Ron Carroll


Ronald Michael Carroll was an American DJ, singer, songwriter and music producer. He was primarily active in the house music circuit and openly gay. Ron was a proponent for the LGBTQ+ and HIV Positive communities, having disclosed his own diagnosis just weeks before his death.
Carroll worked with many of house's most famous producers, including E-Smoove, Maurice Joshua, Bob Sinclar and Rod Carrillo. He also produced, usually with partner Spero Pagos, for other vocalists or his own songs.

Musical career

Carroll was born in Chicago in 1968. As a boy, he learned to sing while a member of his church choir. As a teenager, he was a fan of rock band Kiss, but became interested in house music when he attended a high school dance and spent time watching the DJ perform. Carroll started performing as a DJ in the late 1980s in a club he himself opened. He released his first official record, "My Prayer", in 1993, a track produced by local producers Hula, Kay Fingers and Ron Trent.
In 1994, he got his first big break when he attended the Winter Music Conference in Miami. Still an unknown outside Chicago, Carroll walked up to Louie Vega, who gave him a chance to write the lyrics to Barbara Tucker's "I Get Lifted". This allowed the opportunity to join Mike Dunn and Byron Stingily, also from the Chicago house scene, in the Deep Soul production company as singer, songwriter and producer. He wrote the lyrics for six tracks in Stingily's album The Purist and also wrote and produced the anthem "The Sermon". In 1996 he met Greek-American producer Spero Pagos, and the two created MOS Productions, for the UC/Afterhours label.
On the label, he also met Mazi Namvar, who introduced him to the European house scene. This allowed him to take part in the French house classics "My Love" and "Lucky Star", both released in 2000. The following year, he opened his own label, Body Music Records. Carroll's activities as a singer in Europe brought him into contact with Dutch producers Hardsoul in 2003, for whom he wrote and sang in "Back Together", followed in 2004 by "What a Wonderful World" for Bob Sinclar and Axwell, a track that appeared on Sinclar's 2004 album Enjoy.
Carroll died from a heart attack on September 21, 2025, at the age of 57.

Discography

Albums

  • 2006 ''Chicago''

    Singles

Ron Carroll
  • 1993 "My Prayer"
  • 1993 "A New Day"
  • 1995 "Pressing On"
  • 1999 "Gimme Love"
  • 1999 "Soundz"
  • 1999 "Stronger"
  • 2001 "Angel"
  • 2001 "Get With Him"
  • 2001 "Take Me Up"
  • 2002 "Live in Me"
  • 2002 "Natural"
  • 2002 "Can't Give Up"
  • 2003 "Sexy Thing"
  • 2004 "Come Into My Life"
  • 2004 "World of Love"
  • 2005 "Classical Moments In Time"
  • 2005 "The Only Way Is Up"
  • 2006 "Just Got Paid"
  • 2006 "Weak", with Jjah
  • 2007 "Come Into My Life 2007"
  • 2007 "All My Life"
  • 2007 "The Nike Song"
  • 2010 "Lucky Star"
  • 2010 "In Love with a DJ"
  • 2010 "Freak E.P."
  • 2013 "Bang Bang "
  • 2018 "It's You"
RC Groove/RC Groove Project
  • 1998 "Sermon One EP", as RC Groove Project
  • 2000 "The Sermon", as RC Groove Project
  • 2001 "Nothin' But Funk", as RC Groove
  • 2001 "Brighter Day", as 'RC Groove Project
  • 2001 "The RC Groove Project #2", as RC Groove Project
  • 2002 "Strings", as RC Groove
  • 2002 "High Again", as RC Groove
  • 2003 "Believe", as RC Groove Project
  • 2003 "Spirit Of The Dance", as RC Groove
  • 2003 "Superfreaque Music", as RC Groove
Testament
  • 1999 "It Is Well"
  • 2000 "Work It Out"
  • 2000 "We Need Love"
  • 2003 "Sun Is Shining"
  • 2005 "World Harmony"
Other aliases
  • 1998 "My Way", as Subculture
  • 1998 "Feel It, Move It, Shout It", as Ron Carroll's Black Pearl
  • 2000 "Beautiful", as Ground Level
  • 2000 "Got to Hold On", as Ministers Of Sound
  • 2001 "Someday", as Ground Level
  • 2001 "Can You Feel It", as Subculture
  • 2001 "Wait", as The RC Connection
  • 2002 "Deep in My Soul", as Shay Coco Butta
Production
  • 2000 Rochele Fleming - "It's Not Over"
  • 2001 Curtis Harman - "Call Me", with Josh Collins
  • 2001 CeCe Peniston - "My Boo"
  • 2005 Sunny Larican - "Always"
  • 2005 Trina Tru Luv - "True Love"
  • 2005 Vicki B - "Something Must Change"
  • 2005 Shawn Christopher - "You Can Make It"
  • 2005 Melba Moore - "My Heart Belongs To You"
  • 2006 Mona Lisa - "Dancin'"
  • 2007 Ce Ce Peniston - "I'm Feelin' U", with DJ Fudge
Appears on
  • 1993 House Culture - "Let The Music Set U Free"
  • 1996 Blak Beat Niks - "Ooohhh"
  • 1997 Michi Lange - "The Only Way Is Up"
  • 1998 DJ Pope - "Waymaker"
  • 1999 Rick Garcia - "Dancefloor"
  • 2000 Superfunk - "Lucky Star"
  • 2000 Kluster - "My Love"
  • 2000 Rick Garcia - "Dancefloor"
  • 2000 DJ Bam Bam - "Soundz"
  • 2002 Audio Soul Project - "Community"
  • 2002 Mazi - "This Feeling"
  • 2003 Peter Presta - "Changes"
  • 2003 Hardsoul - "Back Together"
  • 2004 Bob Sinclar - "Wonderful World"
  • 2004 Superfunk Inc. - "Promised Land"
  • 2004 Superfunk Inc. - "Lover"
  • 2004 Bob Sinclar - "World of Love"
  • 2005 Abstract Beating System - "Vibes"
  • 2006 Hardsoul - "My Life"
  • 2007 Bob Sinclar - "Everybody Movin'"
  • 2007 Audio Soul Project - "Community 2007"
  • 2008 Bob Sinclar & Axwell - "What a Wonderful World"
  • 2015 Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman - "Running"
  • 2016 Felicity - "Heaven"