Nicky Siano (born March 18, 1955, in

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 ...

, New York) is a former resident DJ at

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater and former nightclub at 254 West 54th Street (Manhattan), 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served ...

Biography

In 1971, aged 16, Siano got his first DJing gig at The Roundtable. In February 1973, aged 17, he opened The Gallery in

Chelsea, Manhattan Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side (Manhattan), West Side of the Boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. The area's boundaries are roughly 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the south, the Hudson River an ...

with his older brother Joe Siano. ''New York Magazine'' called it "one of the five most visually breathtaking nightspots of our time". The Gallery was, alongside

David Mancuso David Paul Mancuso (October 20, 1944 – November 14, 2016) was an American disc jockey who created the popular "by invitation only" parties in New York City, which later became known as " The Loft". The first party, called "Love Saves The Day", w ...

Loft A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large ...

and

Paradise Garage Paradise Garage, also known as "the Garage" or the "Gay-rage", was a New York City discotheque notable in the history of dance and pop music, as well as LGBT and nightclub cultures. The club was founded by sole proprietor Michael Brody, and ...

one of the three most important clubs in the 70's New York underground disco scene. Both

Larry Levan Lawrence Philpot (July 20, 1954 – November 8, 1992), known as Larry Levan ( ), was an American DJ best known for his decade-long residency at the New York City night club Paradise Garage, which has been described as the prototype of the moder ...

and

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 ...

worked there before starting DJing. Knuckles said that he and Levan "spent a lot of the time hanging out in the booth, watching Nicki's every move. He pretty much taught us what we were doing." When

Steve Rubell Steve Rubell (December 2, 1943 – July 25, 1989) was an American entrepreneur and co-owner of the New York City disco Studio 54. Early life Rubell and his brother Donald grew up in a Jewish family in the Crown Heights and Canarsie sections ...

opened Studio 54, he asked Siano to be one of its

resident DJ In the DJ culture, a resident DJ or local DJ is a DJ who is employed by a dance club, unlike a guest artist, who works as freelancer and therefore play at several clubs. Obtaining a residency implies being part of the salaried staff of a co ...

s, to which he agreed, while remaining at The Gallery at weekends. Siano DJed at Bianca Jagger's infamous Studio 54 birthday party, and was playing as Bianca Jagger entered on a white horse. He was known for playing underground alternative music as opposed to the disco hits that were dominating the nightclub scene. Siano was fired from Studio 54 after four months, due to excessive drug use. He claims that he was fired because Rubell 'wanted the club to be the star and not the DJ'. In 1977, Siano went into production with the single "Kiss Me Again" on

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gotteh ...

, co-written and produced with Arthur Russell, which sold more than 300,000 records. Siano dropped out of the scene around the start of the 1980s. He recounted to the ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' that in 1982, he became sober, his best friend died of

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, and he "wound up in a 15-year career helping people with AIDS". Siano's release ''Power of Love'', featuring Arline Burton, was launched at the 2007

Winter Music Conference The Winter Music Conference (WMC) is a week-long electronic music conference, held every March in Miami Beach, Florida, United States since 1985. It is also known as the premiere platform for electronic dance music. The conference brings togethe ...

. Siano also released a film in the

2010s File:2010s collage v22.png, From top left, clockwise: Anti-government protests called the Arab Spring arose in 2010–2011, and as a result, many governments were overthrown, including when Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was Death of Muammar Gad ...

, ''Love Is the Message: A Night at the Gallery'', documenting The Gallery disco and nightclub, with footage shot in the club during the 1970s. On October 18, 2011, Siano reappeared at Studio 54 for the club's one-night reopening, organized by

Sirius XM Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merger ...

, and played 1970s disco from the club's original days. Siano is featured in the 2024

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

series '' Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution''.

References

External links

* *
Nick Siano at Disco-Disco.com

Nicky Siano at trustthedj.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siano, Nicky Club DJs LGBTQ DJs 1955 births Living people American people of Italian descent