Ruby Skye and Spundae Present
Felix da Housecat
Friday, December 19 – 9pm
While growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Felix’s early influences were Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire, but his first real foray into the business was playing keyboards in a Prince cover band called Shades of Blue. Soon, however, the house music revolution drew Felix’s attention, sparking him to start recording his own music at home on a four-track when he was 14. After a brief stint at Alabama State University, Felix moved back up north and studied audio engineering at Columbia College while working at a pizza restaurant.
Through a bit of luck, he ended up moving to London with DJ Pierre, where he quickly sold two tracks, “What’s Love About” to Freetown Inc and “Thee Dawn” to William Orbit’s Guerilla label, the latter of which became a smash European hit in 1992. This was followed in 1993 by his first full-length By Dawns Early Light. After fooling around in the studio with with Miss Kittin and Dave the Hustler, the three released the album Kittenz & Thee Glitz, which, despite or due to its silliness, became a surprise megahit. In 2003, he was nominated for Grammy Award for his mix of Rinocerose’s “Lost Love,” released two mix albums entitled Excursions and Bugged Out, and began working with artists like P-Diddy, who were eager to tap his prodigious production skills.
With all that said, one inevitable question remains, where did the name “Devin Dazzle and the Neon Fever” come from? Felix being Felix, has an answer for everything: “Devin Dazzle is a character fascinated by the nightlife,” he says “Every time he sees neon lights he gets the fever. But Dazzle has a friend named Neon Fever who’s a bad influence on him and is everything opposite of Devin.” So, might this be an autobiographical album? “It’s something personal” he says, “and I’m not gonna tell.”
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