The MadonnaTribe Team had the privilege to interview one of the most talented Dj a one of the biggest remixers in the business and a true dance/house music legend: the amazing Ralphi Rosario.

Ralphi's career is chockfull of creativity and accomplishment, admired by his many devoted fans, colleagues, and friends in the music industry.

Ralphi, who maintains a DJ residency in his hometown Chicago has been giving his golden touch to the hits of many famous artists and recenlty had the chance to remix Madonna's latest single release, Love Profusion.


MTribe: Hi Ralphi, so how did the dance music bug bite you?

Ralphi Rosario: It was 1976-77, and 'Disco' was in its infancy. I was bitten by Donna Summer...."Spring Affair"....

M-Tribe: Which are your favourite musical styles and how much of that can be found in your remixing style?

Ralphi: I love Disco...And The melodies that it has always delivered... Love the 'tech' sound of the 80's...
And of course Latin influences, here and there... Dance music has always been 'sexy' to me...
Thats usually what I try to deliver everytime I work on something.

M-Tribe: Which was your first commisioned remix?

Ralphi: Bang Orchestra "Sample That" for Geffen Records...

M-Tribe: When labels commission a remix to you, are you usually sent just the artist's acapella or sometimes it might happen to actually work with the artist on the remix?

Ralphi: All vocal parts, and original production parts are sent off to me.
There may be elements the original producer used, that I may want to weld into my mix. In the remix world, we seldom work WITH the artist...

In some cases, we MAY ask the artist to come back in and maybe sing some extra stuff to add to what I already have...

I've done it on many occasions, and usually the artist has a blast with it!!!

M-Tribe: Do you listen to the original versions of the songs you are about to remix? Do you usually take inspiration from those or they a reminder to do something completely different?

Ralphi: I tend to use BOTH of these pallets when I'm painting a picture.
There maybe things in the original production that I like, and on the flip side, I like to spend a night of spinning, and bring the energy into my studio, and do something completely different.

If you hear the 'Love Profusion' mixes, you'll find a nice easy feel of Madonna against the live bassline and keys, and on another mix, I gave it an edgy feel, more tech, drums and club appeal against the song...

M-Tribe: Along with DJ Abel you formed the duo Rosabel and remixed songs for Cher, Everything but the Girl, Pet Shop Boys and Gloria Estefan. Tell us more about the artists you have remixed, do you have any personal favorite?

Ralphi: Let me straighten this out for ya.. Rosabel was responsible for the Gloria Estefan stuff, but I worked on EBTG and Pet Shop Boys Solo. Rosabel (Me & Abel), have worked on numerous others, like Donna Summer "I will go with you" and Cher, just to name a couple. As for my personal favorite, it would have to be Donna Summer "I will go with you".

This being the case because since SHE bit me with the dance bug, years later, I hear her crooning her song through my studio monitors!!! You don't know how many times I just played her accapella over my system... I was in awe.... Same thing happend when we were working on Cher.

I was amazed at how awesome these icon women of music history sounded! Even upclose!

M-Tribe: Among your creations, what is your favourite remix or the one you're particulary proud of?

Ralphi: I have a mad crush on what I just did recently, for Rod Stewart. I just completed remixes for his classic "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"...

I love the production work I did on it; I did a version that Incorporated some of the original Disco version. I was able to pick and choose parts to use in my mix from the Original 1979 version!

M-Tribe: Madonna's Love Profusion was your first official Madonna remix, how did it happen? Did you expect it to come along?

Ralphi: Actually it really wasn't my FIRST Madonna record/remix.
Back in the mid 90's I also did 'Bedtime Story'... It was a bit too underground at the time. It was strange because I tested it soo many times in my DJ sets, it went over extremely well! But in the end, it wasn't accepted.
But for me it was all about the experience, not the glory.

Just in the last year and a half or so, I really was aching to do another Madonna record. I need to prove my worth!!

I spoke with my A&R director at Warner, and he asked me which one I would pick to do.
I picked 'Profusion' because the tempo was great around her, it was a simple melody, but I felt it just need a bit of beef! LOL! I submitted the finished product, and waited.

It was September of last year when I completed it.
I tested it several times at my resident club here in Chicago, Hydrate.
The very first, first draft of the mix, I scrapped, and started from scratch. (Yes folks, there IS ANOTHER mix of 'Profusion' that was never given to the label!!)

After waiting for what seemed to be months, I finally got a phone call. My Warner rep told me that Madonna's manager flew all the mixes over to her in the UK.
She heard them, and accepted all of them!
This was they day I was waiting for....To prove even to Goddess Madonna, MY WORTH!!!!! LOL!

M-Tribe: Did Madonna had any imput in the creation of the remix or gave any special instructions?

Ralphi: Not really... I was just told to do what I do best, and to the best of MY OWN ability, I wanted NOT to deliver something typical.
I was happy that I had the chance to follow my own insticts and direction for the song, and that she herself welcomed it. It meant, and still means alot to my craft of producing music.

M-Tribe: You transformed the song into a classic house club anthem. Madonna fans were recently digging these kind of remixes for a change to the ones that sounded too techno.
How did you approach the song and what was the idea you wanted to develop?

Ralphi: Outside of past remixers that had the chance to work a 'house anthem-ish' kinda feel on Madonna, (re: David Morales, and even Shep Pettibone who actually produced 'Vogue' with her), I myself wanted to deliver at least one version that just said "Ahhhhhhh".....LOL!

I heard the live bassline,.. The pretty chords... House drum work, around the song in my head.

And as I began to build, It came together. And I finally got the breath of 'House Anthem' air I wanted. It was great fun!

M-Tribe: You did several versions of your Love Profusion mix that we can mainly divide into the House Vocal ones and the Big Room ones that are bit more tribal.
Were they targeted to different audiences?

Ralphi: Yes... I love making Big room tunes & tracks, and I myself can appreciate not only just House music, but 'hands in the air' stuff too.

M-Tribe: Were the remixes released on the Us maxi single, which came out a lot after the first European cd single, done at the same time of the main "Ralphi Rosario House Mix"?

Ralphi: Yes they were.
But as an added bonus, I did a LONGER version of the BIG ROOM DUB for the maxi cd here in the states.

M-Tribe: You also did a remix of the song Erotica and used vocals from the early version of the song known as You Thrill Me. Was that a creation for you personal collection or it might end up on some official release?

Ralphi: Its something personal. I have alot of 'special' things like that from different major artists that I've worked on. I even have an unrelased version of Cher!! I like to keep those under my hat because it makes my DJ sets special, and I would like for it to remain exclusive.

M-Tribe: Do you have a favourite Madonna song of all time that you would like to remix one day?

Ralphi: I have 2!! Yes......"Justify My Love" (The vocal performance that she did on the 'BEAST WITHIN' mix HOTTTT!!!). "Rescue Me" is the other one... Love the vocal delivery she did....Tooo sexy!

M-Tribe: What are you working on right now and which are your future projects?

Ralphi: Right now, and coming soon are remixes I did for; Rod Stewart "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" (Classic....AGAIN!), Barry Manilow "Copacabana" (Long overdue classic brought up to date!), Angel "How Can I Lie?" (Great independant track from this new talent).

M-Tribe: Thank you Ralphi, it was a pleasure chatting with you.

Ralphi: Lots of love and thanks!

A huge thank you to Ralphi for being such a cool person and for his help.
If you want to know more about Ralphi Rosario and what he's up to lately be sure to check out his official website at www.ralphirosario.com