Joe Smooth

Born in Chicago in 1963, Joseph Lorenzo Jr. Welbon, also known as Joe Smooth, emerged in the early days of American house music as a DJ, producer and writer linked to the city’s underground scene in the mid-1980s. His path crosses important clubbing venues of the local scene, notably the Smart Bar, then the Limelight and the Charlie Club, in a context where Chicago saw an aesthetic take shape based on electronic rhythms, repetitive bass lines and a soulful dimension inherited from disco and gospel. Joe Smooth also contributes to the genre’s history with his contribution to Chip E.'s Jack Trax EP. His name remains particularly associated with 'Promised Land', released in 1987, followed by the Promised Land album in 1988, a vocal house track with a unifying tone that became a lasting landmark of Chicago house repertoire. He followed with 'Rejoice' in 1990, continuing a writing style oriented toward warm, direct and melodic house. Over the years, Joe Smooth also works as a remixer and producer for artists from pop, R&B and dance, while pursuing label activity with Indie Art Music, launched in 2015. Joe Smooth thus remains attached to a generation of producers who helped move house from Chicago's local scene to a durable international circulation.