True House Stories® Youtube & Spotify Video Podcast
TRUE HOUSE STORIES W/ MIKE DUNN # 080
Mike Dunn interviewed by Lenny Fontana for True House Stories # 080
Part 1
Chicago house music legend Mike Dunn, has been DJing and producing music for over twenty years. Hailing from Englewood, Chicago, Mike started out DJing at the local block parties that took place playing disco, funk, soul and prototype Chicago house tracks. “I was one of the first cats bringing two reel-to-reels and spinning with them at the parties.
I was bringing out two Pioneer 707s, doing the Hummingbird, Jacks, The Courtyard, etc. I’d bring a drum machine, too. I would make tracks right then as the party was going. Way before my guys Daft Punk and all of them were doing live gigs, I was doing that at the basement parties – just bringing drum machines and doing everything live.
Part 2
Word soon spread about his talents and Mike Dunn was booked for various clubs in and around Chicago, DJ’ing with house music innovators such as Ron Hardy, Larry Heard and good friend Armando Gallop. It wasn’t long before Mike got the production bug, resulting in his first release in 1987, “Dance You Mutha” on Westbrook Records, he also started to produce and engineer for other Chicago artists, such as Armando, Fast Eddie and K-Alexi Shelby.
More house and techno productions followed in the late 80s with Mike’s distinctive vocal delivery and trademark hip-house, acid, production style, to create tracks such as ‘Let It Be House’, ‘Magic Feet’ and “Face the Nation”, sometimes under the name Mike Dunn but also under aliases such as MD Connection, MDIII and QX-1.
He continued to produce and release throughout the 1990s, with releases on labels such as Nervous, Nitestuff and Tribal America, whilst also working with other producers and vocalists such as Syleena Johnson, Byron Stingley, Mina Jackson, Kool Rock Steady and Kym English to name a few.
Puff Daddy in the late 1990s stepped to Mike and signed him to a production deal with the artists he managed and produced in hip hop artists. Listen to Mike break the P Diddy Story down and take you to the future.
Mike Dunn YouTube Video Part 1
Mike Dunn YouTube Video Part 2
Biography Mike Dunn
Chicago house music legend Mike Dunn, has been DJing and producing music for over twenty years. Hailing from Englewood in Chicago, he grew up listening to his parents record collection, before falling in love with soul, funk, disco and later house and hip hop.
Mike started out DJing at the block parties that took place in and around Englewood in Chicago, playing disco, funk, soul and prototype Chicago house tracks. Word soon spread about his talents and Mike started to get booked for various clubs in and around Chicago, DJ’ing with house music innovators such as Ron Hardy, Larry Heard and good friend Armando Gallop.
It wasn’t long before he Mike got the production bug, resulting in his first release in 1987, “Dance You Mutha” on Westbrook Records. More house and techno productions followed, with Mike often working under various aliases, such as MDIII, MD Connection and QX-1.
Other tracks soon followed in Mike’s trademark chicago house/acid and hip house style. With tracks such as ‘Let It Be House’, ‘Magic Feet’, ‘Phreaky MF’ as well as the underground house anthem ‘ God Made Me Phunky’, (originally released on nitestuff in 1994 and most recently re-released by Defected records in the UK).and releases on such prestigious labels as Traxx, DJ International, Sub Urban and Clone.
A brief break from house music, led Mike to have a brief fling with his other love, hip hop. Mike moved his attentions to hip hop, becoming the first person to get a joint venture deal via P Diddy’s Bad Boy Records. During Mike’s hip hop period he produced artists such as Public Announcement and Syleena Johnson (including the hit single, ‘Tonight i’m gonna let myself go’).
Mike never stopped producing house tracks during his flirtation with hip hop, so it didn’t take long for him to find his groove again. In 2007 Defected records licensed ‘God Made Me Phunky’ (remixes by Harry Choo Choo, Izmabad, Aaron Ross & Groove Assasin) and two singles followed, ‘The congregation Vol 1’ and ‘The congregation vol 2’ .
2012 see’s Mike Dunn making some moves. He launches his eagerly anticipated, Black Ball Muzik label this year, expect the usual Mike Dunn club traxx, some deeper productions and not forgetting the old school Chicago Acid tracks…
Check out Mike Dunn live from the Dungeon, every sunday 10pm-12 UK /4pm until 6pm (cst) on pressure radio. Mike continues to DJ throughout the US and Internationally, with his energetic dj style, guaranteed to Jack the party. You can also check Mike Dunn out every Friday night on Chicago’s Soul 106.3 (9-10pm Chicago).