Music (HFM), which he co-runs with Jumpshot, in New York City. MING has produced remixes for

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

Black Eyed Peas The Black Eyed Peas are an American musical group formed in Los Angeles in 1995, composed of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo (rapper), Taboo. Fergie (singer), Fergie was a member during the height of their popularity in the 2000s, and ...

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

and developed artists such as Michael Lynche, a fourth-place finisher on season 9 of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

''. Lynche's "What Would You Say" was licensed for the film, ''

Madea Goes to Jail ''Madea Goes to Jail'' is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tyler Perry, which was based on his 2006 play, and starring Perry, Derek Luke, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Ion Overman, RonReaco Lee, Sofía Vergara, Vanessa Ferl ...

''. In 2007, he opened Habitat Music which focuses on music for film, television and movies. In 2010, MING wrote a monthly column in ''

Electronic Musician Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

'' magazine called 'Production Central', which focussed on record production technique. He also had a monthly video blog on ElectronicMusician.com that was part artists interviews and part recording technics. In 2011, MING began regularly releasing

electro house Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music and a subgenre of house music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 125–135 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJs, including ...

singles on HFM. In 2012 he released MING+2beeps KING KONG EP on

Steve Aoki Steven Hiroyuki Aoki ( , ; born November 30, 1977) is an American DJ and record producer. In 2012, Pollstar designated Aoki as the highest-grossing electronic dance music artist in North America from tours. In 2024, Gold House recognized him as ...

Dim Mak Records Dim Mak Records is an independent, Los Angeles–based record label, events company, and lifestyle brand founded by Steve Aoki in 1996. The label has released music under the genres of punk, indie rock, hardcore, hip hop, and electronic dance m ...

. In 2014, he released a trap and bass EP entitled "Blackout" on Datsik's Firepower Records. In 2015, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for

Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical The Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical is an honor presented to producers for quality remixed recordings at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in seve ...

for his remix of "Crossfingers - Falling Out" feat. Danny Losito.

Commercial work

MING has produced original music for top television series including '' CSI: NY'', '' CSI: Miami'', ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...

'', ''

Weeds A weed is an unwanted plant of any species. Weed or weeds may also refer to: Places * Weed, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Weed, California, a city in the United States * Weed, Kentucky, an unincorporated communit ...

'', ''Dinner Take All'', and ''Travel Spies''. Working with FS, he contributed a song to the anime ''

Boogiepop Phantom is a Japanese anime television series animated by Madhouse, based on the '' Boogiepop'' light novel series by Kouhei Kadono. The series is directed by Takashi Watanabe, from a screenplay by Sadayuki Murai, with original character designs ...

''. MING has also created commercial scores for

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

Doritos Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The concept for Doritos originated at Disneyland at a restaurant managed by Frito-Lay. In 1966, Doritos became the first ...

and

Chevy Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

. (note MING's cameo in the Nissan commercial).

Discography

Albums

* ''Abstract the Ism'' - "Paper Dragon" (2014) Hood Famous Music * ''Ming + FS'' - "Subway Series" (2002) Om Records * ''Ming + FS'' - "The Human Condition" (2001) Om Records * ''Ming + FS'' - "Hell's Kitchen" (1999) Om Records

Singles and EPs

Mixes

Remixes

Notes and references

External links

*
Official Label Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ming 1972 births Living people American club DJs American remixers American dance musicians American pop musicians Musicians from New York City Ward Melville High School alumni