Herbert Holler wanted to become a doctor. All it took was one night to change his mind.
"I wanted to be a psychiatrist, make people happy for the rest of my life," he said. "Went out one night and I was no longer pre-med the next day. The rest is history."
Today, with more than 20 years working across the city, Holler is one of the many DJs that helps keep Brooklyn's nightlife thriving. In July, Holler was DJing for an old school skate night at Bushwick's newly-opened Xanadu Roller Arts, a roller skating rink.
The seed for working in nightlife was planted for Holler as a kid in the 1980s, as he followed around his dad who worked as the Food and Beverage Director at Casino Resorts Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J., his hometown. While accompanying his father, Hoover said he saw everyone from Frank Sinatra to Liberace perform.
Later, as a teenager, he saw a show at the Nuyorican Poets Café in Manhattan, which gave him the insight that DJing could be a profession. After working in the nightlife scene for years, he got himself a turntable and went full time.
"When he DJs, it's for the people," said Savior Elmundo, a promoter and dancer who has worked with Holler at countless gigs. "People would love to come and dance, and just be free, and that's what he brings them."
Although Holler previously lived in Brooklyn, he currently resides with his family in the Bronx, and described Brooklyn as a second home. His commitment to helping Brooklyn stay the epicenter of nightlife through beats, dance and, in this case, roller skating, was evident on the faces in Xanadu's elated crowd.
Despite what Holler describes as a more competitive marketplace for DJs, his heart is still in it.
"It's very much a labor of love," said Holler. "The payoff, the reward is the joy that you create for other people and bringing people together in community."
