A Black Gay Music Critic On: Mariah Carey’s 10 Most Important Dance Remixes

There’s a moment in the audiobook for Mariah Carey’s illuminating memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey (co-written by the ever-insightful Michaela Angela Davis) where she talks about listening to New York City radio in the mid-’80s. Suddenly, she starts singing two of the era’s biggest hits: Jocelyn Brown’s “Somebody Else’s Guy” and Gwen Guthrie’s “Ain’t Nothin’ Goin’ On But The Rent.” These songs were smashes both on the airwaves and in the clubs. Back in the day, you could get a whole dance music education just by listening to NYC stations such as WBLS (which Mariah calls the “Black Liberation Station”), KISS-FM, and WKTU.

Mariah has consistently proven her deep knowledge of and genuine appreciation for club music through the remixes of her chart-topping singles. In her three-decade-long career, she’s worked with a number of dancefloor luminaries, including Shep Pettibone, Junior Vasquez, Louie Vega, and more.

But the two collaborators that most helped translate her sound for the club were David Cole and David Morales. Cole, a native of Tennessee, grew up playing the organ in church. After moving to the New York area, he got a job adding keyboard touches to tracks spun by DJs at the nightclub Better Days. Among those he worked with was Robert Clivilés. The two would go on to form the…