Chris Coco

Active as a DJ, producer, and journalist across four decades, Chris Coco left an imprint in dance music as early as the late ‘80s, as one-third of Coco Steel & Lovebomb, whose popularity peaked with the enduring 1991 12” “Feel It.” It was around the same time that he spun acid house at Brighton’s Zap Club; on Saturday nights, the venue was turned into the Coco Club. From 2002 through 2006, he could be heard on the BBC, hosting The Blue Room with Rob da Bank. The program’s emphasis on chillout music was given a spotlight through a commercial two-disc mix in 2003, The Blue Room, Vol. 1. Coco released the occasional solo production, including the full-lengths Next Wave (2002) and Heavy Mellow (2005). DJ mixes like Real Ibiza: Chilling You Softly (2000) and Chillin’ at the Playboy Mansion (2003), as well as remixes for Urban Dwellers, Polaroid, Future Loop Foundation, and Mark Brown, kept his name in record shop bins. Coco also continued to be just as productive as a collaborator; he formed the trio City Reverb (for which he provided bass, keyboards, and vocals) and recorded with Steve Miller (aka Afterlife) as the Normalites. ~ Andy Kellman