David Padilla (DJ)

This article is about the Disc Jockey. For David Padilla (Disc Jockey), see other people.

David Padilla
David Padilla in New York 2011 David Padilla in New York 2011
Background information
Birth name	David Padilla
Born	(1961-02-12) February 12, 1961 New York, New York City
Genres	Electronic Dance Music, House Music, Progressive House
Occupation	Club DJ
Years active	1978–2012
Labels	Max Music Ultra Records
Website	Official website

David Padilla
Education	Private
Known for	Audio Engineer

David Padilla (born February 16, 1961), is an American DJ of Electronic Dance Music (EDM), house music, and progressive house. Padilla is best known for his 9 year reign as resident DJ at the infamous Warsaw and his 3 year residency at The Mix. It was at Warsaw that he would gain international notoriety as one of the best DJs in the world. In 1991 Miami New Times would dub Padilla "King David".

Padilla is also an accomplished Audio Engineer, having designed and installed sound systems in some of the most well known clubs such as The Mix and others such as Cameo (which he co-designed and built with Louis Puig).

Early life and career

Raised in New York City, Padilla began experimenting with music in his early teens. He frequented house parties and clubs throughout New York City as a teenager. It was at a house party where he met John "Jellybean" Benitez who was only a few slight years older, and was already a seemingly well paid DJ. The meeting ignited Padilla's passion for DJing.

David, a teenager and working part-time as one of thousands of bike messengers in Manhattan put every penny he earned into records. He escaped the lure of the neighborhood gangs and random violence by holing himself up in his room practicing and perfecting his craft. He naturally had a good ear and a knack for putting just the right record before and after the next one. Word of mouth soon spread in the city and David became a hot commodity.

First he played for free a couple of blocks away from where he was born and raised on West 105th Street at friends parties in the city owned project known as the Frederick Douglas Housesjust to get some exposure, but very quickly, David was being offered money to play at house parties and established clubs in New York City.

Padilla was an early regular at David Mancuso's The Loft where he met future contemporaries like Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, among other notable DJs. In the inner circle of DJs, word got out about David's "golden ear" and his extraordinary ability to spin and mix. Brad LeBeau, a resident DJ, at the world famous Xenon Club called Padilla and offered him his first big-time DJ spot at a well known club. Padilla never guessed this was the first of many waves he'd latch onto which would later in his career hit tidal proportions.

Xenon was regarded as much more of a "Fashion Crowd", while Studio 54 was more Hollywood. Still, many celebrities such as Andy Warhol, Halston, Michael Jackson, Jack Nicholson, Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall, Tom Cruise, Richard Avedon, Cher, O.J. Simpson, Christopher Reeve, Elton John, Roger Moore, John McEnroe, Tony Curtis, Brooke Shields, David Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr., and Robin Williams frequented the club. The walls were silver and rays of light came out from a giant "X" above the dance floor. People at Xenon often liked to dance with fewer clothes than people at Studio 54, sometimes wearing swimsuits while dancing. Xenon was the first night club to provide go-go boxes for amateur go-go dancers to dance on. This got many people interested in go-go dancing. Xenon was featured in a Life magazine article about disco. The full-time Disc-Jockey (DJ) was Tony Smith and the part-time DJ was John "Jellybean" Benitez, who later had an affair with Madonna.

The Warsaw years

Warsaw Poster
Franklin Fuentes Singing his hit ”If Madonna Calls I’m Not Here” Franklin Fuentes Singing his hit ”If Madonna Calls I’m Not Here”

File:DavidPadillaRealSizeSPINNING.jpg

David Padilla

In 1989 David moved to what would become known as South Beach or SoBo in Miami, Florida where his ascent to stardom was meteoric. David was on his way to becoming one of the top Club DJs in the world.

He was immediately offered the resident DJ spot at the reincarnated Ovo Club which transformed itself into what would go down in history as simply Warsaw. The crowd was more mixed and more glamorous than any of the other clubs anywhere. Warsaw and it's DJ Padilla became world famous in just a few short months. The club became Gianni Versace's favorite spot, with celebrities like Madonna flocking to the spectacle.

Padilla ruled the infamous gay nightclub's DJ booth while Madonna, Gianni Versace, his sister Donatella Versace, and thousands of party boys, disco princesses, and other SoBe types mobbed the dance floor. His taste for trance was slowly bubbling under. Padilla was a pioneer, being the first DJ in South Beach to gain national recognition for his unforgettably diverse marathon sets at this acclaimed establishment.

Warsaw is where Padilla would gain an international following as one of the best DJs in the world. Warsaw was to the dance culture in Miami what Studio 54 was to the dance culture in New York. Anyone who was anyone and every wannabee flocked to the place where David reigned supreme and where he spun the crowd wild. Years later, gay or straight, people would remember their decadent nights at Warsaw.

Large enough to encompass a stage, Warsaw was the site of some truly over-the-top spectacles. Among the most notorious were evenings of “performance art,” wherein simulations of various left-of-center sexual acts had somehow evolved into the real thing. It is no surprise that it quickly became the gayest/hippest club of the galaxy.

The lights in the club flashed around in brilliant, multicolored beams, and the music poured so hard through the speakers that it vibrated everything. Muscular go-go boys, muscular young men in neon green thongs and mod-ish white go-go boots danced on the bar for tips and more.

Drag queens performed on top of the Warsaw speakers, and the place was truly a multi-ring circus. Adora performed as Edith Piaf, along with the Adorettes-Carvella, Taffy Lyn, Mother Kibble, Brigit Buttercup, Gidget, and Damiam Dee-vine. Warsaw was also the first place Elaine Lancaster performed at upon her arrival in South Beach (after showing up at Gianni Versace's house where she was to begin working and finding out he had been viciously murdered).

When the legendarily decadent nightclub pulled the velvet ropes on Friday, May 25th for one final fling Gerry Kelly, Maxwell Blandford (manager of Warsaw), and the boys from Level's Federation 1235 gave the club a proper send-off with a torrid one-night stand of dance, drink and debauchery.

Two decades after it closed party revelers are still talking about Warsaw and David Padilla (the Machine). Personal recollections shared in private groups like the one started by Elaine Lancaster.

Personal life

During the first week of December in 2012 David suffered three successive strokes leaving him partially paralyzed. David was installing a new sound system for a club in SoBo when he became dizzy and fell off a ladder. He was unaware he was having a stroke and since he was in Orlando where his mother lives he spent several days in bed before trying to recover from what was initially believed to be a side effect of not taking his diabetes medication. When his health failed to improve David was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center who immediately recognized that he had suffered either one stroke or more. They quickly transported Padilla to Shands Hospital in an effort to perform brain surgery to clear the clogged arteries. The procedure was unsuccessful. It was determined his condition was could be not operated on. As David was waking up from the anesthesia administered to him to determine whether or not an operation could reverse the damage, he lost his speech, and became paralyzed on the entire right side of his body.

On January 17 he was transferred to Colonial Lakes Nursing Home in Orlando where he complained of abuse and neglect. On April 9 he was taken out of the nursing home and has been cared for by multiple family members, including two aunts, along with his mother who is currently his primary care-giver.

In May 2013, Kirby Sommers (founder Katrina Home Drive), his aunt, with the help of John "Jellybean" Benitez, and Taissia Wyatt created a Facebook Page: Friends of David Padilla where some of Padilla's colleagues and friends (such as David Solero, Rey Battaglia, Darlyne LaBrada, Tucker Mendoza, Edgar V, Iovanny Gio Lobo, Joey Madonia, Gregg Fiske, Miculito Bay, Brad Boshek, Angelo Giardana, Cindy Martinez, Tony Torres, Ray Pinky Velasquez) and over 300 of the most well known DJs have joined to help David on his road to recovery.

Updates on David's recovery are posted on a regular basis by his aunt Kirby Sommers. Other DJs, friends, and Padilla's hardcore fans from across the world have joined the group.

Books

Fool’s paradise: Players, Poseurs, and the Culture of Excess, by Steve Gaines
Diary of a South Beach Party Girl, by Gwen Cooper
House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder and Survival, by Deborah Ball
South Beach: The Novel, by Brian Antoni

External links

• Friends Of David Padilla FaceBook
• Warsaw Ballroom DiscoMusic