Derrick Carter is an American house

House music

House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

 producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 and DJ

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 from Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. He is regarded as one of the best underground house key players currently active and is particularly popular in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

Biography

Carter was born in Compton, California and raised in the western suburbs of Chicago, IL. After practising his DJ skills for a number of years in his bedroom (bedroom jock), it was during his teenage years that he made the definitive step into the Chicago house scene.

In 1988, he released an EP with Mark Farina

Mark Farina

Mark Farina is a disc jockey and musician, known for his Chicago house, acid jazz and downtempo works. Notable releases include Mood and the Mushroom Jazz series , and recently known also from house compilations El Divinio...

 and Chris Nazuka as the group Symbols & Instruments. While the record wasn't a huge commercial success, it did have a strong influence on the burgeoning ambient techno movement in England. This established Derrick as an international figure in the underground house scene.

Later years

Carter rarely gives extensive interviews and has kept a low profile since his rise to fame. He famously ran a record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 named Classic Recordings that (as planned ten years before) ceased to exist after its hundredth release. Above all, Derrick is still respected by some as one of the best house music DJs in the world. His dj-sets are firmly rooted in black music of the 1970s, frequently giving nods to old school disco

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

, soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 and jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

.

As a remixer, he has worked for a diverse range of artists including The Human League

The Human League

The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...

, Ricky Martin

Ricky Martin

Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...

, Boris Dlugosch

Boris Dlugosch

Boris Dlugosch is a house music producer from Germany. Boris is usually known for funky/deep house tracks, mostly produced in conjunction with Mousse T. and Michi Lange, his partners in the Peppermint Jam Records label....

, Modjo

Modjo

Modjo was a French house/pop musical duo made up of producer Romain Tranchart and vocalist Yann Destagnol . It had major success with its hit single "Lady ".-Biography:...

, DJ Sneak

DJ Sneak

DJ Sneak is a Puerto Rican house music DJ and producer raised in Chicago, Illinois. He is noted as being one of the second wave of Chicago house producers, as well as a member of the vanguard of late-1990s United States house producers.-Biography:In 1983, Sneak moved to the city...

 and Röyksopp

Röyksopp

Röyksopp is a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø, formed in 1998. Since their inception, the band's line-up has included Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland....

. After a brief hiatus, he has recently returned to production, remixing artists like Rosie Brown and Truman Industries.

Carter was recently named #66 in the 100 Most Famous Chicagoans according to a survey (relying mostly on Google hits) by the free weekly newspaper, New City (11/2006), finishing just between syndicated radio show host Tom Joyner

Tom Joyner

Thomas "Tom" Joyner is an American radio host, host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and also founder of REACH Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com.-Early life:...

(#65) and Chicago Cubs player, Carlos Zambrano

Carlos Zambrano

Carlos Alberto Zambrano is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher with the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball. Zambrano, who stands 6' 5" and weighs 260 pounds, was signed by the Cubs as a free agent in 1997 and made his debut in 2001...

(#67). Other house music artists making the cut included Felix da Housecat

Felix da Housecat

Felix da Housecat is an American DJ and record producer, mostly known for house music and electroclash. His name was inspired by Felix the Cat....

 (#21) and Frankie Knuckles

Frankie Knuckles

Frankie Knuckles is an American DJ, record producer and remix artist. He played an important role in developing house music as a Chicago DJ in the 1980s and he helped to popularize house music in the 1990s, with his work as a producer and remixer...

(#48).

Albums

• 1996 The Future Sound of Chicago, Vol. 2
• 1996 The Many Shades of Cajual
• 1997 Derrick Carter - The Cosmic Disco
• 1998 Pagan Offering
• 2001 Derrick L. Carter presents: About Now...
• 2002 Squaredancing in a Roundhouse
• 2003 Azuli presents Derrick Carter - Choice - A Collection of Classics
• 2004 Derrick Carter & Mark Farina - Live at OM
• 2005 Sessions - Mixed by Derrick Carter
• 2010 Fabric 56: Derrick Carter

External links

• Derrick Carter mixtapes
• Early 90's Derrick Carter Mixtapes
• Promo video for fabric 56: Derrick Carter http://vimeo.com/20073232