DJ Keoki
Encyclopedia
Superstar DJ Keoki is an Electronic music
,among other genres DJ
. Born in El Salvador
and raised in Hawaii
, Keoki reached 'Superstar' status shortly after moving to New York City.
but moved to Kihei, Maui
, when he was 8. After graduating from Kailua High School
he moved to the mainland to study at an airline school in California
. Franconi enjoyed a brief career with several airline operations in New York, among them the now defunct Trans World Airlines, while also being a busboy at the city's trendy Danceteria
club. It was at Danceteria that he got his start:
he met and began a romance with Michael Alig
. 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,
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 urban legend, supposedly stating "I guarantee you that never fucking happened".
dances. In 2006 and 2007, he toured, dressed extravagantly, wearing makeup, and sporting a number of tattoo
s, in the United States and Europe on the Club Party Monster Tour, a tribute to both the film Party Monster as well as a nod to the Club Kid scene that shot him into stardom.
, Shag in Denver, Colorado
, Tantra in Tampa, Florida
, and Hard Rock Cafe
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
. He also makes annual appearances in Moscow
at the Gaudi Fest during Halloween
. He has played at the Love Parade
in Berlin, Germany.
He is currently managed by the Los Angeles
company [AMP] (www.AmpTheAgency.com). As of 2009 he relocated his home to Denver, Colorado
.
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
1995 - We Are One
1994 - Journeys By DJ
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
,among other genres DJ
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...
. Born in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
and raised in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Keoki reached 'Superstar' status shortly after moving to New York City.
Bio
Keoki Franconi was born in El SalvadorEl Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
but moved to Kihei, Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
, when he was 8. After graduating from Kailua High School
Kailua High School
Kailua High School is a four-year public high school located in the Maunawili CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States on the island of O‘ahu, adjacent to the Kailua CDP. The school serves students grades 9 through 12.-History:...
he moved to the mainland to study at an airline school in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Franconi enjoyed a brief career with several airline operations in New York, among them the now defunct Trans World Airlines, while also being a busboy at the city's trendy Danceteria
Danceteria
Danceteria was a well-known four-floor nightclub located in New York City which operated from 1980 until 1986 and in the Hamptons until 1995. Throughout its history, the club had seven different locations, three in NYC and four in the Hamptons...
club. It was at Danceteria that he got his start:
Club Kids and Michael Alig
While in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
he met and began a romance with Michael Alig
Michael Alig
Michael Alig is the co-founding member of the Club Kids, a group of young clubgoers led by long time best friend James St. James and Alig in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
. Alig rose to international notability as the head of "the Club Kids
Club Kids
The Club Kids were a group of young New York City club personalities mostly led by Michael Alig and James St. James in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
" 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
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Dance music writer Jennifer Warner remembers,
While DJing at Disco 2000, Alig's party night at the Limelight
The Limelight
The Limelight is the name of a chain of nightclubs that were owned and operated by Peter Gatien, located in Atlanta, Hollywood, Florida, and London, and formerly in New York City and Chicago.-History:...
, Franconi was alleged to have passed out on the turntables while performing a set. He has completely denied the urban legend, supposedly stating "I guarantee you that never fucking happened".
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 raveRave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
dances. In 2006 and 2007, he toured, dressed extravagantly, wearing makeup, and sporting a number of tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
s, in the United States and Europe on the Club Party Monster Tour, a tribute to both the film Party Monster as well as a nod to the Club Kid scene that shot him into stardom.
After Partymonster
Franconi still tours, performing at venues such as The Viper Room in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, Shag in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, Tantra in Tampa, Florida
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
, and Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2006, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and...
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
. He also makes annual appearances in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
at the Gaudi Fest during Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
. He has played at the Love Parade
Love Parade
The Love Parade was a popular electronic dance music festival and parade that originated in 1989 in West Berlin, Germany. It was held in Germany annually between 1989 and 2003 in Berlin, and then from 2006 to 2010 in the Ruhr region...
in Berlin, Germany.
He is currently managed by the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
company [AMP] (www.AmpTheAgency.com). As of 2009 he relocated his home to Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
.
Discography
2010- Talking to Yourself2004 - 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
1995 - We Are One
1994 - Journeys By DJ
Popular Media
- He is written about in James St. JamesJames St. JamesJames St. James is an American television personality, author, celebutante and former Club Kid of the Manhattan club scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s.James St...
' book, Disco BloodbathDisco BloodbathDisco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland is a 1999 memoir written by James St. James about his life as a Manhattan celebutante and club kid. The book specifically chronicles his friend Michael Alig's rise to fame and his subsequent murder of fellow club kid and drug dealer...
: - He was portrayed by Wilmer ValderramaWilmer ValderramaWilmer Eduardo Valderrama is an American actor and television personality, known for the role of Fez in the sitcom That '70s Show, hosting the MTV series Yo Momma, and voicing the character of Manny in the children's show Handy Manny.-Early life:Valderrama was born in Miami, Florida the son of...
in Party Monster, a biopic about James St. James and Michael Alig - Interviewed in Better Living Through CircuitryBetter Living Through CircuitryBetter Living Through Circuitry is a 1999 documentary directed by Jon Reiss about the Electronic Dance movement of the 90's. The documentary is considered the first full-length film that goes behind the Electronic Dance scene and uncovers the culture it has spawned...
, a 1999 documentaryDocumentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about Electronic dance musicElectronic dance musicElectronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
culture - His song "Caterpillar" was featured in The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish".