<\/p>\n
\n\tLouie Vega<\/a> has lived every era of dance music. His earliest clubbing experiences were at New York City\u2019s mythological Paradise Garage and as he got deeper into the scene (foregoing aviation school to focus on DJing), he ultimately created a number of projects and tracks that came to define and expand house music and the dance world at large. <\/p>\n \n\tBut it would a mistake to view Vega through an exclusively retrospective lens. As busy and inspired as ever, the artist \u2014 still based in his native New York City \u2014 is pumping out new music under his own name, with his band Elements of Life and via collabs with fellow pillars like Kenny Dope, with whom Vega is part of the revered Masters at Work duo, and Moodymann. (The newest track with Dope, \u201cThe Bottle\u201d dropped last week, while the Moodymann single \u201cSeven Mile\u201d was released in May.)<\/p>\n \n\tVega is also currently busy at work with Elements of Life, his longstanding live outfit that includes his wife Anan\u00e9 and a sprawling collection of instrumentalists. The group is working on a new studio album set for release next spring, with a new Masters at Work project also set for release in summer 2026. <\/p>\n \n\tIn the meantime, Vega is spending most of his summer touring Europe and playing in Ibiza under his own name and as The Ritual, the project he plays in alongside his wife. Chatting with Billboard<\/em> over Zoom just before embarking on these adventures, Vega is relaxed, warm and talkative, seemingly as excited about everything he\u2019s doing now as he is about everything he\u2019s already done. <\/p>\n \n\tHere, he discusses growing up in a musical family, creating timeless hits and why artists should always own their masters. <\/p>\n \n\t1. Where in the world are you right now, and what is the setting like?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019m in New York City. It\u2019s a beautiful day, and it happens to be my birthday. I\u2019m about to embark on my European\/living in Ibiza tour, so I\u2019m just home the day before.<\/p>\n \n\t2. What are your birthday plans?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tMy wife and my son are taking me out to lunch. My mother, who is 90, happens to be here too. We had a big show last week with the band, so she surprised me, which was really wonderful. She\u2019s been here all week, so it\u2019s a real family day.<\/p>\n \n\t3. Let\u2019s go back to the early family days. What was the first piece of music you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThe first piece of music was probably a seven inch or 45. I remember records like Booker T. & the M.G.s<\/a>, Donna Summer<\/a>\u2018s \u201cLove to Love You Baby.\u201d I bought those as a child. Donna Summer came out when I was 10 or 11, but Booker T was earlier, so I would say it was the early \u201970s. I was maybe seven years old. At that time my sisters were teenagers, so they brought music home. Then I found this record store down the block, and that\u2019s where it all started, going to that little record store. Once I started buying records there, I just kept going back every time I got my allowance.<\/p>\n \n\t4. What did your parents do for a living when you were a kid?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tMy mother worked in a factory. She did accounting, and my dad worked for a delivery service with his van. He used to deliver pieces of equipment and things to different companies. He was in the courier service. But my dad was a sax player, so on the side he was in Latin jazz bands, and he played jazz at home. My mother\u2019s younger brother is a famous singer, H\u00e9ctor Lavoe.<\/a> So that music, a lot of the street music and salsa music was brought home. And then my sisters were into disco.<\/p>\n \n\t5. What did your parents think of your career and what you do for a living?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tWhen you start doing it they don\u2019t take it seriously; they don\u2019t see it as a real job. It was like \u201cDoes it have any benefits?\u201d I was about to go to college because I wanted to be a pilot. I was going to go to a school called Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Melbourne, Florida. Everything was ready to go. I was already five years into DJing, and something told me there was something special about it. I really loved it, and I felt I could make something out of it.<\/p>\n \n\tMy family was like, \u201cWell, okay.\u201d But as I started doing it and growing, they saw me playing for lots of people. I invited them to the studio where I was making these records. Then they said, \u201cOK, this is the real deal, and he\u2019s consistent and things are happening.\u201d They started believing it was something that had a future.<\/p>\n