Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez

• Genre: House

About

House music royalty, Puerto Rican New Yorker Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez has been everywhere, met everyone and remixed everybody. A three-time Grammy nominee, he started out as a buyer for his local record store, spending his free time organizing parties with his friend Mike Delgado under the name "Masters at Work". Taking the name into the studio, he began to produce breaks and beats, culminating in the release of "Salsa House," which caught the ear of "Little Louie" Vega. As Vega and Gonzalez started to work seriously together as the new Masters at Work, they began to develop their legendary status, with their annual parties at the Winter Music Conference becoming a must-go event every year. Gonzalez was soon increasingly in demand for remixing duties, his popularity being evidenced by a lengthy and diverse list of artists, including Madonna, Ray Charles, Björk and Daft Punk, many of whom are showcased on his various compilations for Defected records. His 1997 album, NuYorican Soul, kept with this finger-in-every-pie style, featuring such luminaries as Jocelyn Brown, Tito Puente, Roy Ayres and George Benson. These days, Gonzalez can be found working in Latin, soul, Afro-beat, jazz, rap, house and disco. He is best known outside of the house world for creating the swinging beats behind Saint Etienne's cover of "Only Love Can Break Your Heart."

- Nicholas Baker