Music
Chez Damier
· house DJ and producer
Chicago-born house DJ who co-founded Detroit's legendary Music Institute in 1988 and later co-ran the deep-house label Prescription with Ron Trent.
- Birth name
- Anthony Pearson
- Also known as
- Anthony Pearson
- Detroit years
- mid-1980s–1990s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Anthony Pearson was born in Chicago, worked with music from age 11 and was buying records at 13. He moved to Detroit for university, where he met Derrick May and Alton Miller and began to DJ and produce. Inspired by the house clubs of Chicago and New York, Pearson, Miller and George Baker opened the Music Institute at 1315 Broadway in downtown Detroit in May 1988. May led Friday's “Next Generation” nights, while Pearson and Miller played house and disco in the spirit of the Paradise Garage on Saturday's “Back to Basics”. The club closed in November 1989 but became the prototype of Detroit's techno club culture. Pearson, as Chez Damier, released “I Never Knew Love” and “Can You Feel It” on Kevin Saunderson's KMS label in 1992, then founded Prescription Records with Chicago's Ron Trent, one of the defining deep-house labels of the 1990s. In May 2016, during Movement week, he and Miller played together for the first time since the Institute closed.
Highlights
- Co-founded the Music Institute (1988–1989) with Alton Miller and George Baker.
- Saturday “Back to Basics” resident at the Music Institute.
- Released “Can You Feel It” (1992) on KMS.
- Co-founded Prescription Records with Ron Trent.
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1988–1989
The Music Institute
Closed · 1988–1989
The downtown club he co-founded; it ran from May 1988 to November 1989.