Based in New York City, John “Jellybean” Benitez is the executive producer of Studio 54 Radio, a commercial-free Sirius XM channel that pays tribute to the legendary club of the 1970s, Studio 54. Jellybean Benitez also serves as the president of the Jellybean Music Group, which produced records for Madonna and Whitney Houston, among others, and he has been partly credited with the rise of Freestyle music.
Even though the disco trend died in the late 1970s, music lovers continued to go out on the weekend and started dancing to a new style of music known as Freestyle. Influenced by boogaloo, Freestyle evolved from hip hop in the Bronx in the early ’80s and was completely synthesized. The new artform was the perfect alternative to disco.
One popular Freestyle club was the Fun House, where club-goers would dance from Saturday night to noon on Sunday morning. The club was known for playing the sound of the street, unlike other concert venues that focused on popular music, though the Fun House also attracted curious A-listers who stopped by to see what the fuss was about. Freestyle also had a direct influence on Madonna, whose fame rose out of the movement.
The Fun House closed in 1985, but it is still an infamous and crucial part of the evolution of American pop music.
