Bad Boy Bill
Encyclopedia
Bad Boy Bill is a DJ
from Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
. He plays an assortment of house music
.
Bad Boy Bill began his DJ career in 1985 during the Chicago House music movement of the mid and late 80's working with Mike "Hitman" Wilson and Julian "Jumpin" Perez of the then WBMX dj mixing team known as the Hot Mix 5
. Bill's popularity began to grow by dj'ing parties throughout Chicago and the Suburbs opening for the Hot Mix 5 dj's.
Currently Bad Boy Bill plays everything from House
to Electro. He is known to play on six different turntables
at once. He has come close to winning the DMC
championships a few times. He is considered to be a "Superstar" DJ.
to form the house dj super-group: The House Connection. They have released two mix albums with their last being in 1998. In May 2006 Bill did a special 2 night reunion show with fellow House Connection mate Richard Vission
in Dallas and Detroit. This was the first time the two have spun together in 6 years. Rumors have started about a House Connection 3 being in the works.
Bill embarked on a 3 show tour in May 2006 under the headline "BTD Live". Bill performed at "The Church" in Denver, Avalon in Los Angeles, and Crobar in Chicago. Both audio and video were recorded at these gigs after which a BTD Live CD/DVD was released in the stores in October 2006.
Bill's artist album, titled The Album was released on July 28, 2009. He performed live on Chicago's B96 radio station on the day of release, and toured extensively in support of the album.
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
from Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He plays an assortment of house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
.
Bad Boy Bill began his DJ career in 1985 during the Chicago House music movement of the mid and late 80's working with Mike "Hitman" Wilson and Julian "Jumpin" Perez of the then WBMX dj mixing team known as the Hot Mix 5
Hot Mix 5
The Hot Mix 5 were an American DJ crew originating from Chicago, Illinois and formed in 1981. The founding members were Farley "Funkin" Keith , Mickey "Mixin" Oliver, Scott "Smokin" Silz, Ralphi Rosario and Kenny "Jammin" Jason...
. Bill's popularity began to grow by dj'ing parties throughout Chicago and the Suburbs opening for the Hot Mix 5 dj's.
Currently Bad Boy Bill plays everything from House
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
to Electro. He is known to play on six different turntables
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
at once. He has come close to winning the DMC
Disco Mix Club
Disco Mix Club is a DJ remix service founded by Tony Prince which began as a radio show in 1981 on Radio Luxembourg in the UK. Prince helped popularise a new style of DJ mixes using the turntable as an instrument. DMC started operating as a remix service in 1983. They started producing remix...
championships a few times. He is considered to be a "Superstar" DJ.
Street DJ Promotions era (1987–1995)
Bill made a series of promo mix tapes from about 1987–1995 under the name "Street DJ Promotions". These tapes were basically distributed out of the trunk of his car to local Chicago area record shops, flea markets, and they were also given away at Bill's DJ gigs. These mixes included: Hot Mix #1-17, Non-Stop Hip-Hop, Flashbacks Vol. 1 & 2, Classics Vol. 1-3, Street Style 1 & 2, and Gettin' Wicked. These were almost all in cassette form, with the exceptions of Hot Mix #16, Hot Mix 17, and Non-Stop Hip-Hop, which were produced on both CD and cassette. Bill has been credited with the idea of producing mass mix tapes, which before had only been made in small numbers. Taking the idea from a suggestion from Andre Lopez, owner of Hot Jams record store, Bill set out to promote the music and his mixing style. Thus spawning the "Hot Mix" tape series. The series was so wildly popular that a majority of Chicago DJs followed his lead, and soon it seemed like almost every DJ in Chicago was producing and distributing their own mix tapes. This caught the attention of the RIAA and many music publishing houses who did not collect any money from the use of copyrighted music on the vast number of mix tapes being produced and sold throughout Chicago by these many DJs. Change was inevitable and licensed mixes with national distribution was the way to go. Bill, always being an innovator, got on the forefront of the licensed mix movement and started Mix Connection Multimedia. He has been generally credited with being the first Chicago DJ to produce legally licensed mixes.Mix Connection Multimedia era (1995–2001)
Bill created Mix Connection Multimedia (MCM) in 1995 to not only produce legally licensed mixes, but to serve as an umbrella company for several side projects and record labels such as: International House Records (IHR), Moody Recordings, Contaminated Muzik, Canvas Recordings, & Motus Music. MCM has most notably produced Bangin' The Box Vol. 1-5, The House Connection (w/ Richard "Humpty" Vission) Vol. 1 & 2, and The B-96 Mixmaster Throwdown Vol. 1-5.Bangin' The Box (1995–2001)
Bill's Bangin' The Box series is one of the best selling series in dance music history with five volumes. There was also an offshoot of this series titled Bangin in London released in 2000.House Connection (1997–1998)
Bad Boy Bill teamed up with Richard VissionRichard Vission
Richard "Humpty" Vission is a house music producer, remixer and DJ born Richard Gonzalez in Toronto, Ontario. He was raised in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles, California....
to form the house dj super-group: The House Connection. They have released two mix albums with their last being in 1998. In May 2006 Bill did a special 2 night reunion show with fellow House Connection mate Richard Vission
Richard Vission
Richard "Humpty" Vission is a house music producer, remixer and DJ born Richard Gonzalez in Toronto, Ontario. He was raised in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles, California....
in Dallas and Detroit. This was the first time the two have spun together in 6 years. Rumors have started about a House Connection 3 being in the works.
Behind The Decks (2003–2006)
In 2003 he released a CD/DVD mix album entitled Behind the Decks. Behind the Decks was originally supposed to be a new series along the same lines as Transport/Tranceport for house music. A second album has not been announced for this series as of July 2007.Bill embarked on a 3 show tour in May 2006 under the headline "BTD Live". Bill performed at "The Church" in Denver, Avalon in Los Angeles, and Crobar in Chicago. Both audio and video were recorded at these gigs after which a BTD Live CD/DVD was released in the stores in October 2006.
Artist Album and New Mix Album (2007-Present)
ClubPlanet.com did an interview with Bill in January 2007 where he talked briefly about his upcoming projects. He said to expect, "rock, hip-hop, and house" on his artist album. Bill also stated that his new mix album will be all house music.Bill's artist album, titled The Album was released on July 28, 2009. He performed live on Chicago's B96 radio station on the day of release, and toured extensively in support of the album.
Awards
- 2006 Ranked 1st as America's Favorite House DJ according to BPM Magazine
- 2005 URB Magazine MSSV Contributors' Poll Winner, "Best Dance DJ"
- 2003 Ranked 1st as America's Favorite House DJ according to BPM Magazine
- 2002 Ranked 4th as America's Favorite House DJ according to BPM Magazine
- 2001 Ranked 40th best DJ in the world according to DJ Magazine
- 2000 Ranked 84th best DJ in the world according to DJ Magazine
- 1999 URB Magazine Readers Poll 2nd Place DJ of the Year
- 1998 Winter Music Conference Mixshow DJ of the Year
- 1989 DMCDMC-Computer Science or IT:*Diffusion Monte Carlo, a method that utilizes a Green function to solve the Schrödinger equation*Dynamic Markov Compression, a general purpose statistical data compression algorithm...
US Finals (3rd Place) - 1988 DMCDMC-Computer Science or IT:*Diffusion Monte Carlo, a method that utilizes a Green function to solve the Schrödinger equation*Dynamic Markov Compression, a general purpose statistical data compression algorithm...
US Finals (2nd Place) - 1988 DMCDMC-Computer Science or IT:*Diffusion Monte Carlo, a method that utilizes a Green function to solve the Schrödinger equation*Dynamic Markov Compression, a general purpose statistical data compression algorithm...
Midwest Finals (1st Place) - 1987 Hot 105 (Miami) Battle of the DJ's (1st Place)
Continuous DJ Mixes
- TBA - New Mix Album
- October 17, 2006 - Behind The Decks Live CD/DVD
- September 2003 - Behind the Decks CD/DVD
- September 2001 - Bangin' The Box Vol. 5
- April 2000 - Bangin' In London
- August 1999 - Bangin' The Box Vol. 4
- October 1998 - House Connection Vol. 2 (with Richard VissionRichard VissionRichard "Humpty" Vission is a house music producer, remixer and DJ born Richard Gonzalez in Toronto, Ontario. He was raised in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles, California....
) - September 1998 - Mixmaster Throwdown Vol. 3 (with B96 DJs)
- April 1998 - Bangin' The Box Vol. 3
- October 1997 - Global House Culture Vol. 4
- July 1997 - Mixmaster Throwdown Vol. 2 (with B96 DJs)
- May 1997 - The House Connection (with Richard VissionRichard VissionRichard "Humpty" Vission is a house music producer, remixer and DJ born Richard Gonzalez in Toronto, Ontario. He was raised in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles, California....
) - October 1996 - Bangin' The Box Vol. 2
- June 1996 - Mixmaster Throwdown Vol. 1 (with B96 DJs)
- October 1995 - Bangin' The Box Vol. 1
- 1994 - Gettin' Wicked Vol. 1
- 1994 - Street Style 1 & 2
- 1993 - Non-Stop Hip-Hop
- 1988–1994 Hot Mix Series 1-17
Singles
- 2010 Fast Life featuring Alex Peace
- 2009 Do What You Like featuring Alyssa Palmer
- 2009 Falling Anthem featuring Alyssa Palmer
- 2003 Illicit Activities EP with Hatiras
- 2003 Happy featuring Kevin Irving
- 2002 Costa Del Sol featuring Nadine Renee
- 2001 Everybody featuring Alex Peace
- 1988 The First Revelation EP
- 1988 How Do Ya Feel
- 1987 Are You The One?
- 1987 Jack It All Night Long
Remixes
- 2007 Shock Stars - End Of Chicago - Bad Boy Bill Remix
- 2007 Nelly FurtadoNelly FurtadoNelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy...
- Say It Right - Menage Music Remix / Menage Acid Mix - 2006 Steve Smooth & JJ Flores - Time For Love - Bad Boy Bill Remix
- 2005 Nine Inch NailsNine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
- The Hand That Feeds - Smooth & J & Bad Boy Bill Remix - 2003 Harrison Crump - The Talk 2 - Bad Boy Bill Remix
- 1990 Dada NadaDada NadaDada Nada - House Music and Hip House act which served as the moniker for Robert Ozn after the breakup of New York art rock act EBN-OZN, an MTV darling in the mid 80s. Dada Nada had two American Billboard Top 5 Club records in 1989 and 1990: Haunted House and Deep Love, plus additional charted...
- "Deep Love" - Hip House Remix - Top 5 Billboard Club