A bona fide legend in the Music Industry, DJ/Remixer/Producer Robbie Leslie has been in the nightclub business for 50 years.
One of the First Generation DJs, Leslie started his career in 1975. He moved to New York City, and the list of clubs at which he regularly performed reads like a “Who’s Who” of Big Apple nightspots: Studio 54, The Saint/Saint At Large, Roseland Ballroom, Palladium, Underground, Private Eyes, The Red Parrot, 12West and the Ice Palace. He has made numerous guest appearances at clubs in Dubai, Berlin, Hamburg, Budapest, Moscow, Sydney, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Toronto, St. Maarten, Punta Cana, Cancun, and San Juan. For over twenty years he was a Resident DJ for RSVP Cruises and Vacations. Other notable residencies include the Copa of Fort Lauderdale and Key West and Twist in South Beach. He is a featured DJ headliner on StarVista Live’s “Ultimate Disco Cruise”
Expanding his global reach, he began spinning at special parties, fundraisers, and festivals worldwide. Events of note include the Saint-at-Large, the White Party at Vizcaya in Miami, The Red Party in Columbus, A.P.L.A. Garden Parties in Griffith Park and at Universal Studios Backlot, Los Angeles, Spring to Life and Discoverse in Washington D.C., the March On Washington, All That Glitters in San Diego, the Hotlanta River Expo in Atlanta, Pride at The Pier in Ft. Lauderdale, Fantasy Fest in Key West, One Magical Weekend in Orlando, Heritage of Pride Pier Dance in New York City, Winter Party in Miami, Saturday Night Fever and Southern Decadence in New Orleans, Remember the Party in San Francisco, One Night Only in Hollywood, Souvenirs and Trippin’ On The Moon in New York, and a wide variety of major events in venues such as the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Opera House in Boston, the Mayan Theatre and Stock Exchange in Los Angeles, and the Civic Center and Galleria in San Francisco. He has also appeared at events in Long Beach, Maui, Boston, Houston, Aspen, Tampa, Philadelphia, Laguna Beach, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Portland, Rehoboth Beach, Santa Fe, Hartford and Charleston. In 1988 he was honored by being selected to play the final set at The Saint’s forty-hour closing extravaganza, The Last Party. In 2014 he was chosen to be the final DJ at the Saint-at-Large Black Party/RITES XXXV for its last installation in New York City’s famed Roseland Ballroom.
As the disc jockey for New York City’s Pier Dance of 1989 and 2004, Leslie played to a record breaking crowd of over 12,000. He topped that number in 1997 while playing the post-parade celebration at San Francisco’s Embarkadero – 20,000! Recently he was honored by the industry and his peers with the National Hi-Energy D.J. of the Year Award, sponsored by Dance Music Report. He received the Dixie Award for D.J. of the Year in 1993. In October 1999 Leslie was presented with the third annual DJ Music Award for his lifetime contribution to the world of dance music. And in 2013 he received the FIP Historical Preservation Society’s inaugural History Maker Award.
Robbie can now be found on the airwaves with his weekly SiriusXM Satellite Radio broadcasts… “Robbie Leslie Presents” is on the Studio 54 Radio channel on Fridays (Channel 54); “Robbie Leslie: The Godfather of Disco” airs on Thursdays in an extended three-hour block on “Andy Cohen’s KiKi Lounge” (Channel 312).
Remix & production projects include: “Diary of a Studio 54 DJ” with Mark Knight, “Travesty” with Jimmy Somerville, “Ubik” with Timo Maas, “Outright Disco” & “Donna” with Centaur Entertainment, “Earth Can Be Just Like Heaven” with Two Tons Of Fun, “Love Light” with Jerney, and “Hold On To My Love” with Jimmy Ruffin.
Featured in the books Looking For The Perfect Beat – the art and culture of the DJ by Kurt B. Reighley (ISBN 0-671-03869-9), Love Saves the Day: A History of Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979 by Tim Lawrence (ISBN 0-8223-3198-5), Turn the Beat Around by Peter Shapiro (ISBN 0-571-21194-1), Last Night A DJ Saved My Life by Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton (ISBN 0-7553-1398-4), Keep On Dancin’ by Mel Cheren (ISBN 0-9678994-1-9), Disco Dance by Lori Ortiz (ISBN 978-0-313-37746-4), DJ 1975-1995 by Tohru Takahashi (ISBN 978-4-8456-1421-9), Crisco Disco by Luca Locati Luciani (ISBN 978-88-97637-09-7), and First Legends of Disco by James Arena (ISBN 978-1-4918-4829-6)
Robbie Leslie currently performs internationally and at special events Coast to Coast.
