Felix Da Housecat

• Genre: House
• Hometown: Chicago

About

Growing up in Chicago in the 1970s, Felix Stallings Jr. was exposed to classic house at a young age, including Farley "Jack Master" Funk and Kenny "Jamming" Jason. His saxophonist father also turned him on to the funk and soul worlds of Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire, but it was house that really caught Stallings' ear, and after introducing himself to local hero DJ Pierre, he produced his first single, "Phantasy Girl," in 1987. Parental pressure to finish his schooling led him to enroll at Alabama State University (an experience he compared to prison), but a reconnection with DJ Pierre brought him back to music as a successful producer with the European smash "Thee Dawn" in 1992. As his overseas fame grew, Stallings was producing "a track a week for three different labels," using aliases like Rocketman, Outerrealm, Thee Glitz, Wonderboy and Thee Maddkatt Courtship. A meeting with Miss Kittin in Switzerland led to the award-winning Kittenz & Thee Glitz, an electro-punk masterpiece that had everyone yearning for "endless pleasure in a limousine." His remixing credits include Madonna, Nina Simone, Kylie Minogue and the Pet Shop Boys, and he was nominated in 2003 for a Grammy for his work on Rinocerose's "Lost Love."

- Nicholas Baker