The keology of

Keo Nozari :)

HI! I’m Keo Nozari :). So here’s a little bio about my life (so far): I grew up a quirky kid in Minnesota, the son of a Persian, immigrant Dad businessman and a French-descended, fine artist Mom. I moved to the big city, NYC (my current home & possibly the love of my life) to pursue my dream of being a musical artist. 

I went to NYU (where I studied Music Technology) and after I graduated, I played lots of (nerve-wrecking!!) fun solo shows at places like the former GBGBs and even the Virgin Megastore, and I also became a professional DJ (something I kind of stumbled into just trying to hear my tracks in a club, lol) all before I put out my first album Late Nite VIP. The album scored some big wins (!!): a Billboard Top 20 hit on  dance chart “Rewind,” a Number One video on MTV’s LOGO network including the Ultimate Sexiest Video for “Question of Monogamy", and “Close Enough” got signed to Armin Van Buuren’s label Armada to international acclaim. A few years later I put out another album Love Boutique that had another #1 video on LOGO (“Like Lightning”) and got some serious air play on Top 40, dance and college radio with the remixes of “Acceptable 2 U”. I even went on to DJ lots of fantastic spaces and places like the from LA clubs (The Abbey, Micky’s and more) to the NY resort Fire Island Pines (where I’m still a summer resident DJ for 13 years strong!). 

Oh! Through all this I came out as queer (woohoo!) and also got really into devouring books on spirituality and self-empowerment (which remains a huge passion!). I pursued a few other arts endeavors, too: some funny acting roles largely playing myself (a DJ), acted with Christine Borasanki’s as her gay client on the “Good Wife” and I’ve also been a regular extra on Saturday Night Live (something I still do to this day cause it’s so damn fun!!). I’ve also written for some print addition magazines including being editor-at-large and... music editor. Somehow it always comes back to music! 

For my third album, I put together my two favorite things: music and self-empowerment in a digital experience Headspace. Single “Belong” Billboard.com called “a dreamy slice of positivity” and single “Wildside” cracked the Top 100 on the Apple/iTunes Charts in the UK peaking at #63 on the Alternative Pop chart. I was especially proud of Headspace because I did so much of it myself: wrote all the songs, produced it, performed it, and mixed it. This was something I’d always aspired to do, like my childhood Minnesota idol Prince who expressed himself so fully. And I was lucky enough to work with one of the greatest mastering engineers Randy Merrill (I mean, this guy was on stage with Adele accepting their Grammy together and had Gaga with him mastering "A Star is Born”!!!) who added that final polish to all my hard work. I also directed, starred and edited three music videos for the album (!!!).

This brings us to my fourth studio album Fingerprints! It’s filled with full-circle moments. There’s the duet “Treat Yourself” with Peppermint, from RuPaul’s Drag Race. We had both started our recording careers while we working together in different capacity: she hosted drag shows in local NYC queer bars over a decade ago where I would DJ. Finally, we sing together! And it was so fun to write this sassy, self-empowerment anthem for someone so strong! Another duet “Summer Sex Magic” with Mila Jam, another friend I’d previously worked with DJ-ing her one-woman show. I had a blast directing, styling and editing our 70s-inspired music video for “Summer Sex Magic”, celebrating queer pioneers in music. Two musicians from the Broadway show Hamilton also play on Fingerprints: Richard Hammond on bass and Robin MacCatangay. Robin made for another full-circle moment: he played guitar on my first album, including my first single “Close Enough” !!

A fingerprint is something left behind; something present now, remaining from the past; and also something unique to you. And hopefully through listening to this album — something I created unique to me — I’ll, in turn, leave something behind that will touch and inspire. My fingerprint on you. :)