Steve "Silk" Hurley
STEVE HURLEY: I just remember in the early '80s we always made reference to someone "jackin' the box" if they were doing a great DJ set, or "jackin' it up" if they were dancing really hard and feeling the music, or "jackin' House" when a DJ was playing House Music. I really don't know where it originated; it just caught on in our clique like any other slang does and started spreading to the masses. When I DJed, I wanted people to "Jack Their Bodies," so hence the song!
5 MAGAZINE: Tell us about the Candy Store. Also what clubs did you attend growing up?
STEVE HURLEY: The Candy Store was my first weekly residency. The club had a hard-edged, high school and college-aged crowd from the south side that liked a more urban flavor of House and electronic music. I did Friday nights, and Farley did Saturday nights. We also did some parties together there.
My first taste of "real House Music" was at "The Loft," where I heard Tony and Andre Hatchett, Alan King, Wayne Williams, and Jesse Saunders (The Chosen Few). Once I heard "Is It All Over My Face" and "Ready To Rock," I was hooked on that more soulful underground club music that we called "HOUSE!" Other clubs that I attended were The Mansion, Sauer's, The Penthouse, The Gallery, The Music Box, The Powerplant, The Riviera, C.O.D.'s, Mars Bar on Rush Street, and on the west side, Mr. G's, and Divinci Manor. I could go on and on but I'll stop right there.
5 MAGAZINE: You started getting commissioned to do remixes for Michael Jackson, Prince, Janet, Mary J. Blige, Crystal Waters to name a few topdog names. What event in your career catapulted you to that level?
STEVE HURLEY: The transition was kind of gradual. The success of "Music Is The Key, "Shadows Of Your Love," "Jack Your Body," and "I Can't Turn Around" got my group (J.M. Silk) a recording contract with RCA Records. I got a short but not always sweet lesson on the music business from that experience, and started concentrating on creating the music behind the scenes as a producer, leaving the artist thing behind.
That led to me doing remixes in 1988 for Ten City, Inner City, then Roberta Flack. I did my own compilation album for Atlantic in 1989, while still doing remixes. In 1990 I did a remix on Jomanda's "Got A Love For You" which established a new sound for me, and led to me doing mixes for Prince, Black Box, Crystal Waters, and every other artist that you could think of. By the time I did Michael Jackson in 1992, I was locked into a "Hurley Sound" that labels wanted every time they hired me.
At the same time I was developing my own artists and producers with my label I.D. Records and I.D. Productions, which was the camp of producer/remixers that I was developing by putting them on my remix projects and featuring their production on I.D. Records. I.D. was a vehicle in which we could experiment and develop new sounds by releasing records independently with no input from the major labels. That kept our sound fresh and ever-evolving, and helped us to develop several artists and producers. Kym Sims, Jamie Principle, Chantay Savage and Donell Rush were all broken through I.D. Records, as well as last year's Grammy winner, Maurice Joshua, M. Doc, and Grammy Nominee Eric "E-Smoove" Miller. I'm really proud of how far those guys have come, and we're all still really good friends. By the way, I've got big plans for the I.D. Records catalog this year!
But to answer your question, there were many monumental events and milestones that lead me to reaching that status as a producer, so I wouldn't say there was any one event that made it happen.
5 MAGAZINE: How important are vocals to a House song?
STEVE HURLEY: I think vocals are very important to a Soulful Vocal House record, but that's just one genre of House Music. I play several types of House Music. Even back to the early days of Chicago House Music, you had some vocal tracks ("Move Your Body," "Shadows Of Your Love"), beat tracks ("Jack My Body"), moody instrumentals (Fingers, Inc.), bassline-driven tracks ("No Way Back," Adonis), and many other things in between. I think that's the beauty of House Music. There are no boundaries. Yes, vocals are important to a Vocal House song, and of course I love vocals; but that's just one type of House Music!
5 MAGAZINE: Did you write "We Got A Love Thang," "Keep on Walking" and "I'm Not Over You" with CeCe Peniston in mind?
STEVE HURLEY: No, "Keep On Walkin" was originally demoed by Kym Sims, who helped M. Doc and myself write a few of the lyrics at the end too. "We Got A Love Thang" was written by E-Smoove, Jere McAllister and Chantay Savage as a song demo. Once we heard it, we knew it would work for CeCe. Once I had CeCe's vocals on the song, I produced it in the "Hurley Style." "I'm Not Over You" and "Searchin'" were written specifically for CeCe for her second album. We had a great writing team at I.D.
5 MAGAZINE: When you received your Grammy nominations, did you feel like you had finally made it? Like you couldn't go any further?
STEVE HURLEY: I was truly honored to receive my first nomination; it was a very high point in my career, and the other 3 nominations were equally exciting. However, with every accomplishment, I am always looking ahead to the next one. I'm never satisfied. I enjoy the moment, thank God and move on to my next goal. I think when you feel like you've "made it," that's the kiss of death for your musical career. You have to remain humble, and go after the next thing that God has in the works for you.
5 MAGAZINE: Your accomplishments are mind-boggling. What pushes you to continue creating? Was there a point where you just burned out?
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