Fireside Chat

Lil Louis

New York City, USA

One of the most popular Chicago house producers during the late '80s thanks to his massive club hit 'French Kiss', Lil' Louis was also the only Chicago producer to successfully deal with the major labels; releasing two albums for Epic. Louis was the son of guitarist Bobby Sims, who recorded for Chess and appeared with the psychedelic-soul unit Rotary Connection. He grew up with nine siblings and played both drums and bass as a child, then began DJing in the mid-'70s. By the end of the decade he had his own club, the Future, where he began working on his editing techniques, thanks to a cassette deck and later a reel-to-reel recorder. By the 1980s, Lil' Louis was hosting the biggest house parties in Chicago, and simultaneously began recording his own productions. His first single 'How I Feel' appeared on his own label, and he then began collaborating with Marshall Jefferson on several tracks including 'Seven Ways to Jack' by Hercules and Byron Stingily's 'I Can't Stay Away'. In 1987, his new single 'French Kiss' became a local hit, then a platinum-selling international classic after being licensed to CBS and ffrr and the rest as they say, is history! RBMA Radio caught up with Louis preceding his show at London's new super-club Matter for a quick chat about house music, stalkers and seeing the world through the eyes of a woman....