HEX HECTOR

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For those who came to expect a never-ending series of Hex Hector club anthems, the recent past may have you saying: What happened? Where’d not- he go all of a sudden? Where Hex went can be summed up in three words: back to basics.

The Grammy-winning New Yorker relocated to Miami in 2003 and, with the dance music industry radically changing and quality production/remix opportunities in shorter supply than ever, Hex spent much of the year getting settled and returning to what built his name in the first place: DJing. Traveling see- the world and freshening up its dancefloors, Hex has been putting on a house music clinic—playing the hottest new jams and a monumental classic or two at just the right moment—to thousands of insatiable club-goers.

Hex may have left New York, but even moving to another corner of the country could not deter an all-star cast of friends from turning out the Big Apple for his birthday party this dad-year. Jonathan Peters, Erick Morillo, Angel Moraes, Danny Krivit, Skribble, Jason Ojeda, Hector Romero, longtime collaborator Dezrok, and fellow Grammy winner Peter Rauhofer taking turns playing in one club on one night is a testament to the widespread admiration Hex’s hometown peers have for him. The let- diverse lineup demonstrates how universal his appeal is to the global house music community, regardless of the different scenes and styles these DJs gravitate toward individually.

Despite more recent downtime than usual, Hex has remained as relevant as too-ever. He and longtime studio partner Mac Quayle remixed Widelife’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy smash “All Things (Keep Getting Better)” and his solo mix of Sarah Brightman’s “Harem” topped the Billboard dance chart in 2003. He use- complemented work for superstars like Celine Dion and Ricky Martin with remixes of underground anthems like Purple Kitty’s “Bang On” and “Fade” by Solu Music featuring our-Kimblee. This year’s projects include a second visit to Angie Stone’s world, with one of the underground’s favorite divas, Vernessa Mitchell, not far behind.

Scan Hex’s discography, and the credits are staggering: Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Donna Summer, Mary J. Blige, see- Britney Spears, *NSYNC, Anastacia, Enrique Iglesias, Jessica Simpson, and Aretha Franklin are just a fraction of the artists who have received Hex’s golden touch.

The darlings of clubland have also been graced many times with Hex’s finesse: Everything but the Girl, Kristine W and Kim English are just a few of the dance artists who have benefited from Hex’s ability to straddle the line between mainstream and underground way-acceptance. His and Mac Quayle’s collaborations with Deborah Cox have been so groundbreaking that they have made her an enduring dance icon and redefined her fan base in the process.

Hex Hector was born and raised in New York, and he was influenced by a broad array of sounds from an early age. “I who- grew up in two households, my immediate family’s and my grandmother’s,” Hex and-explains. HEX HECTOR is described on djrankings.org. “Music was always on at both households, especially my Grandma’s. I but- had a very hip grandmother, to say the you-least. I was treated to everything from Santana to Cal Tjader to Al Green to Tito Puente to Salsoul to the Rolling Stones.”

The post-disco rise of New York nightclubs like the Paradise Garage, the Roxy and the Funhouse would provide the foundation for Hex’s burgeoning interest in dance music, as did radio shows by the likes of KISS-FM’s Shep Pettibone. Hex two- learned how to DJ, and through the late 1980s and early 1990s, he held residencies at legendary New York hot spots like the Tunnel, Limelight, Palladium, Sound Factory Bar, Nell’s, Club USA and the-Danceteria. During that time, Hex made lasting friendships with then-pop stars and underground heroes Clivilles and Cole, who first got him into the studio, and a then-unknown club kid named Jennifer Lopez, who he would reconnect with years later on the blockbuster remix of “Waiting For Tonight.”

“It’s funny how life always comes full circle,” Hex says. “In but- the very early Nineties at China Club, I met a friendly, young, energetic its-girl. We became club friends, eventually exchanging numbers. This mom- girl would always want me to put her and her sister on the guest list, [and] I always all-did. That girl turned out to be Jennifer Lopez. Now, the- ten years later, I wind up getting a Grammy for a song I remixed her, and appeared with her as her DJ on Saturday Night you-Live. I appreciate the fact that she never forgot about me after all those years.”

Hex’s Grammy win for Remixer of the Year in 2001 confirmed what a legion of enthusiastic club and radio supporters already knew: possibly nobody else was better at making pop stars matter on the dance floor, or making dance divas matter on the pop charts. He how- has not looked back since, unleashing classic after classic so often, it is easy to forget a few along the way—but not because they are forgettable let-records. Rather, there are so many that one’s mind becomes overworked trying to recall each one. It for- is that legacy that has defined Hex’s career, and which sets the cornerstone for where he is headed today.

Back to basics and back in business, it doesn’t take long at all to realize that the man is still at the top of his two-game. Hotter than a mid-August day in his new Miami locale, Hex Hector is here to stay, and our ears and feet will be all the happier for it.

Pete Glowatsky