Colette is a female house DJ with a twist; she adds her vocals to the mix. Inspired by local DJs growing up, she claims Mark Farina and Derrick Carter, as well as the rest of the fertile Chicago house music scene in the early nineties, contributed to her development. Also credited for her mixing style and improv vocals (formally trained in opera, even) are her friends growing up, DJ Lego, Sneak, Dizz, and Heather. She started singing with house music at age 16, at parties, just freestyling with other DJ's mixes. It was also there that she learned to spin, watching others play. During college, she began club promotion with her friends Heather, Lady G, and Shannon, forming the Super Jane collective, their first club night taking place in 1997. The collective was all about encouraging the acceptance of women behind the decks. After graduating college with a BFA in Studio Art and Painting, she began concentrating on production, including her boyfriend Angel Alanis in the effort.
She says of her style: "It's very impromptu when I write a song over a record, cause a lot of times I'll buy the record that day and when I'm playing it out that's when I write the lyrics. There's definitely something to be said for a practiced performance, but it's really freeing to just improvise. Because it's almost like you're one of the people in the party. It's just like dancing; you don't really have a set dance routine when you go out to a club; you just feel it and you react to it. And it's the same thing for me." Often, the result of her warm vocals brings life and energy to darker techno mixes.
Discography:
- "Try Her For Love" (Her first solo project - Moody)
- "In The Sun" (Her first mix CD - Afterhours)
- "Our Day" (November 2001 - Nettwerk)
Nearly half of her shows benefit breast cancer organizations or battered women's shelters.