Zernell Gillie was born and raised in Chicago, on the west side of the city. In the neighborhood he's from, the streets were always calling, especially coming of age in the 80s during the height of the gang & crack era. The one thing that kept him safe and sane was music. To be exact, House music. The music lifted him up and made him feel alive, and he wanted to share that feeling with the world. That’s when he decided he wanted to be a Deejay.
Between that teenage dream and adulthood, life happened, but he never strayed far from my first love, music.
Since then, he launched a record label and clothing line, co-founded a record fair and event series, and traveled the world doing what he loves: playing music. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, everything came to a halt. There were no more DJ gigs, his tours were canceled, and his residences in LA and NY stopped due to Venue closures. I thought to myself, what’s next?
He loves music, & he loves fragrances - he always has, since he was a kid, wearing his dad's Pierre Cardin. It made him feel special and sparked his love affair with fragrances. Since then, He's collected 100s of different fragrances, and like with his music, he wanted to share that love with the world. So, he decided to take his loves and combine them and created a musically inspired fragrance line, and Disco by Zernell Gillie was born.
