Vinny Da Vinci

Vinny Da Vinci is one of the most important figures on the South African dance music scene, and he has helped galvanize deep club culture in his various capacities: As a partner in the inimitable House Afrika Records emporium and producer of many of their top-selling compilations including, 4 of the "House Afrika: Deep House Sounds" series, "What's Phatt Pussy Cat Vol.1", and the "Africanism Vol 1 and 2", all of which he mixed and compiled. Vol.3 was recently released at the beginning of June 2005. As a producer alongside longtime friend and partner DJ Christos, in the groundbreaking DJs At Work projects, as a deejay on the leading edge of deep and jazzy underground house scene. He was also co-owner of one of the best clubs in South Africa, Club Carnalita from 2000 until 2003. Vinny was raised in a musically inclined family in Atteridgeville and Mabopane, Pretoria. He got a feel for compiling and mixing while preparing tapes to play at house parties and school functions – these were engineered in a cut-and-paste manner, as he had no mixer. His deejaying career took a back seat after he matriculated and he had to work in a clothing store. But he developed an even keener interest in deejaying at a club called 'Ship Ahoy' in the late eighties. Vinny began investing in vinyl after watching the legendary DJ Correy from Atteridgeville blend records together on a pair of Technics turntables, and his break came when the resident DJ of another Mabopane club, Cherry's, failed to pitch up, and he was asked to stand in. He impressed the owners immensely and landed a residency. He soon quit his day job to become a full-time DJ. Vinny then did stints at the legendary 'Club Gemini', an institution that was instrumental in breaking music by the likes of Soul II Soul, Mr. Fingers and Frankie Knuckles in the townships. Gemini was the Pretoria club until 1992 when it closed. Cherry's wasn't far behind and shut its doors in 1993. Vinny's entire record collection (sans a box he’d packed for a gig) was apparently locked up in the store room after their closing weekend and later flogged at flea market by the unscrupulous owners. Many lesser talents would have thrown in the towel there and then, but Vinny persisted, borrowing records from friends until he got himself back on his feet. He struggled on and eventually secured a residency at The Arena in Hillbrow, Johannesburg in 1995.