Perfecto/Thrive - US

The migratory patterns of superstar DJs are usually easy to monitor - it is commonplace for many of the world's most noted jockeys to play several of the same hit songs that others play while on their course to success. But this has never been the flight of Sandra Collins, even as she soars ever higher to new levels in her 13-year-old DJ career.

Sandra Collins' in-demand DJing has taken her to many far-flung places, notably in places like New Zealand, Japan, Romania and Mexico. What began as a humble interest, tinkering behind a former boyfriend's turntables and mixer in the late Eighties while living in Arizona, had morphed into a serious business by the early Nineties, when Sandra Collins found herself as one of the Los Angeles rave scene's major players.

Collins has been surrounded by music since her birth in the city of Las Vegas. Her late parents were both local entertainers - her mother was a model, actress and singer who once dated Elvis Presley, while her father was a comedian who was pals with the likes of Ed McMahon and Milton Berle (the latter is Collins' godfather). Collins did not consciously follow her parents into the entertainment industry - both had unfortunately passed away long before she began to make her name as a DJ - but her family knew of her love of music early on.

In 1992, Collins began a three-year DJ residency at the legendary Sunday after-hours party Sketch Pad (which was a central gathering place for the flourishing LA scene). In 1995 she jump-started another three-year residency, this time for Orange County mega-club Metropolis (then the largest weekly club within 60 miles of Hollywood), where she played alongside DJs Doc Martin and Taylor. While building up a strong foundation on the West Coast, Collins was also featured at prominent East Coast raves such as New York's Storm Raves (created by prominent DJ/producers Frankie Bones and Adam X). Collins played to over 80,000 people at Woodstock 1999 - the largest crowd dance music has seen in America to date - and has been a part of events like the Electric Highway Tour with Fluke and Crystal Method and Coachella in 2002. Moving to New York from Los Angeles in 1998, Collins was a regular DJ at high-profile nightclub Twilo (alongside other DJs like Paul van Dyk, Carl Cox, Sasha and John Digweed).

Her reputation as one of America's most skilled trance and progressive DJs was solidified with the release of Cream: Sandra Collins, the first mix CD presented in America by Cream, the nine-year-old institution of quality nightclub life based in England. This was a unique and special partnership for both Sandra Collins and Cream, since she was the first American - as well as the first female - DJ to represent the company stateside with her turn behind the decks on Cream's first official release in this country. This type of honor was not necessarily a new one for Collins - her last mix CD, Tranceport 3, was part of a series which was inaugurated by popular British DJs Paul Oakenfold and Dave Ralph.

Often a logical progression for DJs, Sandra Collins' passion for music led her into the studio to try her hand at her own productions, and she is now a collector of studio equipment. To date she has released two extremely in-demand 12-inch singles (1998's "Ode to Our"/"Red" on Fragrant Music and 1999's "Flutterby" on Hook Recordings) and dreams of building in more "free time" into her busy performance schedule in order to release more original work in the future.

At the 2003 US Dancestar Awards, held during the WMC in Miami, Sandra Collins beat nine men in this hotly contested category to pick up Best DJ. February 2004, Sandra released her next mix CD for the Perfecto Series – Perfecto Presents. Before the release of her album Sandra has joined Paul Oakenfold on a various US tour dates to include

The Voodoo Festival in New Orleans with artists like 50 Cent, White Stripes and Marilyn Manson, Perfecto Party @ Space during the WMC and clubs throughout North America. She was nominated again at the 2004 Dancestar Awards and also presented the last award of the night with Dave Navarro. Sandra just got back from Romania and Liverpool where she played Cream with Sasha.

Dubbed the "goddess of trance" by some members of the press, this intended compliment is actually a rather limiting tag for someone as dynamic as Sandra Collins - it does not go very far at all in describing her approach to sound. While appreciative of the accolades, Collins wants to be the goddess of nothing more than longevity - and she's well on her way.

See Sandra Collins Saturday at Release Nightclub on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach.

Call 561-366-9100 and visit http://releasenightclub/com