Mike Huckaby, influential Detroit techno-house DJ, dies at 54 – Detroit Free Press

DJ Mike Huckaby, whose soulful, studied work made him one of the prominent early figures in Detroit techno and house music, died Friday after a lengthy hospitalization following a stroke. He was 54.
Huckaby, who died at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, also tested positive for COVID-19 while there, said his brother, Craig Huckaby.
Funeral and memorial arrangements are pending.
Mike Huckaby suffered a mild stroke March 6 and was admitted to Beaumont the next day, his brother said. After initially seeming to improve, he developed a cough and sweats, and his condition declined further while he was in a rehabilitation facility.
Huckaby was readmitted to Beaumont, where he was put on a ventilator, his brother said, and the positive COVID-19 result was confirmed shortly before his death.
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Huckaby was a long beloved figure on the Detroit scene. A crowdfunding campaign to help cover his medical expenses was launched in March by fellow Detroit-born DJ Delano Smith, ultimately raising $26,015 from nearly 700 donors — more than three times the announced target.
The Cooley High School graduate landed his first DJ gig in 1988 via Detroit fashion designer and party promoter Maurice Malone. He was a fixture at spots such as Motor Lounge, St. Andrew’s Hall, Panacea and the Majestic Cafe, where he often held residencies, and toured the U.S. and globally playing gigs.
With a musician’s ear and a scholar’s sensibility, Huckaby adventurously and diligently bridged the emotive sounds of house music with the precision of techno. He was an avant-garde jazz fan with an interest in philosophy, fascinated by the relationship of music and mathematics.
“I committed myself to days and years of practice,” Huckaby told the Detroit Free Press in 2003. “I started with (ghetto-tech pioneer) Gary Chandler. I practiced religiously every day. We didn’t stop until we could handle a 9-to-2 party.”
Beyond his live work, remixes and on-air radio sets, Huckaby was best known as manager of the dance-music department at Record Time, the Roseville shop that became an internationally acclaimed destination for techno heads and vinyl connoisseurs. As the store’s lead buyer, he selected the records and beats that filled the racks, stealthily becoming an influential tastemaker for dance music around the globe.
“He’d pull out a record — ‘You’ve got to have this!’ — and you trusted that,” said Adriel Thornton, a longtime Detroit artist and promoter. “His impact on our music was unparalleled. He was the track selector.”
Huckaby was a staple of Detroit’s Memorial Day weekend techno fest, which began as the Detroit Electronic Music Festival (DEMF) and takes place today as Movement.
For the DEMF’s third edition in 2002, he was part of an advisory board comprising several top-line Detroit DJs, mobilized after the controversial dismissal of artistic director Carl Craig. His savvy ear and creative instincts proved influential in that role as well.
“If Mike said you should really consider a certain artist, I never doubted it,” said Thornton, who helped produce DEMF. “There was no second-guessing.”
While old-school vinyl mixing remained Huckaby’s bread and butter, he embraced the emergent digital technology that became a cornerstone of the DJ craft in the 2010s, teaching software courses to young artists at Red Bull Music Academy, Youthville and elsewhere.  
Huckaby is at least the second major Detroit techno artist to have been diagnosed with COVID-19: Kevin Saunderson revealed in early April that he had tested positive, though by April 14 announced that he was “back on the mend.”
Huckaby is survived by his mother, Essie Huckaby, and his brother, Craig Huckaby.
Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

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