Green Velvet

Curtis Alan Jones got his start as Cajmere, making some of the most soulful house music the genre has ever known on tracks like 1992’s timeless and uplifting “Brighter Days”. But the Chicago native, born in 1968, always had a trickster’s disposition, and in 1993, he kicked off a new alias, Green Velvet, where he could indulge his mischievous instincts. In contrast to Cajmere’s silky grooves, Green Velvet tracks were tough and percussive, and on numbers like “La La Land”, “Stalker” and “Answering Machine”, his spoken-word vocals were just this side of unhinged, delivering surreal vignettes and clubland satires with the deadpan affectation of a seasoned stand-up comic. Many of those tunes—particularly 1995’s sinister and sardonic “Flash”—remain club favourites and serve as inspiration for new generations of remixers. And Green Velvet continues to turn out saucy hits, like 2013’s “Bigger Than Prince”, proving that his trademark green mohawk may come and go, but his antic personality has never faded.