Born and raised in the western suburbs, Carter was into music from a young age, but during his teens Chicago's house scene sucked him in for good. Before long Carter became a strong presence in the city's underground dance scene.
Though he doesn't spin much locally anymore, when he does, he attracts large crowds. His sets are rooted in house, but he freely travels outside club tastes, seamlessly incorporating old-school disco, soul, jazz, and whatever else catches his fancy. Most of the time he works in Europe, where he's becomes a major celebrity among dance-music aficionados.
In 1988 Carter, fellow DJ Mark Farina, and friend Chris Nazuka released an EP as the group Symbols and Instruments. The record had a strong influence on the burgeoning ambient techno movement in England. While it wasn't a commercial success, it established Carter as an international figure in the dance-music underground. Again' and skillfully cast his own low, sexy drawl over his trademark Carter grooves to form 'Boompty Boomp Theme', described by acid house legend Andy Weatherall as 'the greatest house record of the year, if not the next two years.' Besides his subliminal residency at Centrofly, New York, with Eric Morillo, and his Chicago Madbar residency, he has just started a new bi-monthly Classic residency at London's The End alongside Luke Solomon and Rob Mello.
Derrick spends most of his life continually touring regularly playing in Europe, America, the Far East and Australia. If you get a chance try and catch one of the greatest DJ's of all time. Derrick Carter One of the biggest names in 90s Chicago house music, Carter was described by Richie Hawtin as 'America's last true underground DJ' in 1994. That seemed likely to change with his debut release, The Sound Patrol EP, on the local Organico label, which attracted rave reviews. A second EP, The Music, was another slice of pure house. It included excellent cuts such as 'An Open Secret', which utilized Chaka Khan’s 'Ain't Nobody' at its base. Carter continues to work in a 'DJ commune' near the downtown skyscraper precincts of Chicago, equipped with a built-in studio. He had started life as part of the experimental outfit Symbols and Instruments, who scored an underground techno success for Network. He was only 16 at the time, and went on to a scholarship at engineering college MIT.
Following the EPs he embarked on a project for David Holmes' Exploding Plastic Inevitable label. He also founded two labels, Blue Cucaracha and Classic, and performed live with the Sound Patrol Orchestra.