Tony De Vit 1957 - 1998
Reported by Newzkitten
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Submitted 12-06-02 08:15
Ian M, Fergie, Phil Reynolds, Matt Clarke, Steve Blake, Skol, BK, Pete Wardman, Riki Shane, Owen B, Nick Sentience – It sounds like a roll call of artists at the forefront of the today’s hard dance culture.
All of them played at Fevah’s 2nd Annual Tony De Vit Memorial at Heaven on June 2.
To some of them Tony was a friend, to others an inspiration. As lovers of hardhouse music, he should be considered a legend to us all.
‘He was the pioneer of the sound and it just caught on like wildfire,’ says Fevah resident Steve Blake.
‘He was an influence to so many people. Clubbers, producers, DJ’s, he was an influence to clubland as it is. Without him, we probably wouldn’t be here now.’
Tony De Vit was an internationally renowned DJ, producer and remixer who always strived to create a new sound. His brand of sleek, trancy hi-NRG house enlivened the UK dance scene during the mid-90’s.
Tony’s DJ’ing career spanned over 20 years, from his first residency at Birmingham’s Nightingale club, to his storming hi-octane sets at clubs like Trade, Sundissential, Cream and Ministry of Sound.
He began moonlighting as a DJ on the gay club circuit in the late 70’s, and continued to play around the country during the 1980’s before beginning a residency at the after-hours club Trade in 1992.
By the mid-90’s De Vit had several DJ awards under his belt, including M8’s DJ of the Year - 1996, and DJ Magazine’s 5th Best DJ in the World. He also hit the UK Top 20 with his own tracks ‘Burning Up’ and ‘To the Limit’.
Heaven was Tony’s first residency in London, part of the reason Fevah promoters decided to hold this year’s Tony De Vit Memorial there.
‘It’s to celebrate Tony’s life and the legacy that he’s left and what he started off,’ says Fevah promoter Aaron Carr.
‘Basically we invited most of the DJ’s who actually had something to do with Tony themselves, something to do with actually writing his music, actually playing his music and who’ve actually followed in his footsteps.’
One of those people is Fergie, widely known as Tony De Vit’s protégé.
‘He was a spectacular DJ. I met him when I was playing at a club in Belfast, I was 16!’ he laughs.
‘I was playing before him and he asked me to play a bit longer so he could listen. Anyway he invited me to England for a holiday and introduced me to the clubbing scene here.’
‘Tony was always six steps ahead of everybody else. People say Tony was a hardhouse DJ, which he wasn’t just a hardhouse DJ. He played different variations of different music. If you look at when he played one of his 12 hour sets, it wasn’t hardhouse all night, he was one of the guys that brought trance forward.’
Tony formed his own labels Jump Wax and TDV in 1996/97, it was around that time Matt Clarke recalls first seeing him play at London’s Sunny-side-up.
‘I’m naturally energetic so I loved it! As soon as he went on the pace went up and the tracks were more solid, he created a sound no one else had heard before.’
That sound keeps Tony De Vit’s legend alive today, and several of his tracks have already or are about to be remixed. Fergie says he knows its something Tony himself would have approved of.
‘I think its brilliant, Tony was always one for moving things forward, even playing records, he never played a record, one record too many times’ Fergie
Matt Clarke agrees, ‘I think its good in the sense that its bringing Tony De V’s style in to our time and era, it allows us to celebrate his life and what he’s given us on nights like tonight.’
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Other Features By Newzkitten:
Interview with Brad Thatcher
Heat Profile
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