Nicky Siano was born in Brooklyn in March 1955. At the age of 15 he
and his girlfriend Robin Lord began dancing at the Firehouse which was located in the same
building as the Gay Activist Alliance. Siano and Lord were soon introduced to a number of
other Manhattan clubs and parties by Dale Zotos, an ex-girlfriend of Nicky's older brother.
They experienced Tamburlaine, then Tambourine, and were then taken to the
Loft. Nicky Siano was amazed by the crowd's
worship of David Mancuso, and Mancuso became Siano's model
for the perfect DJ. By 1972 Robin Lord helped Nicky Siano land his first DJ gig at the
Round Table. Frustrated with the atmosphere of the Round Table, Siano and Lord began
looking for other opportunities. Soon the concept for the Gallery was born.
With financing secured through Nicky Siano's older brother Joe, the Gallery opened in February 1973. The Gallery used an invitation-only system for guests that was very influenced by the Loft. Frankie Knuckles attended the Gallery's opening night and was sooned hired to help with setting up the club for the night. He also convinced Siano to hire his friend Larry Levan. David Mancuso closed down the Loft for the summer of 1973 and, after Siano and Lord handed out almost 500 flyers to Loft guests on its closing night, the Gallery became one of Manhattan's most popular underground clubs. Many of Manhattan's most influential DJs began showing up at the Gallery and one of them, David Rodriguez, became a mentor for Nicky Siano and one of his closest friends.
Nicky Siano soon became known for leading one of the most exciting dancefloors in Manhattan. His DJ style included pushing the audience at its peak excitement as far as he could. Siano reveled in the screaming and cheering of his club audiences. He was also known for altering the mix of the records he played by using tricks such as turning off the bass and leaving the crowd dancing simply to the high trebles then bringing the full rumble of the bass back to thrill his crowd. Nicky Siano also began a practice of speeding up or slowing down records to blend from one track to the next even if the original recorded speeds did not match. Siano's DJ work was primarily about excitement and inducing the crowd to want to dance and show off.
A number of pioneering Disco classics are closely associated with Nicky Siano as the DJ who first brought them to the attention of large club audiences. MFSB's T.S.O.P. and Love Is the Message as well as Love Unlimited Orchestra's Love's Theme are among the early Disco tracks closely associated with Siano. By the mid-1970's Nicky Siano was a powerful enough force in popularizing records that he received a personal letter from Barbra Streisand in 1975 thanking him for the excitement he helped cause by playing her album track Shake Me Wake Me at the Gallery. The song was subsequently released as a single. Nicky Siano also played a role in helping launch the careers of some enduring Dance Music performers. Grace Jones and Loleatta Holloway both gave their first public performances at the Gallery.
When Studio 54 opened in 1977 Nicky Siano was recruited for DJ nights during the week while he continued his weekend gigs at the Gallery. The partnership did not last long and Siano was out before the end of the year. By the end of 1977 drugs began to take a toll on both Nicky Siano's personal life and his professional work. After his brother Joe issued an ultimatum to end the drug use or the Gallery would be closed, the Gallery came to an end in 1978. In addition to DJ work, Nicky Siano also began producing records. One of his releases was Kiss Me Again by Dinosaur which was primarily a collaboration with Arthur Russell, founder of Sleeping Bag Records. David Byrne of Talking Heads played guitar on the record and it became the first release on Warner Brothers' subsidiary label Sire. Siano held down a brief residency at the Buttermilk Bottom after losing his positions at the Gallery and Studio 54. By 1979 he was out of Buttermilk Bottom and he attempted to reopen the Gallery. The next several years were difficult times for Nicky Siano and included other aborted attempts at reopening the Gallery, a brief stint working for Studio 54 and ongoing bouts with drug dependency.
In 1984 the death of close friend David Rodriguez from AIDS changed Nicky Siano's life. He ended his public DJ work and spent the next 15 years as a tireless activist supporting victims of AIDS. One of his publications No Time To Wait became a key guide for people dealing with living with HIV. Nicky Siano came out of retirement in 1998 at the Body and Soul party celebrating the birthday of Larry Levan. Siano became a regular DJ at the Twelve West parties hosted at Cheetah from 1999 through 2002. He also began touring extensively performing DJ gigs around the world. Other current projects include work on films depicting the glory years of the Gallery and the Manhattan Disco scene. Nicky Siano's newest Dance party Luv City opens in September 2004.
