Melanie, Frankie and DJ IOP?

With the biggest Latino Event in Dallas just a few day away, we thought you should get alittle background on the host of THE ROOF ANNIVERSARY ROAD TOUR.  Remember you can still get tickets from Ticketmaster.com and we are announcing the winners of the Dallas Vida contest on December 1^st. We hope to see you at ESCAPADE 2001 on December 2^nd. 

Melanie Byron has always had a passion for the arts. After completing high school she studied and took courses in various schools such as, The University of Central Florida BFA Theatre) and The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), just to name a few. She also attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England where she concentrated in Shakespearean, Modern and Musical Theatre, and voice.  While in New York, she studied at the Actors Studio, and is currently a member of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre. She has also trained with well-known directors such as, Ron Milkie, Jeffrey Zeinberg, Film producer John Gallagher known for soap opera "All My Children" and Casting Director Phoebe Rosenberg. While at the Broadway Dance Center, she worked and performed on and off Broadway Productions.   

Norbert Gonzalez aka DJ IOP, was born Friday June 5, 1983 in the Auxilio Mutuo Hospital in San Juan, P.R. His mother, Margarita, also a native from the island of Puerto Rico lives and has lived all her life in the island. His father, Anthony was born in Havana, Cuba. From an early age, IOP was intrigued by music, always having different sorts of instruments around the house such as guitars, keyboards and pianos, bass guitars, drums and other instruments. He learned the basics and the sounds of the instruments, but was never attracted by them.  Growing up in Puerto Rico was not easy; having all sorts of ethnicity around, there was a plethora of flavors and music preferences. Influenced by many upcoming Hip-Hop and Jamaican artists surged a sound native to our island called Reggaeton. Finally in 1996 when he attended one of his first big time concerts, he stood in awe as he saw his favorite artists perform on stage and disbelieving remarks that Reggaeton wasn’t going anywhere.  At the age of 16, IOP bought, with his own money from delivering Newspapers, his first set of turntables (belt driven), and a crate full of records that included music such as LL Cool J, Run DMC, Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G and other American and European sounds.  After finishing with his studies, IOP decided that he wanted to become involved with the music that made headlines in Puerto Rico. He decided to become an ambassador for Reggaeton, relocating to Florida at the age of 19. He knew he needed to continue his education and began his higher education in the field of sound engineer and principles of business.  Along the way, with blessings from the CEO’s of Reggaeton Production companies, He began his journey promoting and establishing an image as DJ IOP, which in Latin means “In Omnia Paratus” translated to English meaning ‘Ready for Anything’.  IOP has positioned himself as a headlining entertainer and regularly performs in the most upscale venues in Miami.  He has established personal relationships with the record labels and artists, earning him, as stated by Don Omar, “IOP is the official delegate of Reggaeton in Puerto Rico and Florida.”

Now if you know mixtapes then you know Frankie Needles!

The New York City native knew from a very young age that music would play a major role in his life. As a child in uptown NYC's Washington Heights neighborhood, he listened to popular hip-hop deejays Red Alert and Kid Capri on the radio. He also hung out regularly at his grandmother's house in Harlem, where he hung out with Black and Latino kids as they all grew up on a steady diet of rap music. He also nurtured his love of hip-hop by buying the latest mixtapes on the streets. Needles - the product of a Cuban father and Cuban/Jamaican mother - bought his first turntables in 1986, determined to teach himself to dominate on the wheels of steel. As a young Latino, Needles listened to all types of music, an accurate reflection of the melting pot that New York City continues to be. Among his favorites: hip-hop, of course, but also old-school salsa, funk and R&B. His musical influences include icons LL Cool J, Fat Joe, Run DMC, Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoe, Willie Colon, Phil Collins, Diana Ross, Prince and many others.  After perfecting his art on the turntables, Needles began doing weddings, bar mitzvahs and sweet-16 celebrations - where he could always be counted on to keep the party hot. He also rolled with a mobile-deejay crew for a while, and soon began getting his own club gigs. It was during his club gigs that he coined his signature phrase "Latinos Stand Up!" "I always want to take the opportunity to represent the culture," he says. "We can party and have a good time, but we should also never forget the power we have as Latinos in this country."  When Needles' family moved to Miami, he continued pursuing his passion for music. DJ gigs continued to roll in, cementing his reputation in this South Florida hotspot. That led to a stint as a popular mixshow deejay at WEDR-FM 99, South Florida's top radio station for the hip-hop & R&B audience.  As he has built his solid reputation in the music industry, Frankie Needles has been flown all over the world to do club gigs - not only Los Angeles, San Diego and Atlanta, but also Tokyo, Osaka and Okinawa (Japan); San Pedro Sula (Honduras); Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic); and San Juan (Puerto Rico). He has also helmed some of Miami's highest-profile sets including: a birthday party for Russell Simmons; an NFL Super Bowl 'Super Ballers Weekend' party for Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs; a New Year's Eve party for super-producer Jermaine Dupri; a Black Film Festival special event for producers given by red-hot producers/artists the Neptunes - the list goes on and on. He has also built and maintained tight personal relationships with some of the biggest recording artists in the game, together with those on the verge of huge breakthroughs. Some of these include Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes, P. Diddy, Tego Calderon, Ivy Queen, Baby Bash, Sean Paul.  A personal career highlight was performing a deejay set during a sold-out Summer 2003 reggaeton concert headlined by Latin hip-hop star Calderon at New York's Madison Square Garden. "That was major," Needles remembers. "Reggaeton has been bubbling up from the streets for a minute, but to sell out the Garden? It just shows the power of Latinos to take a musical movement to the next level."