Gladys Brought the Sizzle to Strictly Rhythm

In an all-too-short video for Sounds, Gladys Pizarro talks about the label's massive influence on the sound of house music's golden age.

By
Terry Matthew
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Sounds.com has released a sample pack series based upon the Strictly Rhythm catalog.

Strictly Rhythm One-Shots Vols 1 and 2 boast of 64 samples from classic house tracks in the legendary Strictly catalog, featuring bounce kicks, claps, hats and effects from tracks by Dennis Ferrer, Armand Van Helden, Ultra Nate and more.

Sounds brought in Strictly Rhythm founder Gladys Pizarro for this far-too-brief talk about what brought the sizzle to Strictly Rhythm’s records (and she’s far too modest to claim it was her unwavering hand that made it all possible, so I will).

Read more about Strictly Rhythm and the label’s influence on (nay, ownership of) the house sound of the ’90s:

 

In 1987, Gladys Pizarro was working as a receptionist for Spring, an R&B label on its last legs. Spring’s financial controller, Mark Finkelstein, was well aware the company was running on fumes and approached her with an unusual proposition.

“He said, ‘I still wanna remain in this business and I see you keep going out. Would you like to come and work for me?’

“I said, ‘Hell yeah, I need a job!'”

And it wouldn’t go too far to say that from this conversation a dance music titan was born.

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