True House Stories® Youtube & Spotify Video Podcast
TRUE HOUSE STORIES W/ DAVID MORALES
David Morales interviewed by Lenny Fontana for True House Stories™ # 027
With a real passion for music in his veins from a very young age, from very humble beginnings, David Morales was destined to follow his dream and took the opportunity to play music at any given chance.
David’s very first gig was playing at the Loft for Lulu.
His first regular Djing spot started at Ozone Layer where Lulu was the hostess. Still working a job in a restaurant, David was fortunate to meet Mike Brady from Paradise Garage and was invited to play at this incredible NYC club in 1983, where he invited legends such as Captain Black and Jocelyn Brown to the party.
With huge names currently on the lineup at Paradise Garage -no one yet knew of David…. But they soon would!!
In 1985, David started to work in music production -David Cole and Bruce Flowers being pivotal to David’s producing career. Nicky Holloway and Pete Tong invited David to play at Estoria, only 40 minutes into his set, he was asked to stop playing just as he was getting into his set, for Jomanda to perform!!
David set up Defmix productions but with very little direction, experience and to just be landed in the midst of music industry, he had to learn the business very quickly in order to succeed.
Making multiple hit records, but never truly reaping the rewards for his hard work and commitment, David worked day in day out making 2-3 tracks every week. David Morales was a true grafter and his passion was what kept him inspired to continue working relentlessly. Despite not earning what he deserved he continued to follow his dream.
Remixing is where David found his fortune in the industry. Frankie knuckles and David worked on so many remixes, in fact rewriting entire tracks and even changing the titles of the tracks, David simply received a flat fee and did not gain the recognition he deserved.
Mariah Carey “Dream Lover”, was his 1st superstar track remix. At first, he questioned the track due to it being extremely commercial (at the same time rejecting remix work for legends such as David Bowie) this remix became one of the songs David Morales is so famous for.
David also had the incredible opportunity to work with Todd Terry, a born musician, no need for any equipment – the SP1200 was the weapon!!
David is all for advances in technology and plugins etc. – his motto- simply work them to the absolute max.
Having worked on remixes for Michael and Janet Jackson, you would expect David to be living the high life – the truth is it involved signing non disclosures, bag checks etc. – security was paramount, not quite the fairytale you would have imagined.
Working alongside Aretha Franklin – one of David’s biggest fears was -‘how do you give constructive criticism to such an absolute legend’????
In the words of Aretha – Less is more and more is less. She absolutely embraced his opinion and gained her respect for his honesty.
Julio Iglesias was another star that David worked with. Giving his mother a dream come true, David arranged for Julio to call his mother to say ‘hi’ was just one of the many hi lights of working with such legendary musicians.
Donna Summer was David’s absolute no 1 idol and working with Jocelyn Brown was, yet another dream come true – to David, Jocelyn was an incredible legend he never imagined he would ever work with. Much to David’s dismay he was arrested in Japan during his career. How was that for David?? At 57 years of age – truly mortifying, listen to David’s very raw and open account of coping in a Japanese prison where no-one spoke his language and all of his basic rights were taken away.
An experience that will live with David forever but taught him about the importance of the simplicity of life – Health and Freedom. One of the memories David has about this true horror was when a prison officer recognized David and played his music – which really helped him get through this ordeal.
David Morales YouTube Video Part 1
David Morales YouTube Video Part 2
Biography David Morales
David Morales is a globally revered American DJ, a Grammy award-winning record producer, songwriter, and businessman. He has produced and remixed over 500 records for an all-star roster of multi-platinum artists, including Mariah Carey, U2, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, and Whitney Houston. The global phenomenon and penetration of dance music into Top 40 radio would not have been possible without him.
Morales launched DIRIDIM Records in 2018. With this new label, Morales is signing and developing artists—and naturally, releasing some of his own productions. DIRIDIM celebrates all kinds of dance music, from the classic sounds Morales is known for to straight-up electronic.
In January 2022, Morales released “Life Is a Song”, his first full-length studio album in almost 10 years. Produced during the pandemic lockdown, the album featuring artists, Mr. V., Blakkat, Elle Cato, Michelle Perera, Lea Lorien, among others, quickly gained an international following eager to hear more and skyrocketed up Traxsource’s album chart to #1 for three weeks. His unquenchable thirst for newness is precisely why this native New Yorker remains relevant. “It’s about keeping an open mind,” Morales explains.
A native New Yorker, Morales was one of the first superstar DJs to actively tour the world—and his activity, over the years has only increased. In 2020, due to the global pandemic and inability to travel, he launched, Sunday Mass, a livestreaming show on Twitch to entertain his fans across the world. The 2021 IMS Business Report based on data, cited him as one of the dance music artists who experienced online success during the pandemic. As restrictions for travel continue to ease globally, Morales has DJ gigs booked through the end of 2022 in New York, the UK, Italy, Greece, and Croatia.