Mr. Wonderful

MINISTER OF SOUND Carroll turns his gospel chops into dance gold.

Photo: Courtesy of Ron Carroll

Some want to put Chicago house music in a history museum, others want to turn back the clock to the early days, but the Chicago artists who have survived and thrived in the new world of club music tend to have forward-looking, open minds. Whether it’s his progressive and multifaceted approach to dance music or just good timing, Ron Carroll remains a platinum nameplate in vocal house. He tours a lot, but Carroll still lives here and plays Chicago often—on Monday 19, he spins the Boom Boom Room and turns the party into a video shoot for his new “Bump to Dis” single.

Carroll learned to sing in gospel choirs but fell in love with the badass rock of Kiss and industrial music and saw the power of the high-school dance DJ at a young age. He was old enough to watch as our own inner-city club music became the soundtrack to a new era of partying. By the ’80s, Carroll was spinning himself, at his own club no less, a place called Banging Enterprise. After he sang on the seminal house track “My Prayer” with Hula, K. Fingers, Ron Trent and Big Ed on Af-Ryth-Mix Sounds in 1993, the rest of the world became aware of Carroll’s uplifting, life-loving, attitude-heavy vocal style—the track still gets played by the likes of the Count & Sinden and blogged about endlessly. He penned the classic “I Get Lifted” for Louie Vega and Barbara Tucker in the mid-’90s after boldly introducing himself to the producer in Miami. Carroll has maintained a career as a DJ and a producer and remixer under aliases such as RC Groove, Testament and Ground Level, but in recent years, it is those signature vocals that have reignited his star.

More recently, he’s been tapped as a singer by Superfunk for European No. 1 “Lucky Star,” which opened the door to work with Dutch outfit Hardsoul on the UK smash“Back Together”in 2003 and prominent French house star Bob Sinclar. “Once we did, it was magic, a real connection,” he says of the French don. With Sinclar and Axwell, Carroll had a hit in 2008, “What a Wonderful World,” and he’s now working on a separate Axwell and RC tune to be released this summer.

As much as he is in demand as a singer, he never relented with his own productions or DJ sets, which are themselves strong arguments for the pleasures of vocal house, even if it requires Carroll grabbing the mike himself.

Like us, he’s noticed some Chicago producers coming back to the area. “A lot of them come back to town, only to dig up ‘the old school’ again, instead of opening up fresh new labels and creating a fresh new Chicago sound for our city to love,” he says, citing Kid Sister and the Cool Kids as key young acts. “So, for the ones that are coming back, come back with an open mind and an excitement to change and to lead.”

It’s even possible, he says, that the good ol’ days are these days. “I think that dance music is in a great situation right now. The Chicago scene is wide open, giving everyone that open door to rise.”

Ron Carroll performs live at Boom Boom Room, Monday 19.