Lenny Dee
Lenny Dee, born Leonard Didesiderio, is a New York DJ who moved from house music in the 1980s toward the harder sounds of techno and gabber, founding the influential Industrial Strength Records label in 1991. He started DJing at 17 at a roller disco in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and made his first record in 1985 before developing a rivalry, and later a collaboration, with fellow Brooklyn DJ Frankie Bones under the name Looney Tunes, whose debut record sold 15,000 copies and led to UK rave bookings.
Touring through Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany in the late 1980s pushed his sound harder and faster into techno and gabber territory. Lenny Dee has since played major festivals including Electric Daisy Carnival, Love Parade, and Tomorrowland, and appeared at Thunderdome's 25th anniversary party in 2017.
He worked as a production assistant for Arthur Baker early in his career before teaching himself production, later shifting from vinyl DJing to Pro Tools-based production. Industrial Strength Records, his longest-running project, remains a reference label for hardcore and gabber, anchoring his standing within that scene for more than three decades.