Mizell was born in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of 5 he started playing trumpets and played bass, guitar, and drums in various bands prior to discovering turntables. He moved to Hollis Queens in 1975 with his family where he soon discovered the turntables and started DJing at the age of 13. He caught on quickly because of his musical experience and only after a year of DJing he felt that he was good enough to play in front of people. He first started playing at parks and later played at bars. Once he got a pair of Technics 1200s he improved rapidly since he was able to practice at night with headphones on when he was supposed to be sleeping.
Read more here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam-Master_Jay
