August 23, 2016
By Iman Sadri
House Music is back and more mainstream than ever. Chart topping DJ’s such as Calvin Harris and David Guetta have their music played on Top 40 radio stations year round. Ellie Goulding can be seen singing her dance hits live on network television shows such as SNL and The Today Show. It’s apparent : America has welcomed House Music back with open arms. Electronic music festivals such as EDC in Las Vegas and the Ultra Music Festival in Miami have become mutli-million dollar enterprises. With this new renaissance in dance music it’s important to pay homage to its pioneers. It’s also imperative to ask these artists to return to play their music live for a new generation and to rekindle the nostalgia for their generation of fans.
One of these eclectic house music groups that had a profound impact on the music scene in the early 1990’s and should reunite is Deee-Lite. Led by Lady Miss Kier, Towa Tei and DJ Dmitri, they are perhaps best known for their club and Billboard chart topping hit, Groove Is in the Heart. Deee-Lite’s album World Clique provided a sleu of other memorable tracks including Power of Love and Good Beat.
Lady Miss Kier was and continues to be a fashion forward artist and still performs to this day. Her style which personified a 1960’s retro glam-couture, has been back in fashion this decade.
The dance music wave of the early 1990s which saw other radio hits such as Rhythm is a Dancer and What is Love is back for a new generation. Those songs and Groove Is in the Heart are still played on a myriad of radio stations globally. The current radio play of these songs demonstrates that the Millennial generation has an appetite for early 90’s house music. The soulful vocals of Lady Miss Kier and the eclectic beats of Deee-Lite spans mutliple generations.
What fans would love to see is Lady Miss Kier reuniting with DJ Dmitri and Towa Tei to bring Dees-Lite back for a new generation. Not just because Deee-Lite was ahead of its time. And not just for nostalgia, but because Deee-Lite’s music is as important now as ever before.
Iman Sadri blogs for Persian Media Outlets and is based in L.A. He can be reached at ImanSadri22@Gmail.com and followed on Twitter @ImanSadriTV
