Colette

House music innovator DJ Colette entered the world as Colette Marino in Chicago during 1975. Classical vocal performance entered her studies at the age of nine, after which she pursued painting and music at the city’s Lane Tech. Collaboration with Chicago house mainstay Lego began in 1993, when she supplied vocals for several of his mixes and joined select live sets. As a DePaul University student she next experimented by singing improvised lyrics and melodies over karaoke tracks, capturing the results on tape. Those dorm-room efforts drew notice from area producers such as Mazi, DJ Sneak, and Roy Davis Jr., the latter two incorporating her vocals into their own releases starting with Shroom Network’s 1996 album Moments of Epiphany. Turntables became her first purchase from DJ Sneak, and in 1997 she assembled the all-female SuperJane crew alongside DJ Dayhota and DJ Heather. Live mixing soon incorporated her own vocals, leading to the 2000 release of her debut DJ Colette album, In the Sun. That same autumn she moved to Los Angeles, where she signed with Nettwerk and delivered the mix CD Our Day the next summer. Motorola selected her, along with Paul Van Dyk and Felix da Housecat, as the face and sound of its worldwide 2003 advertising campaign. She reappeared in stores in 2005 with the OM label release Hypnotized.