The original Jeff Milligan website was for the biography, discography, and pictures of his famous recordings and performances.
This site now includes a variety of interesting links that are posted below, about his (and other DJ’s) discography, schedule, bookings, downloads, sponsors and press.
My Life As A DJ
I remember sitting up in my room as my parents held parties for their friends. I remember how the music made everyone downstairs from me happy and unable to sit still. The laughter. The chatter. The way that the beats, the lyrics, the melodies entered into my dreams and took me to places in my dreams that were more vivid and charismatic than where any book or movie could ever take me. It was then before I even crossed over into middle school that I knew that I wanted to be a DJ.
I wanted to be the one to make people happy. I yearned to be the one that made everyone forget the stresses of the day… the week… the month… the year. I wanted to introduce new music to the masses while reminding them of the vibrant melodic history that music had behind it. I guess you could say that at a very young age, I developed a growing love affair with music and the art of DJing.
When I was twelve, my uncle who was a popular DJ in our area began letting me spend time with him and he started teaching me the art. Yes, the art of DJing. I loved learning how to read the crowd and mix melodies and even create my own sound and signature. It is no doubt that you could definitely lose a significant amount of weight dancing all night to the sound of this music.
We would spend countless hours listening to music both old and new. He was who taught me how to properly incorporate slow songs and requests from the crowd. He was the one that showed me the importance of placing the pleasure of the crowd before you ahead of the top ten songs.
By the time I was a senior in high school, I had my own following… my own reputation…my own distinct way to move a crowd. Local artists wanted to be in my playlist and would do just about anything to make sure that their music was heard during my sets. Funny thing is. I didn’t want anything from them other than great music.
Even as the direction of music changed over the years, my love affair with the craft just grew. I never wanted to get rich through DJing, I simply wanted and needed to be around the music. Although I DJed at night, during the day I finished high school and my afternoons were spent working in a local records store. No, not a music store, not a CD shop. An actual store that still sold vinyl records.
This gave me the opportunity to stay grounded in the roots and origins of music while learning what people truly wanted to hear. I found myself becoming the Andy Warhol of DJing. I was able to take the club and partygoers on a journey through time that keep their butts off their seats and their feet tapping to a variant of beats. I could look out into a crowd and spot the group of girls that needed to get their friend’s mind off of her cheating ex and deliver them a personal “you don’t need him” soundtrack.
I could take a newlywed couple on a journey back through their relationship and all the others that inspired their love during their three-hour reception. I was a storyteller that wrote no words. I was a performer that needed no spotlight. All I needed was two turntables, a mic and my music.
Although I have settled down into the married life of suburbia, my love affair with music has not diminished in any way. Just nowadays instead of bouncing beats off of club walls or through reception halls, I DJ for my family on holidays and special occasions. I take them on musical escapades through my life as a popular DJ that simply wanted music to be appreciated as well as an escape from the humdrum of daily life.
I still release people from the constraints of the borders of life, just on a smaller and more personal scale. Music is still and will always be my mistress. I cannot quit her and I will never try. DJing is as a part of me as is my DNA. It is what I love, who I am, what I will always be. There is nothing more fulfilling or creative than the art of DJing.
