The Blessed Madonna

The Blessed Madonna is the DJ and producer Marea Stamper, who grew up in Kentucky and became involved in Midwest rave culture before moving to Chicago, where she was closely associated with the Smart Bar as talent buyer and resident. Her sets draw on house, disco, techno and older rave records, favouring long arcs and a broad, inclusive approach rather than genre purism, and she has been outspoken about the history of dance music and about equity within it. Alongside DJing she produces and remixes, and she worked with Dua Lipa on the reworked album Club Future Nostalgia. She recorded under the name The Black Madonna until 2020.