Bruce Wayman, Seattle DJ, dies at 47

When it came to spinning platters of what a generation of music enthusiasts have branded as electronic "house" dance music, Bruce Wayman was right at home.

For more than two decades, Mr. Wayman, known in music circles as DJ Bruce Wayback, was a fixture at some of Seattle's most popular dance clubs, often behind mixers and multiple turntables, spinning remixes from the '80s and '90s, nonstop beats that were direct descendants of disco. His specialty was house music with a touch of rhythm and blues, and sometimes even nonstop gospel compilations he called "gospel house music."

"Music was definitely his passion," said Isaac Payne, a longtime friend who had tapped Mr. Wayman's music mixes for the aerobics classes he taught.

In recent months, DJ Bruce Wayback had been the volunteer host for a weekly two-hour radio program, "House Call," featuring his house mixes, at 11 p.m. Fridays on KBCS-FM (91.3), a community radio station licensed to Bellevue Community College. His last radio show was March 23.

A few days later, he was admitted to a hospital on Seattle's First Hill, where he died Saturday (March 31) from complications due to kidney failure. He had been on a waiting list for a liver transplant, said his sister, Katy Holmes, of Lake Tapps in Pierce County. He was 47.

His funeral was scheduled for 11 a.m. today at Columbia Funeral Home in South Seattle, with burial at Bellevue's Sunset Hills Memorial Park.

In an e-mail message to KBCS staff and volunteers after his death, Barbie-Danielle DeCarlo, the station's world-music director, saluted DJ Bruce Wayback as "absolutely one of the finest house music dj's in the Northwest, if not the world."

In DeCarlo's opinion, Mr. Wayman was a master at his craft. "He was, to me, the epitome of dedication," she said. "He was so dedicated to his music and his craft. He could beat-match like no other. He could move seamlessly from one cut to another without missing a beat. And it was always his dream to be on the radio."

Besides his radio work, DJ Bruce Wayback had been involved with the Community Project, which hosted house-music functions, and he worked as a DJ for a number of other local functions. Since his death, some of his mixes have been posted online at www.brucewayback.com, said another longtime friend, Daniel Gibby, of San Rafael, Calif.

"He really enjoyed using his music to inspire people," Gibby said. "He liked to watch people respond to his mixes."

Holmes, his sister, said that Mr. Wayman, a Seattle resident for most of his life, had intended to become a chef after graduation from Garfield High School in the late 1970s and enrolled in a local culinary school. "But music got in the way," she said. "He always had a passion for music, always loved to dance.

"People all over the country would request his mixes," she said. "He was always sending music out somewhere."

Besides his sister, he is survived by his mother, Serena Wayman, of Renton; brothers Jerry and Richard Wayman; another sister, Marilyn Terry, and husband, Bob Terry, of Renton; 18 nieces and nephews; and 17 great-nieces and nephews.

Charles E. Brown: 206-464-2206 or cbrown@seattletimes.com