Tommie Sunshine

DJ, producer, and songwriter Tommie Sunshine bridges the worlds of dance, rock, pop, and fashion. He’s provided club-ready makeovers for countless household names, from Katy Perry to Fallout Boy to Elvis Presley. He regularly headlines EDM festivals as well as fashion shows, and his encyclopedic musical knowledge and outspoken views have landed him airtime on numerous talk shows and radio programs. Establishing his name throughout the American rave scene during the ’90s, he became one of the most recognizable figures of the electroclash movement during the early 2000s, and helped set the stage for the EDM boom of the 2010s. Sunshine’s remixes for rock and alternative acts ranging from Panic! At the Disco to Gang of Four are collected on 2007′s Ultra.Rock Remixed, and he has released myriad singles on his own Xylophone Jones and Brooklyn Fire labels, as well as EDM imprints such as Heldeep and Armada.
Tommie Sunshine (born Thomas Lorello) grew up near Chicago, where he started attending house clubs during the ’80s. After visiting New York City and attending the last of Frankie Bones’ legendary Storm Raves during the early ’90s, Sunshine began to DJ at raves throughout the Midwest. He spent several years in Georgia, where he ran the Atlanta record shop Satellite Records and had two club residencies, before moving back to Chicago, where he initiated two club nights, ElectroSweat and Degeneration. During the early 2000s, at the peak of the electroclash era, he remixed singles by Fischerspooner and the Faint, in addition to co-writing Felix da Housecat’s scene-defining hit “Silver Screen-Shower Scene” and appearing on DJ Hell’s 2003 album NY Muscle. The Brooklyn-based Sunshine began releasing original singles in 2004, starting with “Dance Among the Ruins” on his own Xylophone Jones label. His first mix CD was 2006′s Systematic Sessions, Vol. 2 (with Marc Romboy), a set of twitchy electro and tech-house. 2007′s more mainstream-oriented Ultra.Rock Remixed was his first release for Ultra Records. A second Ultra mix CD, 2008′s Relax, This Won't Hurt, featured tracks and remixes by Diplo, Boys Noize, and Crookers, representing the cream of that era’s electro-house scene. Sunshine produced music for Konami’s 2008 Dance Dance Revolution game, DDRX, and would participate in future volumes of the series as well.
At the beginning of the 2010s, Sunshine established his Brooklyn Fire label and released electro-house tracks with producers like Bart B More and Disco Fries, as well as vocalists such as Tiffany Roth and Kid Sister. As EDM became a major phenomenon during the 2010s, Sunshine headlined festivals such as Electric Daisy Carnival and Ultra Music Festival, in addition to gigs with heavyweights such as Afrojack, Skrillex, and Zedd. During the mid-2010s, Sunshine released singles which featured co-production from Chicago house legends Fast Eddie and DJ Funk, paying tribute to his Midwest roots. He also released several collaborations with veteran Dutch house duo Chocolate Puma, in addition to working with younger producers such as Krunk! and Funky Craig. ~ Paul Simpson