Wolfgang Gartner Bio
Real Bio:
In the often serious world of dance music, it’s good to see somebody still having a bit of fun. Meet Wolfgang Gartner, aka Joey Youngman. At first glance the name Wolfgang Gartner is a fairly recent blip on dance music’s collective radar, but dig a little deeper and you’ll discover a robust discography, amassed by a seasoned veteran of the music industry.
Currently residing in Austin, Texas, this 26-year-old California transplant has been producing dance music since he was 11 years old. While most kids were playing Nintendo and after-school sports, Youngman was syncing a drum machine to a keyboard and teaching himself to make tracks. His career didn’t hit center stage until 2003 however, when after a decade of pounding on the industry’s door he landed his first big break and began putting out records.
The early years of Youngman’s discography boasted releases and remixes on dozens of respected house labels like Tango, Om Records, Naked Music, Doubledown, and his own imprints; Fetish Recordings & Jackin Tracks. He donned a slew of production aliases including Mario Fabriani, White Collar Criminals, Frequent Fliers, and a few other colorful guises that helped to spice up an exceedingly frequent release schedule.
In 2004, Youngman signed onto the esteemed Blue Collar Entertainment roster and started focusing more time on his other passion: DJ’ing. The move sparked a series of global tours and increased his exposure to audiences around the world. To date, Joey Youngman has performed on every continent except Antarctica (but if you put a club on a glacier he’d play there too ). From Shindig Newcastle to Pacha Sao Paulo to Japan, Russia, and Ibiza, the air miles have stacked up along-side his innate ability to work a dancefloor.
2007 marked a major step in Youngman’s career with the introduction of his new moniker: Wolfgang Gartner. The new name was created to explore a new sound, without feeling confined to the musical boundaries of his previous projects. “I was getting bored with house, with that whole sound,” he says. “I basically hadn’t evolved musically since the late 90’s and had been rehashing the same ideas over and over. Something just snapped and I decided it was time for a complete change.”
It was apparent from the first Wolfgang Gartner release that Youngman was onto something big. Within 6 months of his first outing on Om Records, Wolfgang Gartner had landed 2 top-10 singles on Beatport.com’s sales chart (a high honor in the dance music world), a Pete Tong “essential new tune of the week” on BBC’s Radio 1, and a plethora of DJ support and accolades within the industry. It was early 2008 when Youngman made the decision to pursue the Wolfgang Gartner project full-time. “It’s so hard to do 2 things really well at the same time,” he says. “I realized that I had to pick something and stick to it. So I decided that this new style is the direction I want to go, and to focus all my time and energy on Wolfgang Gartner.”
Fake Bio:
Many scholars, theologians, philosophers, and skeptics have set out to construct writings about Wolfgang Gartner, albeit with varying motivations. Simply put, he is one of pop music’s great survivors. Wolfgang is not blessed with movie star looks and a chiseled six-pack (a decidedly unchiseled 12- or 18-pack would be more like it) - his appeal and talents lie in other areas. Wolfgang Gartner first set out to make his mark in the music business in the early 1980s, when he went to work as a sideman on the disco circuit, honing his craft but making little or no money. He eventually got restless being a sideman and moved to New York City hoping to get a break. In the mid 1980s, while still working his way up, Wolfgang voiced commercial jingles (Sticky Fingers BBQ, Slick’s Auto Parts) and provided backup vocals on tour and in session work for various bands including The Terrible Tahitians, Ogo Bogo, Sprockets, and The Ferocious Five. After performing with a short-lived singing group called Yazzle Dazzle, Wolfgang returned to the background and took part in various projects behind the scenes. Throughout the late eighties and into the next decade Wolfgang continued to pursue his musical interests, this time diving into the newly emerging Gangsta Rap sound of the West Coast. His most successful solo project, MC Wolf & the Gang, attracted a cult following of listeners that spread from the West Coast to the South. His uncanny rhyme delivery set him apart from the mainstream, as he coined his own style of street-speak and unusual phrasing. Moreover, his longevity and sincerity earned him many alliances, first among his West Coast colleagues, then with Straight Thuggin Records and numerous Dirty South camps. In 1999, disputes between Gartner and Straight Thuggin led them to part ways, but not before Gartner’s reputation had been tarnished by bad press. Perhaps sensing his career was in jeopardy, Wolfgang began to revamp his public image, moving away from his gangsta roots toward a more wholesome aesthetic. He also began making gestures toward the dance community, releasing a handful of speed garage records under various guises. Almost three decades since his first foray into the business, Wolfgang is turning out some of the finest tracks of his career. His “Shapes EP” on Om Records marked the beginning of a new era and sound. Though it’s impossible to predict what Wolfgang will do next, one thing is certain: he is sure to leave his own anomalous creative style and imprint wherever he lands.
