If you grew up in the 80s and had even the smallest of passing
interest in music, particularly club music, chances are you were very
familiar, abeit unwittingly, with the work of
John Morales.
On the radio, in the record racks and most importantly on the dance floor John's work, predoiminantly with studio partner
Sergio Munzibai, helped define an era and influence future generations of DJ's producers and artists.
Born into a hard working Puerto Rican household in the Bronx, New York,
at the start of the rock 'n' roll era, Morales, like many children of
the era, was fascinated by this new art-form that was saturating the
airwaves and rebelling parents everywhere. So in love with the music he
heard, as a 12 year old he persuaded his local record store to give him a
part time job with payment not in dollars, but in 45s.
By the time he was old enough to get a full time job his burgeoning
record collection had helped land him one of his first DJ gigs at the
infulential
Stardust Ballroom in the Bronx (his father
had early owned a bar in Jersey City where John had first got the DJ
bug). As his reputation grew Morales was invited downtown to Manhattan
to play guest spots at the likes of
Pippins, Bentleys, 1018, Limelight and the infamous
Studio 54.
Like many DJs of the 70s John ventured into the studio more
through need than necessity: "I started to make medleys and remixes
becasue the records in those days were too short, most in the 3 minute
range, and being a DJ I needed to get more out of the records I was
spinning. I first started to do my edits using the pause button on a
Teac Cassette Deck. After mahy hours of self education I graduated and I
purchased a Sony reel-to-reel and learned to edit. It was hard work and
long hours editing and putting all the little pieces of tape together
and making something creative happen. Reflecting now, I realise how
important it was to what I would later do. It taught me a lot about what
I wanted to do and how to do it, so that by the time I got in a real
studio I was virtually a whiz at editing tape much to the amazement of
some of the engineers I worked with."
His now infamous
'Deadly Medleys' and
'Sunshine Acetate Medleys'
brought him to attention of New York disco producers Greg Carmichael
and Patrick Admas who were impressed by the hunger and desire of the
self-taught engineer.
"My first credited mix was Inner Life's
'Caught Up In A One Night Love Affair', even though I had worked on a few other records before that, but I hadn't been credited, for acts like the
Universal Robot Band and
Musique's 'In The Bush'."
A meeting at New York's infulential
WBLS radio station, where Cuban-born
Sergio Munzibai worked as musical director alongside
Frankie Crocker
would signal the next chapter in Morales' career, and resulted in
unquestionably the most prolific remix partnership in the 1980s and 90s;
with over 650 mixes to their name.
"We partnered in 1982, when we met at a New York studio called
Blank Tapes where I had worked for many years with
Bob Blank."
Sergio and John's first record together was
Mikki's Itching For Love. "After that we united and did all our mixes together and the
M&M moniker was born."
Discovering an instant rapport and musical appreciation, it translated well into the recording studio where the
M&M
stamp became synonymous with almost every major dance release of the
era. In fact it wasn't uncommon for the duo to remix upwards of 10
records in any given month.
Alongside cult and groundbreaking records for the
Fantastic Aleems ('Get Down Friday Night'),
Class Action ('Weekend'), and of course
Jocelyn Brown ('Somebody Else's Guy') the pair refashioned certified pop smashes for
DeBarge ('Rhythm Of The Night'),
Harold Faltermeyer ('Axel F'),
Shakatak ('Down On The Street'),
Miami Sound Machine ('Dr Beat'),
The Temptations
('Treat Her Like A Lady') and hundreds more in an eight year period
that saw them almost ever present on the Billboard Dance, R&B or Hot
100 pop charts.
Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Spandau Ballet, Aretha
Franklin, Shalamar, Hall & Oates, Dan Hartman, Candi Staton, Melba
Moore, Rose Royce, Billy Ocean, Debbie Gibson, Odyssey, The Commodores and even
Peter Schilling and
Rod Stewart, in fact just about every major artist of the day was in some way retouched by the hands of
Morales & Munzibai.
“We worked together till around 1988," John recalls. "Sergio
unfortunatley passed away in 1991. He was a wonderful person, full of
life, that loved music and was a great people person. Anyone who knew
him loved him, and I'm sure wherever he is, he is listening to music."
John's solo production projects in the 90s included such acts as
Debbie Gibson, Brenda K Starr, Denise Lopez, The Thompson Twins, Blow Monkeys, Five Star and
Art Of Noise.
John's website can be found here
http://www.johnmoralesmix.com/home.html