Biography
Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy is a highly respected and experienced musical selector, DJ, radio host and curator, founder of the album listening event and content hub Classic Album Sundays and an authority on music, sound and the vinyl renaissance.
She was mentored by David Mancuso at his seminal Loft parties in New York City. Together they co-produced the compilation series David Mancuso Presents The Loft and worked together on David’s record label The Loft Audiophile Library of Music. In 2000, David told Time Out New York City “She is very devoted and very pure about the music. She’s one of the only people I would trust, both with the music and with the equipment, to fill in for me.” She was asked by David to help manage his legacy and continues to be one of the musical hosts at The Loft in NYC. She is also the co-founder of the Lucky Cloud Loft parties in London and DJs internationally on the world's best sound systems and dance floors.
Colleen hosts Cosmodelica, a monthly radio show on Worldwide FM selected by Time Out as one of the 10 best shows in London. She is now bringing Cosmodelica to the dancefloor to high-end audio venues like London’s Giant Steps and New York City’s Public Records. In March she is hosting a Cosmodelica residency at the Prince of Wales with special guests.
In 2019 Colleen was nominated into the DJ Mag North America Hall of Fame and launched Love Dancin’ Sound System at Gilles Peterson’s We Out Here Festival, sharing some of her musical and sonic passions to dancers outside of her existing communities to rave reviews. She will once again host the Love Dancin’ tent at We Out Here in 2020.
In the last few years Colleen has brought her uplifting musical energy to other festivals including Houghton where she has hosted a marathon set every year since its inception and is returning in 2020. She has played alongside Gilles Peterson for his closing party at his Worldwide Festival, a headline closing set at Dekmantel Selectors 2019 and sets at Kala Festival, Lost Village, One Day at the Disco, Flow Festival and Umbria Jazz Festival.
She hosted one of the most popular disco sets for Boiler Room and has recently been featured as the subject of a podcast for Resident Advisor. DJ Mag UK featured a lengthy long-read article about her in August 2019.
Her Classic Album Sundays platform tells the stories behind the albums that have shaped our culture and in some cases, our lives. Colleen founded Classic Album Sundays as a stance against the increasing devaluation of music and sound. What began as a passion project is now the world’s most popular album listening event with satellites in four continents and the website and social media channels host content on classic albums and artists such as interviews, videos, playlists and more. BBC Breakfast Television remarked, “Classic Album Sundays treat our best-loved records like great symphonies.” She has hosted events with amazing talent such as Jarvis Cocker, Guy Garvey, Laura Mvula, Max Richter, John Grant, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason and many more.
Colleen has been a radio host, DJ and programme director since the age of fourteen and today hosts Cosmodelica and Classic Album Sundays Worldwide on Worldwide FM and ‘This Women’s Work’ series for Public Radio International. She is the writer and host of BBC 6 Music’s album series ‘Sounds of a City’ and BBC Radio 4’s doc series ‘Turntable Tales’. Unfold Japan, a radio series she hosted for Worldwide FM and Asahi, has recently been nominated for an ARIA Award (Audio and Radio Industry Awards).
