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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.
Submitted by Tony Di Gregorio (1)
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Jun 05, 11 | 1:11 amhi graham i remember the store a lot of great records i brought
david was cool,drop me a line for a flash back ha.dusnil@optonline.net
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Jun 05, 11 | 1:08 am
hey Reginald Craddock,how you been this is d.j.mark if you remember me.
hope all is well what's up with mr.d.j.leroy washington not heard from him in many sundays ha,if you are in touch with him please tell him to call me or e-mail me
hope to hear from you as well.beatts@optonline.net..718-907-0751
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Feb 01, 11 | 5:53 pm
I discovered Hi Tech Music while wandering around the village with my parents in 1984 and I was in heaven. I was 13 at the time. They had these cool custom speakers in there that made everything sound amazing. I purchased a lot of records from them until they closed. I even got them to come out to the NJ suburbs to DJ my friends birthday party. Yeah, I was a white kid from the burbs who had a passion for house music. David Raimer was the guy I knew that worked there and he was really nice. He always made me feel at home. If anyone still knows David, tell him I say hi.
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Jun 19, 10 | 4:31 pm
Leroy Washington was one of the best DJ's I ever heard. I include him on the list of of greats like:
Richy Kaczor, Ernie Dunder, Lary Levan and others.
When it came to playing at Studio 54, he had a little help from a friend, Reginald Craddock, who was already working at Studio 54 on lighting and a backup DJ. He was another black DJ that worked at Studio regularly.
I suggested that Leroy play for a party I could not work. Steve loved him! Leroy became a regular DJ. And the best. I learned alot from him. He even helped me and Bert Bevans ge the job at the new Hef's club in the New York Playboy Club on 59th Street. I thank him for that.
I hope all is well with Leroy Washington.
Old Friend.
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Feb 16, 10 | 10:08 pm
Leroy! How are you dude!
Billy Smith
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Dec 14, 09 | 8:50 pm
LEROY WASHINGTON WAS AN INCREDIBLE DJ AND GREAT GUY.
I GOT TO BE GOOD FRIENDS WITH HIM AT STUDIO 54 AND AT HI-TECH
THE FUNNY THING IS THAT YOU NEVER SEE ANYTHING ABOUT HIM AND I'M SO HAPPY THAT THIS SITE IS GIVING HIM RESPECT.
I REGULARLY AM NOT IMPRESSED BY MOST DJS AND FEEL HE WAS ON POINT. HE ALSO CLEANED HIS RECORDS BEFORE HE PLAYED THEM WHICH I THOUGHT WAS GREAT.
I'D STAT AT STUDIO 54 WHILE HE PLAYED FROM 10 PM TO 8AM THE NEXT MORNING.
HE NEVER MISSED A BEAT.
IN ONE NIGHT YOU'D HEAR, PETER BROWN "THE ONLY COME OUT AT NIGHT", CAPTAIN RAPP "BAD TIMES", NENA 99 LUFTBALOONS", VAN HALEN "JUMP", STEVIE WONDER "DO I DO" AND MORE
ALL OF IT PUT TOGETHER SEAMLESSLY
WHENEVER I MENTION HIM, PEOPLE LOOK AT ME LIKE I'M CRAZY. HE WAS AN IMPORTANT DJ AND SHOULD BE MORE KNOWN.
HE ROCKED STUDIO 54 MORE THAN ANYONE I EVER SAW THERE AND PLAYED THORENS TD 125 MK II'S WHICH ARE PRETTY HORRIBLE TABLES. (TECHNICS OWNS THE DJ ARTFORM)
JOHNNY D
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Oct 04, 09 | 3:58 pm
Dwayne Holt intoduced me to Leroy at studio many years ago. He was great behind those decks. Leroy Washington carried 54 and kept it going long after the headlines went away.
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Aug 05, 09 | 8:45 pm
glad to see leroy is on the web i wondered what became of him this is your boy neil
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Feb 05, 09 | 9:22 am
I remember all those great nights when leroy played at studio. He was Steve Rubell's Golden Child! Leroy Was Always Great
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Sep 09, 08 | 4:31 am
Leroy Washington, Dwayne Holt, and Kenny Carpenter, were the olny three "Black" DJs to spin at Studio 54 with extended resident DJ status. There were many black DJs to spin there over the years like Larry Levan, Timmy Regestford, Tee Scott, ect. but they were only guest DJs.
Leroy Washington was an amazing Dj at Studio 54.........I remember a New Year's Eve at Studio (probably 84 when Leroy played New Year's Eve and it was a countdown of every amazing Disco Classic you could think of............At MIDNIGHT he slammed in MY SWEET SUMMER SUITE and the place EXPLODED...........
Leroy was the first DJ I had ever heard mix a record at 77 BPM into a record that was 154 BPM (or twice the speed) If memory serves me correct it was Yo Little Brother into Neutron Dance...I was gagging at the fact that one was so slow and one was so fast............
Bravo Leroy Washington...............Bravo!
DjAlex Garcia