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CLUB KING Joey Morrissey By bennett marcus before the era of cellphones and the internet, so he collected contact details in order to get in touch with people. “I created the whole guerrilla marketing thing, where you hand out a million flyers. The other club owners hated me,” he says. But they all followed suit. In addition to running his own venues, Morrissey was the go-to person to bring crowds and renowned DJs to legendary venues such as Marquee, Studio 54, Palladium, China Club, Roxy, Tunnel, Limelight, Pangea, and many others.
Sound Factory The DJ is the Star In 1998, as DJs were beginning to rise to fame, Morrissey was promoting the opening of Sound Factory in Manhattan, where he focused on the DJ, a tactic that proved wildly successful. He went on to work with DJ Khaled, Jermaine Dupri, Swedish House Mafia, Jazzy Jeff and Funkmaster Flex to name a few. “There were big DJs, but the most you ever paid them was $1,000,” he says. Sound Factory had a fantastic sound system, and the owner wanted to promote the music. It worked, but Morrissey says he didn’t realize at the time how it was changing the industry. A night Morrissey booked with Dutch DJ Tiesto at Limelight in the late 1990s was such a success that afterward, an agent guaranteed Tiesto $1 million per year. “That started it,” says Morrissey. “After that, all the clubs started paying these DJs a tremendous amount of money.”
Victoria Secret Fashion Show Morrissey dreamed up the concept of paying celebrities to show up at his clubs. He had them host a party, and then promote it. His venues housed parties for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, NBA, NFL, MTV, the Tribeca Film Festival, and numerous movie premieres. Jay Z and Mariah Carey hosted parties there, and P. Diddy threw his son a birthday party where Nicki Minaj performed.
Beyoncé & Jay Z
HQ2 Beach & Nightclub Having run some of New York’s most successful nightspots, including M2 Ultra Lounge, Pink Elephant, Crobar and Mansion, Joey Morrissey brings a wealth of experience to his latest venture, HQ2, a beach and nightclub at Atlantic City’s Ocean Resort Casino opening on Friday, June 29th with Diplo.
Nightlife innovator During Morrissey’s 30-years in the business, he pioneered nightlife innovations such as the use of promoters and the implementation of bottle service. Morrissey got his start creating parties while in high school in Brooklyn in the 1970s,
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Once, when Beyoncé cancelled an appearance at his club, Morrissey had his lawyer send a letter threatening to sue, and the story went viral. Beyonce sent her manager to the club to apologize. She sent Morrissey tickets to her concert. “And she came by a few times with Jay Z,” he says. “She’s a great person,” he says.
Mark Wahlberg has a stake You can expect to see more famous faces at his newest venue, HQ2, opening in in Atlantic City at the new Ocean Resort Casino. Mark Wahlberg has taken an ownership stake in the property, that opens the previous day on June 28th, where he has opened a branch of his Wahburgers restaurant. He told Morrissey he’d be back for the opening.
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