Leroy Washington

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Leroy Washington

New York Disco DJ

Leroy Washington is originaly from Detroit Michigan. He arrived in New York in the early 1970s.

Leroy was chosen personally by Studio 54 owner Steve Rubell as resident DJ for the re-opening of his legendary discotheque in 1981. Rubell heard Leroy spin at a small, but popular disco on east 45th Street in midtown Manhattan called Marco's, which latter became Starbucks.

Steve loved Leroy. In 1979, when Rubell and his partner Ian Schrager went to prison for income tax evason, the clientele at Studio 54 turned mostly Black and Hispanic. Rubell and Schrager's stand in Mike Stone recruited DJ Kenny Carpenter, but in 1981 when Steve Rubell came back into the picture and saw the new crowd he hated it and wanted the superstar jet-set crowd back at Studio 54.

Though Kenny Carpenter was a great DJ, his style was too black for Rubell as he preferred Leroy Washington, who had a wide musical range of Disco, Rock, Punk, R&B, New Wave, and Old School. It was exactly what Rubell was looking for. But Leroy could change his style when he wanted to and play records that were soulful and as black as Kenny Carpenter played. Leroy knew how to read his audience well and take them on a musical journey. He was Superb.

An interesting fact is that Leroy Washington was one of only three Black DJs to play at Studio 54 on a regularly extended basis ever! Leroy was also without any doubt the longest running resident DJ of any color in Studio 54 history. Leroy was also a real work horse spinning records up to 6 or 7 nights a week.

There were guest DJs from time to time for private events, but Leroy Washington was booked for many of those nights as well. After some time Leroy began to become burned out and over worked. In the fall of 1982 Leroy brought in his musical consultant and friend Dwayne Holt to spin at Studio 54. Dwayne had played a host of clubs in Long Island like Chanel 80, and Metro 700, two widely popular discos in the 1980s. Dwayne was a magnificent DJ at Studio 54 and for a peroid took over many of Leroys nights and eventually became the regular DJ for the John Blair-Steven Cohen gay Thursdays and Sundays.

Leroy Washington was still the main DJ at Studio 54 from 1981 to 1986. In 1982 Leroy opened Hi Tech Music at 68 Bleecker Street in the East Village, a record shop that specialized in dance imports and rare collectors Disco and R&B vinyl records. Hi Tech Music had commercials on "WBLS and WKTU" the two biggest dance radio stations in the city, and took out a weekly add in the #1 DJ trade magazine of the 1980s Dance Music Report this along with record man Dwayne Holt's encyclopedia like knowledge of dance music made Hi Tech Music a very popular hangout for New York City DJs in the early 1980s. DJ legends, Larry Levan and David Mancuso practicaly lived there.

In 1985 Leroy opened the club "Love Lite" on West 33rd Street in Manhattan with financial backing from the new Studio 54 owner Stanley Tate. Lovelite was a huge warehouse space wita an awsome and expensive Richrd Long sound system. The biggest and best DJs were showcased there, Lovelite was a hot club, but money problems forced it to close before it really got off the ground.

Photo below of Leroy Washington with Robert Desilva submitted by Gary Stewart.

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