Lovebug Starski
{{Short description|American hip hop musician (1960–2018)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Lovebug Starski
| image = Starski.jpg
| caption =
| image_size =
| background = solo_singer
| birth_name = Kevin Smith
| alias =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1960|5|16}}
| birth_place = The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|2|8|1960|5|16}}
| death_place = Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
| genre = Hip hop
| occupation = {{hlist|Rapper|DJ|record producer
}}
| years_active = 1971–2018
| associated_acts = DJ Hollywood
| website =
}}
Kevin Smith (May 16, 1960 – February 8, 2018), best known by his stage name Lovebug Starski, was an American MC, musician, and record producer. He began his career as a record boy in 1971 as hip hop first appeared in the Bronx, and he eventually became a DJ at the Disco Fever club in 1978. He is one of two people who may have come up with the term "hip-hop".{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/aug/07/the-get-down-baz-luhrmann-grandmaster-flash-hip-hop |title=Grandmaster Flash: 'Hip-hop's message was simple: we matter' |first=Dorian |last=Lynskey |newspaper=The Guardian |date=August 7, 2016}}{{Cite web |title=The Sacramento Bee 12 Oct 2004, page 46 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/630411430/ |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}} Starski claimed that he coined the phrase, while trading the two words back and forth, while improvising lines with Keef Cowboy of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, at a farewell party for a friend who was headed into the Army. In an interview with Dave Hill in the newspaper The Observer, Starski explained, "I picked up the mic and just started saying 'a hip hop, hip hop, de hibbyhibbyhibbyhibby hop'. The people couldn't believe it but it stuck."{{Cite web |title=The Observer 15 Jun 1986, page 27 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/257798905/ |access-date=May 8, 2023 |newspaper=The Observer|via=Newspapers.com |language=en}}
Career
Starski recorded his first single, "Positive Life", on the Tayster record label in 1981.{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Virgin Books|date=1998|edition=First|isbn=0-7535-0252-6|page=205}} (The British Group MARRS would sample this in 1987 with the No. 1 single "Pump Up the Volume".) Later, he recorded a song for the soundtrack of the 1986 film Rappin', which was released on Atlantic Records, before recording his first album, House Rocker, on Epic/CBS Records. This featured his most successful chart single, "Amityville (The House on the Hill)", a parody song named in reference to the film The Amityville Horror (itself based on alleged supernatural activities surrounding the DeFeo murder case). It was a No. 12 hit on the UK Singles Chart{{cite book| last = Roberts| first = David| title = British Hit Singles & Albums| edition = 19th| year = 2006| publisher = Guinness World Records Limited| location = London| isbn = 1-904994-10-5| page = 331 }} in 1986. Lovebug Starski sank into cocaine dependency and was imprisoned for possession of illegal substances in 1987. On release in December 1991, he returned to a DJ residency at his former haunt, Disco Fever.
Lovebug Starski and World Famous Brucie B, also worked together at the Rooftop Roller rink in Harlem during the 1980s.{{Cite web|url=https://history.hiphop/lovebug-starski-kevin-smith/|title=Lovebug Starski (Kevin Smith)|date=June 24, 2019|website=The Hip Hop Museum}}
Starski's name is forever immortalized in the opening verse of The Notorious B.I.G.'s legendary single "Juicy". In a line filled with unintentional irony, Biggie asks, "Who ever thought that hip-hop would take it this far?" while also giving credit to some of the foundational DJs in hip-hop. "Peace to Ron G, Brucie B, Kid Capri, Funkmaster Flex, Lovebug Starski."https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/02/09/584488179/lovebug-starski-rapper-and-dj-who-stood-at-the-vanguard-of-hip-hop-dead-at-57
Death
Starski died of a heart attack in Las Vegas on February 8, 2018, at the age of 57, while moving speakers out of storage into his apartment.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/obituaries/lovebug-starski-hip-hop-dead.html |title=Lovebug Starski, Hip-Hop Trailblazer, Is Dead at 57 |first=Jon |last=Caramanica |author-link=Jon Caramanica |newspaper=The New York Times |page=B8 |date=February 9, 2018}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lovebug-starski-rap-pioneer-who-popularized-term-hip-hop-dead-at-57-w516540 |title=Lovebug Starski, Rap Pioneer Who Popularized Term 'Hip-Hop,' Dead at 57 |first=Jesse |last=Serwer |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=February 9, 2018 |issn=0035-791X}} Smith had recently relocated to Las Vegas, where he was working to revive his DJ career with gigs that included a weekly residency at a rooftop lounge of a Indian restaurant. His final appearance there was just hours before his death, according to his manager, Jeremy Crittenden. He is survived by his mother, Martha Bowes; two sisters, Kim Shaw and Karen Rivers; three daughters, Tiffany Williams, Shantel Williams and Bryanna Smith; three granddaughters and a grandson.
Discography
=Albums=
- House Rocker (1986)
=Singles {{anchor|amityville}} =
- "Gangster Rock" (1979) (as Little Starsky)
- "Dancin' Party People" (1981) (as Little Starsky)
- "Positive Life" (1981) (with Harlem World Crew)
- "Live at the Fever" (1983) (On Fever Records)
- "Live at the Fever Pt.2" (1983) (On Fever Records)
- "You've Gotta Believe" (On Fever Records) (1983)
- "Do the Right Thing" (1984)
- "House Rocker" (1985)
- "Rappin'" (1985)
- "Amityville (The House on the Hill)" (1986)
- "Saturday Night" (1986)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{AllMusic |class=artist |id=lovebug-starski-mn0000421848}}
- {{Discogs artist|21906-Lovebug-Starski}}
- {{IMDb name|2424314}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starski, Lovebug}}
Category:African-American male rappers
Category:20th-century American male rappers
Category:20th-century African-American musicians
Category:American male singers