Tony De Vit
Tony De Vit (12 September 1957 – 2 July 1998)[1] was a British club disc jockey. His single "Burning Up" reached number 25 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1995, with "To The Limit" making number 44 in September 1995.[2][3]
Early life
Anthony de Vit was born to Raymond de Vit and June Silcock in Kidderminster, England.[1] Through his father's family he was directly related to Charles Anatole de Vit, a wealthy French immigrant who migrated to the UK in the 1840s. Kidderminster has also been the family's home since the mid 1930s.
Career
De Vit started as a wedding DJ in 1976, before becoming resident DJ at Birmingham's premier gay venue, 'Nightingale's', where he played pop and Hi-NRG. During the early 1980s, he worked at Wolverhampton's Beacon Radio, playing club tracks during a regular late-night slot on the 1922 show hosted by Mike Baker (now with Smooth FM). Tracks from Bobby Orlando and Patrick Cowley featured heavily.
De Vit also played at the Birmingham club Tin Tins during this time. De Vit was later inspired by visiting the infamous Trade at Turnmills in London.
De Vit left Nightingale for Birmingham super club Chuff Chuff where he played hard house. Within weeks he was headlining above Sasha.
In 1993, De Vit received a residency at Trade.[4] Rave artists Fantazia asked him to mix one of the discs on the second album of the Fantazia House Collection series, which went on to be a UK hit, selling over 100,000 copies. In 1995, Fantazia asked him to compile an album all of his own. The Remixers: Tony De Vit was a successful underground album, consisting only of tracks remixed by De Vit and Simon Parkes.
By the mid 1990s, De Vit was playing smaller venues in Inverness and Cheltenham. He also had two releases in the Global Underground series: GU 005: Tokyo and GU 001: Tel Aviv.
Death
De Vit was HIV positive. On 2 July 1998, at the age of 41, he died of bronchial failure.[1] After De Vit's death, a conflict kept his records off the shelves for many years, but finally a compilation album of his songs and remixes was released called Are You All Ready? on Tidy Trax records.[citation needed]
References
- ^ a b c Thedeadrockstarsclub.com - accessed May 2011
- ^ Roberts, David. Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums. Guinness World Records Ltd 17th edition (2004), p. 145 ISBN 0-85112-199-3
- ^ "DJ Tony De Vit Dies After Holiday Collapse". NME. 3 June 1998. Retrieved 19 July 2007.
- ^ "Profiles: Tony De Vit". Tranzfusion. Retrieved 19 July 2007.
External links