DJ Billy Paul 

On any given Thursday evening at the Palms Hotel on South Beach, you'll find an intimate confab of hipsters swaying to a decidedly worldly beat. The party's called Sip and Spa, and as the name implies, it's as heavy on the cocktails as it is on the massage. Actually, there might be even more imbibing than out-and-out spa works. But hey, a long, tall drink can be just as relaxing as any ol' mud bath.

The thing about Sip and Spa is that it swings in a way the Strip doesn't often swing — and that is with a hush instead of a rush, a mellowness rather than a rabid madness. And behind it all are the sounds thrown down by DJ Billy Paul.

Born in Jamaica, Paul was raised in Bath and London, England, then taken to Toronto, and finally landed in Miami, where he went straight from Hialeah-Miami Lakes High to the University of Miami. As such, Billy Paul is unquestionably a man of the world. In fact, his list of hometowns only begins to hint at the globe-trotting days he's lived, which have taken him through Berlin and Lausanne and on tour throughout Asia as a sideman to Chayanne and Shakira. So as you might suspect, Paul has a playlist — and a playfulness — that perfectly befits his worldly upbringing.

Read the full New Times profile here. — By John Hood

Website: http://myspace.com/billypaulwilliams

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