{"id":85,"date":"2026-09-25T22:04:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T22:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newyorkfloor.fr\/?p=85"},"modified":"2026-09-26T11:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T11:07:17","slug":"tony-humphries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newyorkfloor.fr\/?p=85","title":{"rendered":"Tony Humphries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"V2<\/a>When thinking about Tony Humphries, you might be minded of his epic stint at KISS FM-NYC as one of its greatest Mastermixers; or of his residency at one of the greatest US clubs, The Zanzibar; or, even, the walls that are lined with gold discs, from Indeep to Janet Jackson; or his legendary eclecticism for throwing whatever works into the mix, from The B-52\u2019s or Rhythim Is Rhythim to Blaze. Heck, Tony Humphries is, of course, all of those things and more. But then, there\u2019s the Tony of today, restless, questing, searching for new challenges. Which, when you think about it, is pretty much how Tony has always been. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few people realize just how deeply steeped in performing Tony Humphries\u2019 family is. His father, Rene \u201cEl Grande Combo\u201d Humphries, an \u00e9migr\u00e9 from Colombia in the 1950s, was a prominent bandleader in New York, heading his New York Combo for many years alongside peers like Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri. His uncle was the radical dance choreographer Eleo Pomare, while among his cousins are Keiann Collins, a Hollywood producer. The gifted guitarist (and Tony collaborator) Andr\u00e9 Lasalle, the actor\/producer Kenneth Dixon and the dancer\/choreographer Jian Piere-Louis who, says Tony, \u201cwants to learn Djing from me, friggin\u2019 crazy!\u201d Tony and family are pretty much the Jackson 5 of Brooklyn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony Humphries has now been DJing nearly 35 years, an incredible achievement that in any other industry would have been rewarded with a carriage clock, service medal and a free bus pass. His big break came through a chance meeting with Mastermixer Shep Pettibone at the offices of Prelude Records. A shy Humphries handed over his 120-minute mixtape to Shep and then forgot all about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days later, he received the following message from Shep. \u201cHey Tony! This is Shep Pettibone. I was the chillin\u2019 on the beach listening to your cassette tape, and it was fierce! I work for a radio station in NYC called WBLS and there\u2019s this new radio station starting called Kiss FM and I got a new job there where I\u2019m responsible for 16 hours of music programming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think you could put together four hours of music and have it delivered by tomorrow afternoon?\u201d Kiss FM became the hottest station in the five boroughs and Humphries\u2019 star rose and his show went on to last for many years both at KISS and, later, HOT 97. His lengthy stints at both stations were not simply an exercise in career furtherment, but a way of introducing new music and acts to the city of New York and further afield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe whole purpose of my two hours on KISS is to break new people,\u201d Tony told Muzik. \u201cIf you can\u2019t break them they you shouldn\u2019t have the job. Anybody can play to a crowd and play last week\u2019s hits and have people screaming. What does that accomplish? They pay you a couple of hundred dollars and you go home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People won\u2019t remember you; they\u2019ll remember the records. You have to make them think, \u2018that\u2019s the record I heard Tony play at Zanzibar\u2019. If they don\u2019t do that, who are you?\u201d Tony\u2019s shows were widely followed by industry and fans alike \u2013 with the same sort of impact and reach to Pete Tong in the UK. Techno don Kevin Saunderson recalled a pivotal moment in his early career. \u201cI told my brother that I was making music now. He\u2019s like, \u2018Sure you are!\u2019 So I go back to visit my family in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony Humphries is on and \u2018Triangle of Love\u2019 comes on in the mix. \u2018That\u2019s my record! That\u2019s my record!\u2019 That was so inspirational. It\u2019s one thing to make a record but it\u2019s a different level of excitement to hear it played on the radio.\u201d Although Humphries was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, he has long been associated with New Jersey and the reason for that is his long-held residency at Club Zanzibar in Newark, where he began spinning in 1982. Zanzibar became synonymous with a new soulful electronic sound, labelled the Jersey sound, but with Tony\u2019s hands at the tiller it was a vastly more varied menu than that suggests, since he was there at the birth of house music and helped nurture its development in both Jersey and New York. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like going to a house club or a techno club or a classics club, everything was intertwined,\u201d explains Tony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe hours were long, so obviously you didn\u2019t want to hear ten hours of straight house music. If you\u2019re going to pay $15-20 to hear this guy, you want to hear the whole damn spectrum and whatever it is, it better be quality. And, believe me, you had to come with everything possible. Talking Heads and The B-52s don\u2019t sound like Zanzibar\/Garage records, but they were. They were just funky records. I think that\u2019s what the Zanzibar\u2019s appeal was.\u201d Tony Humpries & Djaimin<\/a> family inside the radio New York Floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n