|
Featured DeeJays
Ray Coker - Houston, Texas
Raised in
Knoxville
,
Tennessee
in the shadows of Neyland Stadium, home of the Tennessee Volunteers, Ray became
obsessed with sports… nevertheless, he was able to learn to play violin,
trombone and trumpet. This was all done while playing football, basketball,
baseball and running track. Whew!
In the early to mid-60s and while attending the
University
of
Tennessee
, Ray played with a top notch Rock & Roll Band, the Pyramids.
On occasion, the band backed such noted entertainers as Ike and Tina
Turner and the Drifters and was the number one band for the fraternity and
sorority circuit throughout the state of Tennessee. They once passed up an opportunity to add Dolly Parton to the band as a
singer. Ask him about that story!
His interest in DJing came quite by accident…as
dance director for the Bay Area Whip Dance Club in the
Houston
area; dancers started looking to Ray for dance music.
As an avid collector of music (owning well over 2000 CDs at that time) it
was not hard for him to make the transition.
The dance club purchased DJ equipment in the early 90s and Ray used that
until the bug really hit in the latter part of ’97.
He purchased his first DJ equipment from a retiring Warren Jenny (a Hall
Of Famer in his own right) and the rest is history.
Ray is known locally as the Dancing DJ, and is
currently Dance Director for the Bay Area Whip Dance Club of Houston, TX.
Vice President - National Association of Rhythm and Blues Dee Jays.
Vice President – National Fast Dance Association and Moderator for
allswing DJs. Ray is a 2000 inductee into the National Boppers Hall of Fame and most recently
was inducted into the National Living Legends of Dance in Virginia Beach.
Ray will be receiving an award at the Grand National Dance Championships for
2006 Allswing DJ of the year.
Dance events to his credit:
Mario Robau’s Southwest Whip Club Novice Invitational; Dance Houston
Championships; Texas State Dance Championships; Southwest Regional Dance
Association and Dallas Dance; Back To The Beach, in Jacksonville, FL; New
Orleans Swing Dance Extravaganza; Smoky Mountain Boogie in Gatlinburg and Pigeon
Forge, TN; Bop On The Lake in Hot Springs, AK; and Tropical New Years Eve,
Orlando, FL; Most recently DJed the Michigan Classic and Nashville Classic.
Like most DJs, he enjoys working “late night”.
Ray’s strength, however, is selection of music for competitions.
He has provided artistic consultation to Don Wise
for his latest CD, “Swingin’ Up A Storm”; “Let’s Dance USA” volumes
1 & 2 and is currently working on “Lets Dance USA” Volume 3 and
consulting with Johnny Williams on his upcoming CD, “Vol. 2”.
Ray regularly works as DJ and Emcee for weddings,
receptions, private parties and fundraisers. In addition to the above, his
favorite is to DJ are dance events plus, he works very reasonably for his dance
club in Houston, TX.
Ron Reese - Columbus, Ohio
Ron Reese began playing music as a hobby in High
School, playing music for parties and social events.
Ron continued his hobby of playing music and DJ equipment to adulthood.
Ron has danced all of his life from Freestyle to Disco to Swing dancing.
Ron join his local swing/bop dance club in 1999 and started playing music
for swing dancers in 2001 in
Columbus, Ohio
at Bowties located in the Midwest Hotel and Conference
Center. In 2002, was asked by his local
swing dance club to be the music director. As
Music Director, Ron scheduled the club DJ’s, maintained the sound equipment,
obtained music for the club and surveyed the members to ensure that the music
played by the DJ’s was what the membership wanted.
In
2003, Ron founded the Columbus Swing Dance Club and has been the featured DJ at
all the clubs events including the club’s annual dance Jammin In July. Jammin'
In July which attracts approximately 400 dancers from all around the USA
that includes East Coast Swing Dancers, West Coast Swing Dancers, Bop Dancers,
and Ballroom Dancers. Ron provides
music and equipment for all the clubs events.
Ron
has played music for the Columbus Singles Dance Inc., private swing dance
parties, local fund raisers, and local corporate dance parties.
Ron was one of the featured DJ’s for the Chicago
Windy
City
Jitterbug Club’s “Sweet Home Chicago Dance” in July of 2005 and
for the Columbus Swing Dance Club’s Jammin In July 2005.
Ron
enjoys the challenge of playing music for Swing Dancers and the challenge of
determining the correct music to play for the various different groups of
dancers. Ron knows that each dance
group is a different challenge.
More TBA
      
|
