Colette

Live vocals over Chicago house

Integrating live vocals over the pulse of Chicago house became Colette's hallmark from the mid-nineties onwards. With a high register cultivated since her adolescence, she began singing over her own mixes and turned that practice into a recognizable brand for her sets. She was one of the founders of the female collective Superjane alongside DJ Heather, Lady D, and Dayhota, and established herself as a key figure in the US Midwest underground.

After promoting at Chicago's Mummy Bar, she released the EP Moments of Epiphany in 1996. The mixtape Floating By (1998) and the compilation In the Sun (2000, Afterhours) expanded her reach. Signed by Nettwerk America, she released Our Day (2001) and co-hosted the national program Maximum Rotation on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles until 2004, alongside Kevin Dees.

Smartbar, Motorola, and the first lady of Om

In 2001, she began a nine-year residency at Smartbar, a benchmark club in Chicago. In 2003, she received the Breakthrough DJ award at the DanceStar USA and starred in the global Motorola campaign alongside Felix da Housecat and Paul van Dyk; the song from the commercial won the 2004 DanceStar for best song in a commercial.

Between 2000 and 2004, she released music on Classic (UK), Brique Rouge (France), Icon Recordings, Moody Recordings, and Nordic Trax. In 2005, Hypnotized arrived for San Francisco's Om Records: it was the most downloaded dance album on iTunes in June 2005. What Will She Do for Love reached number 1 on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart, and Feelin' Hypnotized was featured on the soundtrack of The Devil Wears Prada. With Kaskade, she signed I Like the Way, included in 2008 in the film Sex and the City. In 2006, the double mix House of Om with DJ Heather inaugurated a DJ booth partnership that remains active decades later. Her second album, Push (2007), placed the single If at number 5 on that same Billboard chart.

Candy Talk, When the Music's Loud, and the present on the dancefloor

In 2010, she founded the label Candy Talk Records to control her music, curation, and collaborations. When the Music's Loud (2013), featuring the single Hotwire, entered the top twenty dance albums of the year according to Billboard; Thump/VICE placed it in 2015 among the 99 best dance records of all time. LA Weekly included her in 2016 among the top twenty DJs in Los Angeles. Retrospective (2017) gathered remixes by Gettoblaster, Derrick Carter, Demarkus Lewis, Local Options, and Change Request.

In 2020, she collaborated again with Kaskade on When I'm With You, with over five million streams. In 2026, coinciding with Om's thirtieth anniversary, she released The Sunshine alongside Richard Earnshaw and Kenny Summit. She continues to tour the United States—with dates at Movement (Detroit), Smartbar, and Superjane gatherings—and maintains Chicago vocal house as the axis of her scene.