RONY SEIKALY MAY be known as the towering former center for the Miami Heat, but the 6-foot-11 Seikaly's true passion originated, believe it or not, in his parent's garage.
Long before he ever made his mark on the hardwood, Seikaly was a popular DJ in his childhood neighborhood in Athens, Greece, and by the tender age of 14, Seikaly managed to transform his parents' garage into a teen club, hosting parties for the neighborhood kids and using the money from the cover charges to upgrade his sound systems and lighting. This was only the beginning of what has turned into a post-basketball career for Seikaly. With the help of well-known producer and DJ Erick Morillo, who discovered Seikaly at one a house party, Seikaly broadened his audience, stepping away from private garage shows and into the public scene -- a second career stemming from his first true love.
"I was always playing music, but it was privately for friends," Seikaly says. "Then Erick Morillo came to the house and said, 'You have to start playing [in public]. Your sound is distinct.'" Seikaly, who spent 11 seasons in the NBA, began to focus singularly on his music after his retirement from the league in 1999. He started producing and making music for Morillo's label, Subliminal Records, in 2006.
Since then, Seikaly has gained popularity through international club circuits, radio slots on Sirius XM and his personal SoundCloud page. Though a lover of all music, Seikaly has gravitated from electronic dance music (EDM), a mainstay in the American club scene, and toward house music.
"EDM isn't house music," he says. "EDM is an offshoot of radio pop that's done with computers. The essence of house music is organic. It's a sexier sound. It's not classic, it's not noisy. It's smooth, it's sexy, it's groovy. It doesn't have fake energy like EDM."
And now, more than a decade into his second career, Seikaly is traveling the world, bringing the same joy to new fans that he felt all those years ago in that small garage.
"I don't do this for the money, and I definitely don't do it for the fame," he says. "I do it because I just love doing it."