Mel Cheren was an instrumental figure in the birth and breakout success of disco -- the co-founder of the influential label West End Records, he was also the financial backer behind the landmark nightclub Paradise Garage, the longtime home of taste making DJ Larry Levan. Born in Everett, MA on January 21, 1932, Cheren earned a degree in marketing from Northeastern University in 1956, receiving his draft notice immediately after graduation. On his return from military duty, a friend invited him to brunch in Boston, where he met the secretary of ABC-Paramount Records president Samuel Clark. A few weeks later Cheren was notified that a senior clerk position was available at the label, and upon landing the position he relocated to New York City in 1959, eventually rising to the position of Midwest field rep. Following a short tenure with Cleveland-based M.S. Distributors, Cheren returned to ABC-Paramount to assume control of the company's production department. Following ABC's acquisition of Dunhill, Cheren collaborated with acts including the Mamas the Papas, Three Dog Night, and Richard Harris -- when operations relocated to Los Angeles in 1970, he remained in New York City, briefly working for tiny indie label Commonwealth United before signing on as head of production with Scepter Records in 1970.

Circa 1973 Cheren and his life partner Michael Brody attended one of pioneering disco DJ David Mancuso's all-night parties at his loft on 647 Broadway. The experience galvanized both men, and Cheren began petitioning Scepter head Florence Greenberg to steer the label into dance music. Greenberg soon brought aboard Tom Moulton, a male model and aspiring DJ whose underground dance mixes were all the rage among the disco elite; assigned to create a club mix of B.T. Express' Do It 'Til You're Satisfied, Moulton roughly doubled the track from 3:09 to a 5:52, and when the recorded song crossed over to number two on Billboard's Hot 100, the remix craze was officially born. Cheren remixed a handful of Scepter releases as well, scoring a huge club hit via Jesse Green's Nice and Slow. He also is credited with authorizing the first 12" DJ releases and masterminding the first-ever instrumental B-side mix, released on the flipside of Ultra High Frequency's We're on the Right Track, winning a Billboard Trendsetter Award for his efforts. When Scepter shuttered its doors in 1976, Cheren and colleague Ed Kushins co-founded West End Records. At the time, the label's biggest hit was Karen Young's Hot Shot, which sold close to a million copies, but over time Taana Gardner's Heartbeat proved even more enduring, thanks to samples across countless hip-hop releases.

Cheren also supplied Brody with the financial backing necessary to launch Paradise Garage, which officially opened its Greenwich Village doors on February 17, 1978. Larry Levan almost immediately emerged as the first-ever superstar DJ, winning a fervent fan following among the club's clientele for his eclectic tastes, brilliantly intuitive set lists and pioneering embrace of dub sensibilities. Paradise Garage was also notable for its cutting-edge sound system, still copied by clubs across the globe. Nevertheless, at disco's commercial zenith Cheren resigned from West End in 1980, focusing his energies on the Gay Men's Health Crisis and becoming one of the first and most vocal advocates for AIDS research and prevention. In 1987 he formed 24 Hours for Life, a non-profit comprising media and music professionals dedicated to AIDS relief and education. The organization was also the sponsor behind LIFEbeat, the music industry's AIDS awareness and resource organization, with Cheren serving on the board of directors. He re-launched West End in 1998, and two years later published a memoir, -Keep On Dancin': My Life and The Paradise Garage. Cheren was the subject of a 2007 feature documentary, #The Godfather of Disco. Later that same year he discovered he was HIV positive, and died on December 7, 2007, just weeks shy of his 76th birthday. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi