True House Stories® Youtube & Spotify Video Podcast
TRUE HOUSE STORIES W/ FREDDY BASTONE
Freddy Bastone interviewed by Lenny Fontana for True House Stories # 063
Part 1
Freddy Bastone in part 1 shares his beginning from playing a flying V Guitar and the true admiration of rock music and sharing the appreciation of all types music with his mom and dad. His DJ career begins back in 1979 with his first vinyl purchase of Herb Albert’s “Rise” and he begins to play at parties and the move to clubs starts to takes off from there. He also shares how his job at Danceteria begins. This is a true NYC story.
Part 2
Danceteria legend DJ Freddy Bastone shares what the NYC Club life was like back in the 1980s. His work in the studio remixing during the day earns him the gold and platinum awards for his special Bastone remixes. Freddy also gets to work on one of the greatest bands of all time Queen and meets his hero Freddie Mercury.
Freddy talks candid about his friendship with Larry Levan, Bob Caviano and Larry Yasgar and all the records he helped signed as an A&R for the labels he had personal relationships with. The interview is a deep discussion and nothing is held back.
Freddy Bastone YouTube Video Part 1
Freddy Bastone YouTube Video Part 2
Biography Freddy Bastone
Bronx-born, Freddy Bastone is known for his plethora of styles as a music producer and DJ. Over the course of his career, he has recorded countless Platinum records with the most influential artists in the music business. He started his professional DJ career in NYC as a teenager in the 80s at the world-famous Danceteria (Rudolf Piper and John Argento), Studio 54, the Palladium (Steve Rubell and Ian Straeger) the Underground (John Contini), and Torries where his versatile style earned him a loyal following and the attention of renowned record labels and producers who hired him as an influencer with dance music ears in the clubs, studios and in the editing room.
The mid to late 80s was a very busy time for Bastone, playing live shows for Hot 103 FM from The legendary Palladium & Studio 54 on Friday and Saturday nights. The recognition from his work on hot mixes for radio and relationships developed with his mentors John Luongo, Mark Kamins, Arthur Baker, Larry Levan and others led
Bastone to create studio remixes for artists such as Carolyn Harding, The Communards, The Style Council, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Blaze, The Temptations, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Samantha Fox, George Michael, Taffy, Secession, Dread Flinstone, Queen, Freddie Mercury, Konk, Brilliant, Jackson 5, Billie Idol, Yes, Loleatta Holoway, Sky, Rod Stewart, When in Rome, Nu Shooz, The Voice in Fashion, Raww, Lonnie Gordon, Boy George, Malcolm Mclaren, Judas Priest, Savage Garden, Full House, Safire, Mitsou, Was not Was, and Danny Extravaganza which was the first vogue track to hit the clubs.
The mid to late 80s was a very busy time for Bastone, playing live shows for Hot 103 FM from The legendary Palladium & Studio 54 on Friday and Saturday nights. The recognition from his work on hot mixes for radio and relationships developed with his mentors John Luongo, Mark Kamins, Arthur Baker, Larry Levan and others led Bastone to create studio remixes for artists such as
Carolyn Harding, The Communards, The Style Council, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Blaze, The Temptations, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Samantha Fox, George Michael, Taffy, Secession, Dread Flinstone, Queen, Freddie Mercury, Konk, Brilliant, Jackson 5, Billie Idol, Yes, Loleatta Holoway, Sky, Rod Stewart, When in Rome, Nu Shooz, The Voice in Fashion, Raww, Lonnie Gordon, Boy George, Malcolm Mclaren, Judas Priest, Savage Garden, Full House, Safire, Mitsou, Was not Was, and Danny Extravaganza which was the first vogue track to hit the clubs.
Bastone also worked as an A and R rep for both Profile Records (Corey Robins) and Emergency Records (Sergio Cossa and Curtis Urbina), where he developed artists Paul Hardcastle, Blaze, Taffy, Raww and started his own label, Metropolis Records, under the Emergency umbrellaWith mgmt. company Promotion (Brad LeBeau), Bastone went from remixing to producing. Freddy Bastone (alias The Corporation of One), “The Real Life” was a #1 track in the UK which led to a record deal with Fiction Records (Chris Parry) and a publishing deal with MCA. Bastone’s new Dance music is released under the name Bastone & Henry. Bastone introduced the band Nu Shooz “I Can’t Wait” to Atlantic Records which quickly went to #1.
Epic Records President Don Greason hired Bastone to bring new acts to his lineup of talent, delivering their first house music group “Full House” and #1 pop sensation Will to PowerKeeping to the streets, Bastone Produced Latin rapper/singer Pablo Toto for Tuff City who became a cult artist with his hit “Dame Chocha”. At this point in his career, Bastone was DJing at the newest and hottest clubs in the world such as Marz (Rudolf and Yuki Watanabe), The Underground (John Contini), 4D, and Merlins in NYCBastone toured the world performing in countries in the UK (Heaven, The Whiskey & The Hacienda), Japan (Genesis, Air Craft Carrier), and Taiwan (Taipei) amongst others.
The 2000s also saw Bastone collaborating with numerous producers including Jeffrey Burnstien (Bastone and Burns), Mark Henry, Tony Mangurian, Rockafella, and John Robie. They created remixes and productions for such artists as J. Lo, Missy Elliot, Jamirquai, Jewel, Res, Kevin Lyttle, S Club, Gioia, Cristina Aguilera, Rod Stewart, Nora Jones, Lil Kim, Yazmeen, Hall and Oates, Shakira, Titiyo, Laura Fabian, Justin Timberlake, Radio Head, Adele, Jessi J, Bastone & Berrios, Kim Cameron, Carlton Ford to name a few.