Tony De Vit | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Antony de Vit |
Born | Kidderminster, England | 12 September 1957
Died | 2 July 1998 Birmingham, England | (aged 40)
Genres | House, techno, hard house, hard NRG |
Occupation(s) | DJ, producer |
Years active | 1976–1998 |
Antony de Vit (/dəˈviː/ də-VEE; 12 September 1957 – 2 July 1998)[1] was an English DJ and music producer. He is considered one of the most influential[2][3] of his generation.[4] He was credited with helping to take the "hard house" and fast "hard NRG" sounds out of the London and Birmingham gay scene into mainstream clubs.[5][6] His single "Burning Up" reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1995, with "To the Limit" making number 44 in September 1995.[7][8] During that year, he won BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix of the Year Award, as voted by listeners of the show, and Music Week's re-mix of Year Award for Louise's "Naked". He remixed several UK top 40 hits during his career with artists such as Taylor Dayne and East 17.[9] Between 1994 and 1998 his popularity[10] with the clubbing public was rivaled by only Paul Oakenfold and Carl Cox.[11] In September 2010,[12] Mixmag UK announced the nominations of 35 DJs chosen by other big names[clarification needed] in the world of dance music as those they considered the best DJs ever. A subsequent 15-month survey, which polled hundreds of thousands of global votes, asked who was the "greatest DJ of all time" and when the result was announced in January 2011, de Vit was ranked number 9.[13][14]