Chicago, IL · house

Colette

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Chicago house DJ who sings live over her own sets — a rare and genuinely tricky thing to pull off, honed across decades in the city's scene.

Colette, born Colette Marino in 1975, started DJing in Chicago in the early 1990s and helped form the all-female collective SuperJane in 1997 alongside DJ Heather, DJ Dayhota and Lady D. She has since held a residency at the city's Smartbar, alongside DJs including Kaskade.

What distinguishes her sets is that she sings live over them, using her own vocal material rather than relying on tracks alone. Her productions lean toward warm, song-based house with a pop sensibility, drawing comparisons to Kylie Minogue and Deborah Harry, and she has been called Om Records' First Lady of House.

Her album Hypnotized was the most downloaded dance record on the iTunes Music Store in June 2005; its single 'What Will She Do for Love' topped the Billboard Dance Club Play chart, and the title track was later used on the soundtrack to The Devil Wears Prada. In 2003 she appeared alongside Paul van Dyk and Felix da Housecat in a Motorola advertising campaign.

Colette runs her own label, Candy Talk, and released her third album, When the Music's Loud, in 2013, an Italo disco and electro-influenced record made with producer Tim K over three years and recorded partly in Brooklyn, reviewed favourably by Spin, Pitchfork and Slant.

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