Stacey “Hotwaxx” Hale Birthday Bash

When: Fri., Jan. 17, 8 p.m. 2020

Stacey “Hotwaxx” Hale is in a league of her own. As a shy child, Hale avoided socializing by turning to crafting her own scrappy mixes using her brothers’ records and songs from the radio on a reel-to-reel tape recorder — thus, the Godmother of House Music was born from the desire to make people dance without having to talk. It wasn’t until she wandered into The Chess Mate, a now-defunct Detroit club and coffeehouse, that she discovered how to mix. Under the unofficial tutelage of mixers Ken Collier, Duane Bradley, Morris Mitchell, and Renato White, Hale became one of the first women to beatmatch. Now, Hale, an established Detroit icon and teacher, is celebrating another rotation around the sun with a proper Detroit birthday bash with house music disciples Norm Talley and Tylr.