Jackie McCloy: DJ, Music Pool Director and Founder
Our director, Jackie McCloy, begain working as a full time DJ back in 1972 after graduating from college, with a B.S. in Biology. Although most of his schoolmates went into the medical profession, Jackie was drawn to the nightclub scene. Most of the venues back then featured live bands, but some began featuring music played from vinyl records and Jackie quickly became one of the first generation of DJs.
His first live performance occurred when the band ST4 opened up a nightclub called "The Bijou". Jackie had been making dance music tapes (seven inch reel-to-reel) for the band to use during their breaks when playing at venues. When the band decided to open their own club, they hired him and he performed for over one thousand people during the grand opening, on his first night on the job.
Back then, there were only 33rpm albums and single "45's" (the twelve-inch single had not been invented yet) and professional DJs were somewhat of a rarity. Jackie worked at many of the bigger and more popular venues, one was out on Fire Island, where Steve Rubel, a future owner of Studio 54, weekly would ask Jackie to come a see his facility in Manhattan, which he planned to convert into a nightspot. To make a long story short, Steve wanted Jackie to be his first DJ, but Jackie had other offers in the works and he introduced Steve to the first DJs who eventually worked for him.
As Record Pool Director, Jackie was focused on building a strong infrastructure of DJs working at impressive nightclubs from Manhattan, to Fire Island, the Hamptons all the way out to Montauk. During this time, he personally worked at many of the largest dance clubs of that era.
Jackie with Richie Kaczor
(main DJ from Studio 54)
Jackie's dance music collection is among the most comprehensive there is, with selections spanning 70s-80s-90s-Y2K-10s and multiple genres. He maintains it in pristine condition, as he has converted much of it to digital format, preserving the entire vinyl library in a climate controlled environment.
Jackie's current passion is selecting songs from his library and digitally re-editing them to produce versions that have unique characteristics. When programmed along with contemporary dance music selections, it results in a performance that cannot be duplicated.