Kellen Winslow rocks the Hard Rock over the weekend

Kellen Winslow was at one of the lowest points of his life when he crashed his motorcycle in 2005. The incident made him a punching bag for sports pundits, but believe it or not, the crash might have spawned a second career for Winslow after football.

Faced with plenty of time on his hands during rehab, Winslow started tinkering with mixing music.

How does that old cliche go, when life gives you lemons, you mix it up on a turntable.

Winslow had long been musically gifted, taking piano lessons as a kid and playing the saxophone for a year. (He doesn’t practice the piano anymore, nor can he read music, but give him a half hour, he can certainly play by ear.) He even liked to make play lists as a kid, so become a DJ seemed like the next logical step.

That journey led to his first professional gig at the Breathe Pool Lounge at Beachlife at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Sunday. Despite the nervousness, Winslow said everything went off without much of a hitch. Winslow kicked off his set with “Amsterdam” by Luminary and just free styled the rest of the afternoon.

“It was great,” Winslow said. “It was everything I thought it would be. I messed up on one song, but I don’t think anybody noticed.”

Winslow doesn’t have any future gigs lined up, but he would like to DJ after his playing days are done and eventually move on to producer.

Winslow started with hip-hop when he first started spinning seven years ago, going with performers such as 50 Cent, Nas, DMX, Ludacris and Busta Rhymes. Now he specializes in trance, techno and house music. But Winslow admits that he likes all kind of music. He admits 90 percent of the stuff he listens to is house, techno and trance, but as for the other 10 percent he enjoys Foo Fighters, Blink 182, Daughtry and Creed.

Wait, Creed? Are you sure you want to admit that?

“Creed was awesome,” Winslow said.

Well, we’ll just have to take his word for it now. He is a professional.


(nfl.com)