True House Stories® Youtube & Spotify Video Podcast
TRUE HOUSE STORIES W/ DJ PAULETTE
DJ Paulette interviewed by Lenny Fontana for True House Stories® # 054
Part 1
Dj Paulette story begins with her mom being a singer and club owner. While she was pregnant carrying Paulette she went into labour on stage and finished her whole set with the band and delivered Paulette and her Identical twin sister Paula. Born into a family of eight siblings and parents who were music lovers which played a huge influence on Paulette’s career in music.
She learned to play violin, piano and saxophone. Paulette wound up playing violin in orchestra until age of 15. She started clubbing at the tender age of 15, her music collection is very eclectic but a true representative of her personality. Melody, vocals and bass lines were key to her sound – music to make you dance!!
Part 2
Dj Paulette begins to work at Piccadilly Radio, and became Record librarian. While at Piccadilly she studied and work towards degree in English. Paulette hung out at the Hacienda and funded her education through DJing. She wound up becoming a presenter on a 2 series of Juice between the Years of 1992-94, which helped paid for her decks. Paulette played at Flesh – once a month and held a residency at Hacienda for 4 years.
Dj Paulette went on to play super clubs such as Ministry of Sound, Heaven, and worked her way to becoming a press officer for Mercury records and other labels. Whilst studying for her degree, Paulette decided not to go on to do her Masters, she chose music as her profession.
She would watch and study how DJs such as Danny Krivit, Paul Trouble Anderson, Carl Cox and CJ Macintosh would work there sets and from what she heard she developed her own techniques and created her own style. Being a successful presenter helped kickstart Paulette’s DJ career playing at all the venues in the UK and abroad. She went on to producing music in addition to DJing and TV presenting and radio personality DJ.
Paulette is now preparing to write a book. Learn how Paulette worked to stay in the business for over 30 years, riding the waves and trying to maintain a steady career.
Listen to Paulette’s perception of social media and streaming and the uncertainty of locking down work and how the times and goal posts changed which makes it such a difficult environment to be working in right now.
With lots of DJ bookings incoming, keep supporting this incredible lady who has continued to succeed in a very tough male dominant industry since the 90s.
DJ Paulette YouTube Video Part 1
DJ Paulette YouTube Video Part 2
Biography DJ Paulette
Winner of the DJ Mag Top 100 Lifetime Achievement Award (November 2022) DJ Paulette is a highly regarded DJ across the UK and Europe, born and raised in (and still resident of) Manchester. Over a 30-year career, she has scaled the heights of dance music fame and hedonism playing disco, house and techno to huge crowds and in cool underground basements. She is a dj who is renowned for consistently ‘smashing’ every set she plays.
One of two women to have a residency at the Hacienda in its heyday, she went on to have residencies at Heaven and Ministry of Sound, before successful stints in Paris and Ibiza. She has a keen talent for reinvention and replicating excellence. She is known for her monthly radio shows with Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM, Reform Radio and a Global Residency show produced in collaboration with The Radio Department that is syndicated to stations around the world and is a regular dj guest and presenter stand in for various shows on BBC 6 Music.
This year she has played headline sets at Beams in London, Warehouse Project – Glitterbox, Homobloc and Hacienda, in the NYC Downlow for Block 9 at Glastonbury, Beatherder, Brixton Disco Festival, Worldwide Festival in Sete, Mighty Hoopla, Horsemeat Disco in Berlin, Kelburn Garden Party, The National Theatre River Stage, Gilles Peterson’s stage for All Points East, Brighton Pride, Glitterbox at Hi Ibiza, Flow Festival in Finland, Homoelectric, Feel It at Omeara and Fatboy Slim’s Weekender ‘All Back to Minehead’.
Apart from dj’ing Paulette is an events and exhibition curator and a regular contributor to radio shows as diverse as Jamz Supernova on 6Music, Radcliffe and Maconie , Afrodeutsche’s ‘The People’s Party’, Amy Lame, Anamatronic’s ‘Dance Devotion’, Eats Everything’s ‘Edible Beats’. She sits on the Regional Committee for the Musicians’ Union and is a Power Up mentor for shesaidso. She is putting the finishing touches to her debut book which is called ‘Welcome To The Club’. It will be published in Autumn 2023 by Manchester University Press.