B-Boy Productions was started in the summer of 1996 by Brian Buonassissi. Coming from a very musical family, Brian played keyboards and sang in local bands around the Southern California nightclub scene. Looking for a little more stable income, he decided to look into the DJ Industry.
A local bar owner decided to add a Saturday night dance party and was looking for a DJ. Brian, who had never mixed in his life, was given the opportunity based on his pedigree of music knowledge. He quickly figured out the basics of mixing and his dance party became so popular that the owner moved the bar’s stable Friday karaoke night to Thursdays and made the “dance party” a Friday/Saturday night weekend event. Other clubs in the area started booking Brian and he eventually had to hire and train 2-3 club DJs to fill the demand.
Pioneer Electronics (DJ Equipment Manufacturer) took notice in 1997 and brought Brian on to the Trade Show circuit demonstrating their gear to hundreds of DJs, nightclub owners and retail outlet buyers throughout the year. This led to a position within the corporation as the Marketing Manager. Brian was responsible for developing the Pro DJ brand with tradeshow coordination, advertising placements, online marketing and product development. He flew all over the country and internationally to promote the Pioneer brand, meeting various celebrity DJs, club owners and private event producers.
While at Pioneer, he was encouraged by upper management to start his own mobile DJ business on the weekends so he could personally be aware of the needs and desires of not just the “club” DJ but also the “private event” DJ. He was sub-contracted by various established entertainment companies and soon became the “go to DJ” in the area. Hollywood started calling and his celebrity client list includes Elton John, P Diddy, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tony Hawk, Jim Carrey, ESPN X Games, and the Dr. Phil Show to name a few. Eventually, B-Boy Productions started a Mobile division to go alongside his Club division and he hired and trained a few DJs to keep up with the booking requests.
In 2006, the #2 nightclub in the panhandle of Florida put out a nationwide entertainment search for their Spring Break and Summer season. Brian left Pioneer for the opportunity to be the Entertainment and Marketing Director for this nightclub (in addition to DJ’ing for them). The club averaged over 1,500 patrons a night and Brian was the weekend headliner. Within the first month of his residency, the local radio station started a “Friday Night Mix Show” featuring Brian’s mixes LIVE from the club. Ratings went through the roof! All the while, Brian kept his mobile division in California going and flew back monthly for elite private events.
Brian’s residence in Florida turned out to be a geographical hidden gem for destination weddings. It was recently named the #1 destination wedding location in the continental US and #2 in the overall US (behind only Hawaii). Wanting to capitalize on the market, Brian soon set up a mobile branch in Florida as well as hired and trained 7-8 DJs to fulfill the booking inquires.
In the fall of 2008, Brian brought on Christen Cowgill as a partner. Her experience as a Catering and Banquet director at a large resort opened up many doors for other services that B-Boy Productions soon began to offer. That same year, the company incorporated. The company also began an Artist Management division, managing and booking some of the best celebrity DJ talent in the country, most notably DJ Roonie G (voted #9 best DJ in the US – 2010).
California came calling again in 2011. Due to her husband’s day job taking him to SoCal, Christen re-launched our California Division in January of 2011. With a local presence there, we brought on multiple entertainers and have been re-establishing ourselves in the place where it all started. In December of 2011, Brian and his wife Tara moved to Manhattan to start the company’s 3rd division in New York City.
2012 started the latest chapter in the company’s history. Christen stepped down from her partner role to pursue other interests. This transition allowed Brian and Tara to make it more of a family-run business – Brian handling the entertainment/operations and Tara managing the administrative and wedding director side of the business. Now with 3 geographical divisions throughout the United States, B-Boy Productions, Inc. is becoming a household name nationally and taking on some of the most prestigious events in the country.
