David Morales

Career

David Morales grew up in an influential era for dance music and was a regular at his native New York’s fabled clubs such as the Loft and the Paradise Garage, multi-cultural hubs of the time. He also started his own night in Brooklyn in 1981 at the Ozone Layer, taking cues from both the Paradise Garage and The Loft. His residency at the Ozone Layer (which lasted until 1986) led him to play at the Paradise Garage in 1983.

After Morales became a regular DJ during the mid-80s he began a remixing career, at the same time that remixing other artist became popular. Alongside Chicago house music pioneer Frankie Knuckles and For The Record DJ Pool founder Judy Weinstein, Morales founded Def Mix Productions to manage their work. Today, Def Mix continues to represent the estate of Frankie Knuckles, in addition to Quentin Harris and Hector Romero.

David Morales has remixed and produced over 500 releases for artists including Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Eric Clapton, Seal, Pet Shop Boys, U2, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston, and Jamiroquai. Morales was nominated for his first Grammy Award in 1996 as a Producer on Mariah Carey’s album “Daydream” for the song “Fantasy”. He was nominated again the next year and won the 1998 Grammy Award for “Remixer of the Year”.

David Morales' solo production debut came in 1993 with the Mercury Records album “David Morales & The Bad Yard Club”, “The Program”. In 1998, he released “Needin’ U” on the Def Mix label, DMI Records, under the alias “The Face.” The track licensed to Mercury Records UK soon became a #1 Dance Record and video which is still being licensed and covered around the world. Ultra Records released Morales’ second album entitled “Two Worlds Collide” in 2005. The single “Here I Am”, performed by UK artist Tamra Keenan, is featured in the 2006 film, “The Devil Wears Prada”. “Feels Good,” performed by Angela Hunte features in the end credits of 2008 film “Don’t Mess with the Zohan”.

In 2011 Ultra Records released Morales’ third album “Changes” featuring the vocals of Roisin Murphy formerly known as “Moloko”, Ultra Nate, Tamra Keenan and Jonathan Mendelsohn. Since then Morales has released several tracks including The Red Zone Project Volumes 1, 2 and 3 and various others on the Def Mix Music label. This year he has done a collaboration with Luciano titled “Esperanza”. Morales has now started a new label with the afrohouse label MoBlack called MoDef.

Morales is considered to be one of the first so-called superstar DJs. He has performed at many clubs around the globe, including numerous dates at Ibiza venues such as Pacha and Space. Morales also contributed to radio shows and released DJ mix compilations.

Morales was an owner of Stereo nightclub located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. As a resident DJ, he played many 16 hour "La Vie en Stereo" sets, which happened monthly for 9 years.

David has been a judge on “Top DJ”, a national television show broadcast on Italia 1, and was a model for Italian clothing designer Iceberg.

Albums

Mixed compilations

David Morales

The Bad Yard Club

Other aliases