DJ Stephen Vaughn

How do you keep a wedding dance floor loaded for three hours at a run? For DJ STEPHEN VAUGHN, it’s all about the element of surprise.

“I’m just so in love with music as an art,” says Stephen, who started as a trumpeter before moving into music composition and recording. “Some DJs like to group songs by genre – say, starting with Oldies and saving modern music for later in the evening. That’s a starting point, but I really love to bounce between older songs and newer songs if they have the same feel or vibe. Samples and chord progressions are often the same across eras, and mixing it up is a way to get all ages on the dance floor and keep delighting people with what they hear next.”

Stephen spent years as a casual DJ before being trained and certified with Backthird Entertainment. “I love being out at Backthird events and seeing all the smiling faces,” he says. “I grew up watching other DJs, always thinking, ‘Wow, I wish I could be that guy.’ Now I am.”

While Stephen’s not partial to any one genre of music, he says he finds himself leaning most heavily on hip-hop, house and pop in his wedding sets. “Those seem to fill dance floors the fastest,” he says, “and that’s what I love to do.”

Stephen’s also a skilled bowler – he even attended college on a bowling scholarship. When he’s not throwing balls or playing records, you’ll likely find him keeping in shape with a pair of roller skates on. Old-school quad skates only, of course.

Check Stephen’s availability for your event with this form.