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Miami Music History
Explore the performances, venues, artists, and local sounds that shaped Miami and South Florida.
Artists & Local Sounds
After Hurricane Andrew, Against All Authority Found Its Voice
After Hurricane Andrew, two friends in South Miami-Dade picked up acoustic guitars. What they built became one of the area’s most enduring punk bands.
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After Midnight on Overtown’s Little Broadway
A star could perform in Miami Beach and still be unable to stay there.
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At La Covacha, a Roadhouse Became Miami’s Dance Floor
In west Miami-Dade, a family truck stop became a place for salsa, merengue, vallenato and a rising rock en español scene.
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At Liquid, Tracy Young Took Command of the Dance Floor
Liquid opened on Washington Avenue in November 1995, when a club could help make South Beach news simply by opening its doors. Celebrity guests brought attention, but the music determined…
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At Warsaw Ballroom, David Padilla Made South Beach Dance
A history of South Beach nightlife told only through visiting stars would leave out the people who made the city worth visiting. At the Warsaw Ballroom, one of those people…
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Before the Arenas, the Police Played Fat Cats Club
On May 4, 1979, the Police played two sets at Fat Cats Club in Miami. Concert records list an early show and a late show, each built around songs from…
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Before the Orange Bowl, U2 Played Sunrise and Pembroke Pines
The band’s South Florida story began in a Sunrise theater, grew through two nights at the Sportatorium and reached Miami’s Orange Bowl four years later.
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Before the Stadiums, Led Zeppelin Played a Converted Bowling Alley
For two nights in February 1969, Led Zeppelin played Thee Image Club on Collins Avenue. The room had once been a bowling alley. The band had released its first album…
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Before the Stadiums, Taylor Swift Played a Broward Chili Cookoff
The bill at the January 2008 KISS Country Chili Cookoff had established names at the top. Big & Rich, with Cowboy Troy, and Gretchen Wilson ranked ahead of an 18-year-old…
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Before Ultra, Dance Music Came to Miami to Meet
Before Miami’s spring dance music calendar became a spectacle, a small South Florida gathering gave DJs, producers and record labels a reason to meet face to face.
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Before Woodstock, Hendrix Took the Stage at Miami Pop
In May 1968, a horse racing track in Hallandale became a rock festival site. Gulfstream Park hosted the Miami Pop Festival, with Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Chuck Berry, John Lee…
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Beyond South Beach, The Globe Gave Miami Another Kind of Night
The Globe was not in South Beach. It was in Coral Gables, at 377 Alhambra Circle. That distinction belongs in the story, because the café offers a wider view of…
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Cameo Was a Movie Theater. Then South Beach Turned Up the Volume
The Cameo opened in 1938 as a movie theater. For decades, its purpose seemed settled: people bought tickets, found their seats and watched a film. By the time South Beach’s…
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Car Wash Money, Hurricane Tapes and the Miami Band That Wouldn’t Quit
They paid for their first album with car washes. A hurricane scattered the tapes for their second. The music, and the friendships behind it, survived.
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Clarence Reid Wrote Miami Soul. Blowfly Broke Every Rule
Clarence Reid built a career in Miami music doing work that could reach an enormous audience. He wrote and produced soul records, working in the orbit of Henry Stone’s recording…
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Debbie Deb’s Voice Was Everywhere. Her Name Was Another Story
A teenager working in a North Miami Beach record store met producer “Pretty Tony” Butler in 1984. Her name was Deborah Wesoff, and she would record as Debbie Deb. Together…
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DJ Laz Put Miami’s Sound on the Radio
He made records that sounded like the city around him. Then, from behind the microphone at Power 96, he helped more Miami artists find an audience.
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From Miami House Parties to the World’s Dance Floors: Murk’s Story
Oscar G and Ralph Falcon made records that traveled farther than the parties where their partnership began.
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How a Hialeah Record Company Helped Make Disco
Before the music filled dance floors around the world, it passed through Henry Stone’s independent record operation in Hialeah.
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How a Pitbull Prank Sent Mr. 305 to Alaska
In 2012, an online promotion offered fans the chance to bring Pitbull to a Walmart. The store with the most Facebook support would win a visit from the Miami rapper.…
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How Little Haiti’s Music Found a Citywide Stage
Long before the Haitian Compas Festival filled large outdoor venues, the music had a home in neighborhood record shops, gatherings and dance floors.
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How Miami Sound Machine Carried the City Around the World
Long before “Miami Sound Machine” was a name known far beyond Florida, Emilio Estefan was leading a local group called the Miami Latin Boys. Gloria Fajardo met him at a…
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How Slip-N-Slide Put Trick Daddy and Trina on the Map
With Trick Daddy and Trina, Ted Lucas built a record label around artists who could tell the country something new about their city.
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How the Bee Gees Made Miami a Second Home
They came to record at Criteria in 1975. Years later, their own Miami Beach studio kept the brothers writing and making music for other artists.
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Hoy Como Ayer Kept Cuba’s Songs Alive on Calle Ocho
For two decades, a small Calle Ocho club gave Cuban music a place to be heard live in Miami.
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Inside Criteria, the North Miami Studio Behind Generations of Hits
Visitors searching for Miami’s music history might start with a concert venue or a nightclub. Some of its most consequential performances happened inside a recording studio in North Miami, with…
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Inside Criteria, Where the Bee Gees Changed Course
In North Miami, Mack Emerman built a studio where local skill helped shape music heard around the world.
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Inside the Miami Beach Studio Behind “The Cup of Life”
Desmond Child had already written songs heard around the world. In Miami Beach, he built a studio where another chapter of pop music took shape.
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Keith Moon’s Troubling Night at the Fontainebleau
Keith Moon was already famous for behavior that strained the boundary between rock mythology and personal disaster. In August 1976, during the Who’s Florida tour, an episode at Miami Beach’s…
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Los Van Van Played Inside. Miami Protested Outside
On October 9, 1999, Los Van Van performed at Miami Arena. Reaching the concert required some patrons to pass through a large protest outside.
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Marilyn Manson’s First Show Happened at Churchill’s
On April 28, 1990, a new band opened for the Goods at Churchill’s Hideaway in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood. The cover was $3. The name on the bill was Marilyn…
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Miami Heard “Cop Killer” Even Without Ice-T on Stage
In 1992, police groups pressed for Body Count’s record to be withdrawn. Miami stores pulled it from their shelves. Then, at Lollapalooza in Bicentennial Park, Soundgarden played the song with…
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Nirvana’s Last Miami Show, Under the Sky at Bayfront Park
On November 27, 1993, Nirvana played the amphitheater at Bayfront Park with the Breeders and Come. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and the band that had altered rock music’s…
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Nuclear Valdez Saved the Miami Rock Story Left on Tape
The band earned a major-label deal and national exposure. Years later, its members went back to aging tapes to make sure another part of the story could still be heard.
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Paul and Young Ron Ruled the South Florida Morning Drive
Across three stations and 26 years, Paul Castronovo and Ron Brewer became familiar voices in South Florida’s rock-radio world.
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Pretty Tony, Debbie Deb and the Sound of Miami Freestyle
Tony Butler helped give Miami freestyle its sound. The singers who worked with him gave it voices the city still knows.
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Prince, Purple Rain and the Miami Super Bowl Storm
At Super Bowl XLI, a storm threatened the halftime show. Prince stepped onto the field and made it part of the performance.
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The Hialeah Warehouse That Sent Disco Around the World
Harry Wayne Casey’s early work at Henry Stone’s Hialeah operation involved opening boxes and packing records for shipment. He also wanted to make one.
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The Many Sounds of Miami’s Jingle Ball
A Jingle Ball lineup is a time capsule made before anyone knows how the year will be remembered. The point is to bring together artists listeners are hearing now: stars,…
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The Miami Beach Night That Became a Bieber Headline
Justin Bieber’s arrest in Miami Beach on January 23, 2014, became a major celebrity news event. Police initially accused him of driving under the influence, resisting arrest and driving with…
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The Miami Voice Behind “Lookout Weekend” Fought to Reclaim Her Name
Two dance records carried a North Miami Beach teenager’s voice far beyond the city. Then other performers appeared under her name. Debbie Deb’s return made the person behind the songs…
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The Neighborhood Never Forgot DJ Uncle Al
His records, radio work and block parties helped give Miami’s hip-hop community a sound and a place to gather.
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The Night a Miami Punk Singer Set Himself on Fire at Churchill’s
Stories about Churchill’s Pub can sound invented even when someone was there to see them. The Little Haiti venue made room for bands that prized volume, confrontation and the chance…
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The Night Jimmy Buffett Took the Plunge at Miami Marine Stadium
Miami Marine Stadium was built for speedboats. Its grandstand faced a basin on Virginia Key, where a floating stage could turn the water itself into part of a concert. Fans…
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The Night Miami Silenced Allen Ginsberg at Marine Stadium
Miami Marine Stadium is often remembered for concerts on a floating stage and Jimmy Buffett’s leap into the water. Another performance there left a very different record: a federal court…
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The Night N.W.A. Reached Miami Arena
Concert records place the group at Miami Arena on August 18, 1989. The date connects two cities whose rap scenes were changing what the country heard.
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The Night Prince Opened Glam Slam on South Beach
By June 1994, South Beach could attract almost anyone for a night out. Prince chose to do something more ambitious. He opened a club there.
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The Other Miami Pop Festival of 1968
The first Miami Pop Festival is remembered for Jimi Hendrix and the rain that canceled its second day in May 1968. Gulfstream Park hosted another festival under the Miami Pop…
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The Station That Made South Florida Rock Sound Local
For South Florida listeners, 94.9 Zeta was a station, a concert promoter and, at its best, a path from a local band’s recording to a much bigger stage.
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The Verse That Introduced Miami to Trina
When Trick Daddy’s “Nann Nigga” reached listeners in 1998, Trina was a guest on someone else’s record. By the time her verse ended, she had made it impossible to hear…
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Ultra Began on a Miami Beach Lawn
Before Ultra became associated with enormous stages and a skyline backdrop, it held its first music festival at Collins Park in Miami Beach. The year was 1999. Ultra describes the…
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When “Conga” Became a 119,986-Person Dance
“Conga” had already carried Miami Sound Machine far beyond South Florida when the song acquired one of its most spectacular hometown moments. At the Calle Ocho Festival on March 13,…
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When Beatlemania Took Over a Miami Beach Hotel
One week after the Beatles made their live American television debut in New York, The Ed Sullivan Show had to put them on again. This time the show was broadcasting…
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When Daft Punk Brought the Pyramid to Bicentennial Park
By November 2006, electronic music already had a strong Miami audience. Winter Music Conference drew DJs and industry figures to the city, and clubs had long given dance music a…
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When Miami Bass Went on Trial
Miami bass made itself hard to ignore. Its force came from rhythm and low end, music built to be felt as well as heard. By the late 1980s, 2 Live…
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When MTV Latino Broadcast Latin Rock From Lincoln Road
MTV Latino’s arrival on Lincoln Road in 1993 connected a new television audience to the rock en español scene taking shape in Miami.
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When the Orange Bowl Became Miami’s Biggest Concert Stage
For decades, a stadium built for football gave Miami a place to hear some of the world’s biggest musicians at full volume.
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When ZetaFest Turned South Florida Rock Radio Into a Crowd
For South Florida rock listeners, 94.9 Zeta did more than play the music. Its ZetaFest concerts gave the station’s sound a place to gather, first across the region and then…
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