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Deeon Boyd (October 5, 1966 – July 18, 2023), known under his stage name DJ Deeon, was an American Chicago house DJ, credited with pioneering ghetto house and helping create the Dance Mania label.[2]
Early life
Boyd was born in Chicago in 1966. Growing up in a housing project in the South Side, he became interested in electronic music after listening to "Numbers" by Kraftwerk off their 1981 album Computer World, later discovering house mixes on WBMX.[3]
Boyd released his debut EP in 1994, named "Funk City".[7] After "Funk City", he released "Freak Like Me" in 1996, which is regarded as his most successful work.[7] Boyd would continue to release music regarded as classics in the house genre, such as "Bomb 96", "2 B Free", "Wicked", "Back 2 Skool", "House-O-Matic" and "The Freaks".[7][8] He was named in the Daft Punk song "Teachers" from their 1997 album Homework.[9]
In 2015, the record label Numbers reissued four tracks from Boyd in the EP Deeon Doez Deeon!.[10] In 2016, a remix of his track "Freak Like Me" by Lee Walker featuring Katy B and MNEK was released on Defected Records, reaching #80 on the UK Singles Chart.[11] In 2021, Boyd released Destiny on the label Teklife, with the proceeds of the project going to DJ Rashad's family after his death in 2014.[12] Starting from May 5, 2023, Boyd released four EPs over the span of 2 days, those EPs being "Bad Robot", "Glasgow to London", "My CPU" and "Space Age Digital Pimp".[13]
Personal life
In July 2020, Boyd launched a crowdfunding campaign for his health issues, having no income from gigs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and no disability benefits due to his previous touring.[14] In June 2022, he revealed through his Facebook account that he had gone through amputation and pneumonia and was in an intensive care unit. A GoFundMe had started to cover his medical costs.[15][16] On July 18, 2023, he died of undisclosed causes.[17]
Artistry
Boyd's style has been described as minimal and raunchy, a staple of the ghetto house genre.[9] He personally described his work as "Get-freaky-with-a-stranger music. Girls kissing girls music. Stress-relief music."[7] He was known for using the Roland TR-909 drum machine as the main backbone of his tracks, the instrument "pushed to the breaking point, asked to provide a waterfall of drum sounds".[18]
Discography
Singles and EPs by DJ Deeon
Funk City (EP) (Dance Mania, 1994) – incl. "House-O-Matic"[7]
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