Colleen Cosmo Murphy

Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy is an undeniable musical tour de force. A disco doyenne. The audio connoisseur you want in charge of your party. A curator with a deep understanding of the profound ways in which we connect with music. A sophisticated broadcaster with a velvety voice and an enviable crate of understated gems. Over the last 30 years Colleen has gone from being an aficionado of the NYC underground, mentored by dance music legends David Mancuso and François K, to an internationally renowned tastemaker and in-demand selector and remixer, whose events have helped to shape the cultural landscape and change the conversation.

Her flagship of these is Classic Album Sundays, which turned 12 in October, and has become a global phenomenon. What started as a Sunday afternoon event in London to celebrate iconic, genre-hopping records on a high-end sound system soon erupted worldwide and helped to pioneer the audiophile and listening bar movement, as well as the vinyl renaissance, with a book, “Classic Albums By Women.”

Colleen carries the torch of her own varied musical history with her unique musical mix. As well as her Classic Album Sundays show on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM, she hosts Cosmodelica, a monthly excursion “spotlighting the diversity of dance music from psychedelic rock to jazz funk to disco to house,” which has branched out into nine-hour parties at Giant Steps, festival sets at Dekmantel and Houghton and a Boiler Room, as well as a closing set with Peterson at the 2017 Worldwide Festival. She has continued to innovate through the 2020 lockdown with her Balearic Breakfast request show, where she “pushes the boundaries of what is considered ‘Balearic’, far past its more shallow representation of poolside ‘muzak’.” Broadcasting live during the pandemic, she continues, has “given the shows more meaning both for my listeners and for myself.”