My career as a dj started at the end of the Seventies, plugging in for some resident dj's every now and then in a few Roman clubs. Done high-school, I decided to roam and play records in the Villaggi Valtur, a sort of Italian version of Club Med. I worked at Valtur for six semesters. From 1980 to 1983 I hopped from Sicily up to Val D'Aosta, from the Ivory Coast to Trentino and from Tunisia to Calabria. Notwithstanding the hard work, it was a lot of fun. It was in those days that I met the great Rosario Fiorello.
I subsequently returned to Rome one summer, and on an evening at the milestone Easy Going, I bumped into Marco Trani, mixmaster. Marco proposed me to team-up with him in a new club: the new addition to Mrs Jannozzi's club portfolio, on top of the Jackie O and Easy Going. On October 5, 1983, Marco Trani and I opened up Hysteria. In 1986, I played records at Privilege, a little jewel of a club, small and full of celebs and posers, styling like Manuel Fantoni.
After a short stint a the Privilege, I left for the States, destination NY and the hospitality of Jerry Marotta, gifted musician. In NY I made great encounters, including the (at the time) resident mixer at the Palladium, Richard Sweret, plus various music world protagonists like Jellybean Benitez. I never got to dj though, for lack of the much sought after green card! On return from the U.S., I got called up by Mrs Jannozzi. She asked me to take over at Hysteria, since the resident d.j.'s (Marco Trani and Claudio Coccoluto) were taking off. And those were the days in which good ol' Lorenzo Cherubini, aka Jovanotti, was rapping over at Veleno, less than 1km away from my club.
My summers then (when clubs in downtown Rome close, leaving the stage open to the beach side joints) were spent at the Miraggio, a major landmark of the Roman seafront. Another change came around in the winter of 1988, when I switched to a club named Gilda, owned by Mr Giancarlo Bornigia. And it was the snazziest niteclub in Rome. Each evening hosted a special event: from the 40th birthday of the glam queen Marina Ripa di Meana, to the non stop three day marathon for the Fendi sisters, to the 1990 Football World Cup party, when heavyweights such as Pele' and Falcao stepped in. The organisational machine at the time was artfully handled by a PR trio: Laura Melidoni, Paola Lucidi and Alessandra Del Drago. I stayed four years at Gilda: solo over the 1st year and then flankered by the grandmaster of the golden oldie, Claudio Casalini, and then by the maverick Luigi Guida. At the Gilda I made some of my most memorable musical encounters of my dj career: David Bowie (my fave artist since I was a bucket high), Quincy Jones (the maestro) and last but not least, the Father of Soul: James "stay on the scene" Brown. We managed to keep him on the dancefloor for a half-hour: maximum respect !!
The summers of 1988 & 89 saw me do another stint at Miraggio and one in Capri, at the Atmosphere club, where I got called over by the owner, Mr Caruzzi. It was around that time that I set-up Livexpress with the Minoia cousins, Max&Frank. We worked for around two years, producing several artists:Paradise Orchestra, Joy Garrison, Jim Porto, Melvin Hudson, Paula Cuervo, Gianluca Armento (aka Zanzaman), Mari Hubert, Malkom Kalma, Jam Machine, Strings of Love and more. With the latter two projects we also made the UK charts. "Nothing has been proved" by Strings of Love was remixed by the then up-and-coming dj Paul Oakenfold, who today is basically a legend. In 1990 I took an break: world escapading to Thailand, India, SriLanka, London to name a few spots.
The following year I left Livexpress, to set up Wax Production, with Gino "Woody" Bianchi, childhood buddy of mine and untouchable dj, and Dom Scuteri, talented musician. Our first job was "Colour Me" by Paradise Orchestra, released by Alvaro Ugolini and Dario Raimondi's Roman label, X-Energy. The record charted in the UK, floating in only at the bottom, but provided us nonetheless with an excellent reputation on the scene. In the meanwhile I had moved on to a hot new club called Joy. I spent two years there, one of which with Francesco Pesarin - we used to plug one day each.
The summertime then saw me jocking up in Northern Italy, at the "Indie" club in Milano Marittima, on the Rimini riviera - a mandatory experience. Four to five thousand people per evening were dancing under me - totally spectacular. Then with the winter setting in in 1994 I hung up my flight case and put aside my Technics SL 1200. I abandoned the dj scene, to fully plunge into producing. Dom, Gino and I opened up our recording studio in Via Dardanelli, Rome, smack in the middle of the Prati district. We came up with our first label, LEMON, which spawned 50 vynil's. Upper crust talents were hosted on the label, including remixers such as Marshall Jefferson, Arthur Baker, Junior Vasquez, Eric Kupper, Victor Simonelli, Joey Musaphia. And singers such as Orlando Johnson, Karen Jones, Desy Moore, Incognito's Joy Malcolm, Kevin Etienne, Cheryl Nickerson and acts like Jive and Tafuri. Done Lemon, we brought out EVIDENCE records, on which our more commercial trax were delivered.
One of the many projects we managed with Wax on this label was the album production for Jive (Pat Legato, Alex Legato, Marcello Cotroneo and Lino Zocconali), which lasted around a year. On Lemon we released in 1997 "Give me rhythm" by Black Connection featuring Orlando Johnson. Licensed in the UK on Alex Gold's Xtravaganza, and remixed by Full Intention, the track hit number 32 in the Top of the Pops. The follow-up was "I'm gonna get you baby", which surfaced at the top of the dance charts. We're currently waiting for release of the new Black Connection single on Xtravaganza, "Keep doin'it". It's sung by Taka Boom, the sister of Chaka Khan. Over 1999 I've done some music consulting for Montecarlo Sat, Monaco's 1st satellite TV station.
Production wise, I've just completed the 1st album by Kitchen Tools, out with ExtraLabels (Virgin), working with Dj Dozzy, Jacopo Carreras and Michele Braga. All I can say now, is that the music keeps on changing, and it's an easy thing to catch. But it's only when you listen to trax from people like Kruder & Dorfmeister or Thievery Corporation, and you see the response in the club play, that you keep on learning what it takes to separate the artists from the flash in the Technics.