Jellybean Benitez

Benitez is the legendary DJ, famous for spinning records at the timelessly notorious NYC club, Studio 54.

In ’75, Benitez moved to Manhattan, where he started to attend discos and club nights. This was the beginning of his long love for dance music and the moment he decided he wanted to be a professional DJ. His first big residencies were in clubs like Experiment 4 & Electric Circus.
Jellybean’s road to stardom was paved by remixes. He rehashed songs like ‘The Bubble Bunch’ by Jimmy Spicer, ‘Walking on Sunshine’ by Rocker’s Revenge and ‘Planet Rock’ by Afrika Bambaataa. Through his work with Stephen Bray of Breakfast Club, Benitez was introduced to Madonna.
A pivotal moment in Jellybean’s career, this was the start of a phenomenal relationship, which churned out unforgettable Madonna remixes, like ‘Everybody’, ‘Borderline’, and ‘Lucky Star’. Other notable remixes include Whitney Houston’s ‘Love Will Save the Day’.

Throughout his career, Benitez has also done remix work for the likes of Sting, Hall & Oates, George Benson, Shalamar, Jocelyn Brown, Talking Heads, Billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac, A-ha, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. In the ’80s, Benitez got 2 US pop hits with ‘Sidewalk Talk’ and ‘Who Found Who’. His 1984 cover of ‘The Mexican’ is now regarded as a pivotal moment in the electro-hip hop scene.
Benitez continues to DJ all over the world. He also owns Jellybean Productions, Jellybean Soul and Jellybean Music Group. In 2005, he was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame.