Grand Wizard Theodore
Grand Wizard Theodore (actually Theodore Livingston; born March 5, 1963 in the Bronx , New York City ) is an American DJ , one of the pioneers of hip hop and the inventor of scratching .
Life
Theodore came to rap music through his two brothers Claudio and Mean Gene, who performed under the name The L-Brothers in New York in the mid- 1970s . His brothers introduced him to Grandmaster Flash , who was a great role model for Theodore.
According to Levingston, the invention of scratching came about by accident. He still lived at home with his mother, who often felt disturbed by his DJ work and always admonished him to calm down, especially when he put the needle on the record at the beginning of a song. While his mother scolded him, he kept moving the plate back to the beginning:
- I used to come home from school everyday and play records. This one particular day, my mother banged on the door yelling at me because the music was too loud. When she walked in, I still had my hand on the record that was playing and I kind of moved it back and forth. When she left, I was like 'Yo! That sounded kind of cool. I better experiment with that.
Fascinated by the resulting noise, he continued to experiment and refined this technique in the following years, which made him one of the most sought-after New York DJs of his time.
He often appeared at block parties with the support of MCs under the name Grand Wizard Theodore and the Fantastic 5 MCs .
Theodore can be heard on the single Can I Get A Soulclap ( 1980 , Tuff City Rec.) And in the hip-hop cult film Wild Style , in which he also plays a small role.
In 1998 he was inducted into the Technics DJ Hall of Fame and both the International Turntablists Federation (ITF) and Back To Mecca recognized him for his life's work.
In Germany in 2003 a documentary DVD was released with the title Scratch , in which a report is also dedicated to him.
Web links
- Grandwizard Theodore at Allmusic (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Grand Wizard Theodore |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Levingston, Theodore (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American hip-hop DJ and inventor of scratching |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 5, 1963 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bronx , New York USA |