DJ Keoki

Superstar DJ Keoki
Background information
Birth name Keoki Franconi
Born (1966-10-23) October 23, 1966
San Salvador, El Salvador
Origin Kihei, Maui, Hawaii, USA
Genres Electronic music
Occupation(s) Musician, producer, DJ
Years active 1980s–present
Notable instruments
Turntables

Keoki Franconi (born October 18, 1966), known by his stage name DJ Keoki, is a Salvadoran-American electronic musician, among other genres, DJ. Born in El Salvador and raised in Hawaii, Keoki began advertising himself as "superstar" shortly after moving to New York City.[1]

Biography

Keoki Franconi was born in El Salvador but moved to Kihei, Maui, when he was 8.[1] After graduating from Kailua High School he moved to the mainland to study at an airline school in California. Franconi then enjoyed a brief career with several airline operations in New York City, among them the now defunct Trans World Airlines,[2] while also being a busboy at the city's trendy Danceteria club.[1] It was at Danceteria that he got his start:

I kept bugging a nearby club's manager to, please, please, please let me DJ there. I told him I knew how to do it, even though I only had a small collection of records and one turntable at home. He let me play a lounge gig on some of the slower nights. He told me to 'play whatever the fuck you want, so long as they stay,' words I've continued to live by to this day.
— DJ Keoki, [1]

Club Kids and Michael Alig

Main article: Michael Alig

While in New York, he met and began a romance with Michael Alig.[3] Alig rose to international notability as the head of "the Club Kids" gang, a group of diverse partygoers who would dress in costumes each night and form parties in New York and all over the United States.

Dance music writer Jennifer Warner remembers,

I was marking the side of a mile-high stack of party invites with a huge purple pen and this body appeared, covered in silver glitter, wearing what looked like a diaper and dragging a boy [Michael Alig], also sporting a falling-off diaper, minus the glitter but made up like a clown.
— Jennifer Warner, [1]

While DJing at "Disco 2000", Alig's party night at the Limelight, Franconi was alleged to have passed out on the turntables while performing a set. He has completely denied the allegation, supposedly stating "I guarantee you that never fucking happened".[4]

Superstar

Franconi had a successful career during the late 1990s and early 2000s as Superstar DJ Keoki, releasing a number of CDs over that decade, and he was hired to play for thousands of people at massive rave dances. In 2006 and 2007, he toured - dressed extravagantly, wearing makeup, and sporting a number of tattoos - in the United States and Europe on the Club Party Monster Tour, a tribute to the film Party Monster as well as a nod to the Club Kid scene that shot him into stardom.

After Party Monster

Franconi still tours, performing at venues such as The Viper Room in Los Angeles, California, Shag in Denver, Colorado, Tantra in Tampa, Florida, VIA Afterhours in Houston, Texas, Amazura Concert Hall in Queens, New York, Hard Rock Cafe in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Level II in Scranton, PA. He also makes annual appearances in Moscow at the Gaudi Fest during Halloween, and he has played at the Love Parade in Berlin, Germany. Presently he is signed to Moist Music and electronica mega-producer Edgar L. Montiels' (aka Decoding Jesus) indie electronica label, Let's Beat Milo Records, based out of Los Angeles, California.

Discography

2010- Talking to Yourself
2004 - The Great Soundclash Swindle
 2003 - Kill The DJ
 2002 - Misdirected Jealousy: The Remix Album
 2002 - Keokiclash
 2001 - Jealousy (also released in a Limited Edition 2XCD version with bonus CD w/ exclusive remixes)
2000 - djmixed.com/keoki
 1998 - Altered Ego Trip (The Remix Album)
 1998 - Inevitable Alien Nation
 1997 - Ego Trip
1996 - Disco Death Race 2000
 1996 - The Transatlantic Move
 1995 - All Mixed Up
 1994 - Journeys By DJ 1993 - We Are One
 1991 - DJ Keoki Presents Disco 2000 - Volume Two (12")
 1991 - DJ Keoki Presents Disco 2000 - Volume One (12")

Popular media

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Gary C. W. Chun (December 7, 2001). "Superstar DJ Keoki keeps the party going". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  2. ↑ "Keoki Biography". famousdjs. 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
  3. ↑ Michael Musto (March 26, 2002). "NYC Life". villagevoice. Retrieved 2008-03-22. Alig and his then boyfriend, Keoki,
  4. ↑ DJ Keoki (2007). "DJ Keoki". djkeoki.net. Retrieved 2008-03-25. The 'I passed out on the turntable' story that I have heard forever that never happened. I guarantee you that never fu*kin' happened.

External links

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