Longtime South Side DJ and Chosen Few collective member Terry Hunter has been nominated for his third Grammy Award, for his remix of the 1993 Mariah Carey track “Workin’ Hard.”
Ahead of the February 2024 award ceremony, the Herald sat down with Hunter for a look back at his journey to house music.
Born in 1970 in Chatham, Hunter grew up at 83rd and Ingleside. By sixth grade, his family moved to Chinatown. It is here where his career started.
“I have an older cousin by the name Terry that I was named after, and he was into music. I would always hear (him) at family gatherings playing tapes from the Power Plant and some of the live recorded music from the Warehouse,” Hunter told the Herald.
The Power Plant was a North Side club started by house music pioneer and Hunter’s eventual mentor Frankie Knuckles, after he departed from the historic Warehouse nightclub. “Years later, he had to babysit me and I remember him saying ‘I can’t sit with you, you got to go to this event with me’ … He took me there and Frankie Knuckles was DJing
“The thing that intrigued me was that I’m hearing this man play all of these songs that I’m used to hearing. Listening to these records one after another seamlessly and people are literally going crazy and screaming this man’s name,” Hunter continued. “That really started my career as a DJ.” Hunter believes the year was 1984, around the time he prepared to begin high school.
Hunter started his freshman year at Dunbar Vocational High School, but later transferred to Hyde Park Academy High School,graduating in the class of 1988. This time was pivotal for establishing his career as a DJ.
“That whole scene at the time – highschoolers were killing it on the house music. You have places like the Record Bar Club which drew thousands of kids that were partying there,” Hunter said. “You have all of the high schools doing major parties, like Hyde Park, Kenwood, Leo High School, Academy of Our Lady, like the high school thing at that time was running it. And the backdrop was house music.”
Around this time, Hunter hosted an event at the Hummingbird at 87th Street and Ashland Avenue that drew thousands of high school students. Backing Hunter were hundreds of his supporters and classmates from Hyde Park. He describes this as “a battle of the schools” that highlighted the local music scene. Promoters who would visit the high schools to promote upcoming parties heard about Hunter’s event and the support he had, leading to his career blossoming locally.
“I started making a name for myself and it just grew and grew across the city,” Hunter said. His rising popularity translated into DJing more high school events to where he was making enough money to sustain himself.
After graduation, Hunter progressed to DJing local college shows before setting his sights elsewhere. “I don’t want to be a local DJ. What do I have to do to see the world,” Hunter recalled feeling, looking to artists like Frankie Knuckles. “A lot of DJ’s were traveling overseas, and I’m like ‘what do you have to do to get overseas?’ And that was learning record production.”
He soon found himself in a friend’s basement “messing around” with studio equipment. By 1990, he released his debut single “Madness.” Initially an underground hit in Chicago, the song eventually made waves in the European dance scene and landed on U.K. charts. A friend in London called Hunter, who was then unaware of his bubbling success. This call led a month-long tour across London.
“I’m a kid from the South Side of Chicago. I didn’t know anything about flying around the world DJing,” Hunter said.
Workin’ Hard
Through the 1990’s into the 2000’s, Hunter continued to build his brand locally and abroad. His production and remix credits grew to include superstars Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blidge, Jill Scott and Michael Jackson. In 2004, Hunter started his label, T’s Box Records, and in 2006, he became the first new member of Chicago’s Chosen Few DJs, by then a renowned decades-old collective. The 2000s ended with Hunter being named “Producer of the Year” by 5 Magazine.The 2010’s saw continued success, with his first Grammy nomination in 2015 for “Best R&B Performance,” on Jennifer Hudson’s track “It’s Your World.” Years later, a call would land Hunter back at the Grammys as a remixer for one of the biggest names in music.
“A gentleman called me by the name of Damien,” Hunter said. Damien Smith, a former manager for Jennifer Hudson who now works with Beyonce, had called Hunter about remixing a track from her upcoming dance album “Renaissance.” The album, which was heavily influenced by Chicago house music, drew critical acclaim. It was nominated for nine Grammys last year, winning four.
Among these nominations was Hunter’s for “Best Remixed Recording” for his take on the track “Break My Soul (Terry Hunter Remix).”
“I was honored and floored … For them to reach out to someone from Chicago, the birthplace of (house) music was amazing,” said Hunter. “And the same kind of thing happened with Mariah.”
Hunter received a call from another industry friend last year, asking him to lend his talents to the 30th anniversary edition of Mariah Carey’s “Music Box.” Carey’s highest grossing album to date, it’s sold more than 28 million copies worldwide since its release in 1993.
For the reissue, Hunter remixed two tracks: “I’ve Been Thinking About You” and “Workin’ Hard.” The latter premiered at the Chosen Few Picnic and Festival in July, and landed Hunter another Grammy nomination for “Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.”
Hunter is now the second Chicago house DJ to be nominated in this category two years in a row, following Steve “Silk” Hurley.
As he continues to make music, his goals have expanded. He wants to help other artists reach similar heights, and continue to spread the gospel of house music.
“There’s places I would love to see house music,” Hunter said. “A lot of these top festivals around the world don’t have Black and brown artists involved, and I want to break that barrier to have more artists and that (house) sound involved. That’s why I love what we do with Chosen Few.”
DJ Terry Hunter is available on social media platforms, terryhuntermusic.com and streams regularly on Twitch at twitch.tv/djterryhunter.
