Solomon Khan, a popular Bay Area disc jockey best known for his role as the in-house DJ at Golden State Warriors home games, has died from injuries suffered during a car accident in Bangkok on Tuesday.
The 34-year old Marin County native was on tour in Thailand with his fiancee Nicole Cronin when the taxi the couple was riding stalled in traffic. The driver fled from the cab, leaving the Khan and Cronin inside when it was rammed from behind by another automobile. Khan was pronounced dead that same day.
(SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS OF KHAN'S PERFORMANCES)
Cronin also sustained significant injuries, but is currently in stable condition.
Going by the monicker DJ Solomon, Khan became a staple at parties across the Bay Area--playing sets not just at nightclubs but other venues, such Warriors games, where his adept brand of "pop turntablism" was unexpected, though always welcome. Just last month, he spun records at the San Francisco Ballet's opening night gala.
"He could always read a crowd," Chris Clouse, one of Khan's closest musical and professional collaborators told the San Francisco Chronicle. "He didn't care about being cool or hip. His No. 1 goal was to make people happy."
The son of Sufi spiritual leader and Hindustani classical singer Shabda Kahn, Solomon was a graduate of San Rafael's Marin Academy high school and UC Berkeley, where he majored in anthropology.
Since playing his first gig at a middle school prom in 1989 with nothing more than a CD player and a tape deck, Khan went on to work with perform with artists like Stevie Wonder, Z-Trip and De La Soul.
"He was part of the original mashup deejay scene, which really took off in the early 2000s," his brother Amman Haggerty said in an interview with the Marin independent Journal. "Solomon has been traveling all around the world for the past six or seven years, playing all the top nightclubs and venues. He was recognized for his technical skills and ability to play music that really reached a lot of people, but also brought a deeper spiritual intent to the mainstream club world that a lot of people appreciated without really knowing what it was."
Check out this slideshow of DJ Solomon performing:
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