New Yorker John ‘Jellybean’ Benitez was one of the leading figures in the crossover of early house music to the mainstream, who’s overlooked more than you’d think by purists.
Starting off in tiny clubs in the Bronx in 1986, he moved on to iconic scenester clubs such as Studio 54, Le Jardin and the Grand Ballroom, before landing a residency at Funhouse in 1981. He was also an early champion of the future electro classic Planet Rock on his radio show in 1983.
In 1983 he was also spinning Madonna’s first single Everybody at the Funhouse, and after a Warners exec introduced them at a club they started dating and she asked him to remix Burning Up, Borderline and Lucky Star. He then produced Holiday and Crazy For You, remixed Like a Virgin and the rest is a big chunk of 80s pop history.
He was kicked off the decks at the Funhouse for chasing after the charts, but he leaned heavily into his accidental new role, remixing the biggest acts of the day such as Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, New Order, David Bowie, Whitney Houston, ZZ Top and dozens more.
As Jellybean he also had global smashes, such as the classic pop-house track Jingo, and the 1987 album Just Visiting Planet Earth.
Even as a so-called side hustle in TV and film, he’s worked on dozens of soundtracks, including Back to the Future, Carlito’s Way, The Hangover, Dirty Dancing, Better Call Saul, The Simpsons and Sex and the City.
He still scrapes time together to run Studio 54 Radio and is a regular DJ, carrying on through the pandemic. If you’re expecting him to go on a nostalgia trip like Grandmaster Flash he mightn’t play ball. In his recent Twitch DJ sets he’s been playing Latin-flavoured disco, house and garage, with the odd remix you might pick out.
Subscribe to Jellybean’s regular DJ streams on Twitch
Moo Kid 