Andre Collins
From 1970s gay lib to AIDS and crack, the New York DJ has seen it all

Courtesy of New World Records

Andre Collins is the ultimate survivor.A DJ who began spinning in the late ’70s after visiting seminal New York house clubs Gallery and Paradise Garage, he lived through unemployment, HIV infection and crack addiction, before emerging to breathe new life into his career over the last decade.

But even before he became a DJ, Collins had to come to terms with his own homosexuality in a family of devout Jehovah’s Witnesses. Ironically, it was a fellow Jehovah’s Witness who took him to his first night out at Gallery around ’75, at that time the focus of New York’s budding gay nightlife scene. “I was scared—petrified actually—that first night, but there was something about it that intrigued me,” he recalled in an interview with clubbing website Underground Archives.

“There were all these gay people, happy about being gay... it was a place where you could be who you were... I had no idea that I was living in an era where gay people were going to fight for their rights, where black and Hispanic gays would have places to go to that were phenomenally big… You felt like being a rebel: not just saying you were gay, but that you were promiscuous. Promiscuity went hand in hand with a lifestyle that consisted of drugs, alcohol and sex.”

The high living caught up with Collins in 1986 when he was diagnosed with HIV. The news plunged him into years of crack addiction, and when he developed AIDS-related cancer in 1990, the prognosis looked grim.

Struggling to get clean and miraculously surviving through to the mid ’90s, when the current lifesaving AIDS medications became available, Collins still struggles with health issues and often doesn’t reveal his status. “Our industry is not so thoughtful to certain things and I wanted to travel,” he says. “I just hope it doesn’t hinder my traveling by coming out with it.”

In fact, Collins’ first visit to Tokyo four years ago at the invitation of local house DJ and promoter Ryo Watanabe was delayed by health issues. “The first time I was booked, I got very sick and had to cancel,” he said in a separate interview before next week’s visit. “I was booked again and I couldn’t make the tour due to being ill again. The third time I knew if I didn’t go, I probably wouldn’t get another chance to do it. Even though I still wasn’t feeling so great, I pulled myself together and went. And I am so glad that I did. I was received with open arms from the people.”

Collins’ set at Precious Hall in Sapporo saw him ministering to the house faithful until 11 in the morning, taking them on an epic musical journey. “I’m from the old school of DJs and I think I approach my job in a different light,” he says. “I love to tell a story through my music. And anyone who has heard me play knows I love, love, love gospel house. One of my anthems is ‘We Fall Down’ by Donnie McKirkland. That song sings to me for some of the pain and difficulties I have endured.”

The upcoming tour is part of New York-based Japanese promoter Hisa Ishioka’s Urbanphonics series. Ishioka also runs key house imprint King Street Sounds, to which Collins is signed. What can clubbers look forward to in the upcoming tour? “The crowd should expect a lot of love, a great time and some good ass kickin’ house music. Love is the message!”

Yellow, June 23. See club listings for details.

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