noizemagazine - Index

noizemagazine - Spring 2008 Issue # 55 - Index

TribuTe To
Mel Cheren
‘GodfaTher of disCo’
“This is the story of my gay generation, the world
we built and the world we lost.” With those words
Mel Cheren began his memoir, Keep on Dancin’: My
Life and the Paradise Garage. He was being modest.
Record producer, nightlife impresario, muse, philanthropist,
artist: “The Godfather of Disco” as the
full-length documentary on his life is titled, virtually
single-handedly invented the Circuit.
Cheren, who died late last year at age 74, was born into a humble Jewish
immigrant Boston family. After college and a stint in the Army (where he acted
on his newly discovered sexuality), he arrived in New York City and worked
his way up the ranks of the recording industry. In 1976, he co-founded West
End Records, which helped spread the gospel of the disco sound in the ‘70s
through hits like Taana Gardner’s “Hot Shot” and “Work That Body,” Garrett
Scott’s “Nah Nah Kiss Him Goodbye” and B.T. Express’ “Do It Till You’re
Satisfied.” He was also the godfather of hip-hop: his “Sessamato” became the
first record scratched by Grandmaster Flash.
With his life and business partner Michael Brody, Cheren built the first gay
megadisco, the proto club for the Saint and every big-box space that came
after. Its lights, sound and layout immediately became the standard against
which any other club set itself. In a day when Downtown Manhattan’s gay
scene was limited to “clones,” Paradise Garage welcomed black queens,
Hispanic homies and women (of all genders). Cheren discovered and nourished
the Garage’s house DJ, Larry Levan, who in turn mentored the first
generation of great gay club DJs, including Frankie Knuckles, Junior Vasquez,
Manny Lehman and Danny Krivit. Through them, Cheren helped birth dance
movements like House, Electroclash and Electropop. As for Levan, Cheren
became his acknowledged “adopted father” and helped him through his many
rough spots as well as helping produce his landmark compilation CDs.
When a strange new disease decimated his crowd, Cheren didn’t hesitate to
donate his own home to a fledgling organization. Thus, his Chelsea brownstone
became the first headquarters of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, still the largest
private AIDS services provider in the world. But that wasn’t enough: Through
his own group, 24 Hours for Life, Cheren became the founder of LIFEbeat, the
music industry’s AIDS fund-raising arm.
Cheren always kept busy with his painting, which eventually included many
record covers. And he could always be found on the dance floor, usually the
last one to leave. On Jan. 17, 2008, an overflow crowd packed into St. Peter’s
Church in Midtown Manhattan to pay tribute to his protean genius and generous
spirit. Perhaps the best tribute of all was the crowd itself—a rainbow of
colors, sexes, ages and sexualities.
Friends from an old college chum to Taana Gardner bid Cheren a fond adieu.
“Save a Place on the Dance Floor for Me,” co-written by Cheren, was performed—an
entirely appropriate song for a man who will live on as long as we
celebrate our lives and spirit in bodily movement set to the pulsating beats
that Cheren innovated.
Keep on dancing, Mel: We’re down here, but grooving to the same beat mix.
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—Steve Weinstein