Kerri Chandler wins Lifetime Achievement Award in DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll 2020
With a career spanning almost 30 years, Chandler is one of the most respected names in the game
Kerri Chandler has been awarded a special Lifetime Achievement award as part of DJ Mag’s Top 100 Poll 2020.
With a career spanning almost 30 years, Chandler is one of the most respected names in the game. Brought up in the East Orange district of New Jersey into a family of jazz musicians - his father, Joseph Chandler, was also a respected DJ who introduced him to soul, disco and the New York Underground sound – he was immersed in music from a young age. He started DJing at the tender age of 13, and was initially into hip-hop as much as house. Before long, he settled on the latter, and started interning in recording studios and making his own tracks.
In 1990 the tragic murder of his wife-to-be, outside the area’s famed Zanzibar Club, inspired him to channel his grief into his first full release — ‘Get It Off’ — and to launch his DJ career proper. Focusing primarily on deep, soulful house — he has previously been dubbed “the Stevie Wonder of house music” — Kerri was soon up there with other US house legends like Todd Terry, Masters At Work and Tony Humphries. He went on to release record after record on labels including King Street Sounds, Large Records and Deeply Rooted House, as well as on his own Madhouse Records, Inc..
Chandler’s career had a second lease of life a decade ago when he was welcomed into the extended Circoloco family in Ibiza alongside Jamie Jones, Seth Troxler and the Martinez Brothers, introducing him to a whole new generation of clubbers. Known for bringing his keyboard into the booth to jam along to tracks, meticulously sound-checking before gigs, and for generally being a super-nice guy, Kerri shows no sign of curtailing his impeccable career any time soon. His achievement has been lifelong, and long may it continue.
