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John "Julius"
Knight was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He has always
been into the sounds of club classics. At a young age he would stay
at home every Friday and Saturday night listening to Tony Humphries
on Kiss FM and Timmy Regisford on WBLS. At a later age he would
go to clubs like the Paradise Garage. Zanzibar and The Loft .
John has been
involved with music and djing since he was a child. Some of John's
first gigs were in Boston at clubs such as Paradise, Loft, Nine
club, also Nells, Lovelight, Club Manila in New York and the Paradox
in Baltimore. His musical style is best described as raw, energetic,
funky soulful house with an emphasis on the era of the Paradise
Garage. This emphasis is no coincidence, as John was first hand
witness to the legendary club and its maestro Larry Levan.
Probably best
known in the biz today for his work with personal friend and long
time collaborator Brian Tappert; John's involvement with the Soulfuric
/ Jazz-N-Groove camp goes way back. He met Brian Tappert 1992 when
he moved from NY to Miami where his focus changed from djing to
producing and remixing. John's first collaborations with Brian were
productions on Bassline Records and AM:PM in 1993.
John's first
solo project was The "Knightime Funk" EP released on Soulfuric
Trax in 1996. Growing up listening to club classics all his life:
disco, funk and soul were imbedded in his blood. In 1999 John and
Brian Tappert began a collaboration called the "Cleptomaniacs".
They took the classic records that they were inspired by and sampled
them making them into current house classics.
Cleptomaniacs
"Numero Uno" on Soulfuric Trax was the song that got the
attention of the masses and wondering who they were. Next came the
Cleptomaniacs v. Stevie Wonder "All I Do" which was bootlegged.
The bootleg caused so much hype that a cover version was inevitable.
It featured the vocals of Bryan Chambers, the record made it into
the Top 40 National charts in the UK. Since then John has been remixing
for Defected, Fluential, Z Records, Look At You, Swing City, SFP
Records and many other labels.
John's first
trip to Europe djing was in October 2000 where he played at the
Defected party during the Amsterdam Dance Event and at D Club in
Lausanne, Switzerland. Since then he has played at the Ministry
of Sound, Garage City, Queen Club in Paris and Torres de Avila,
Spain, just to name a few. John has appeared as guest DJ on major
radio stations including Kiss FM, Danny Rampling's Lovegroove Dance
Party on Radio One in the UK, Fun Radio in Paris, and Galaxy FM
with the Slammin Boys.
While John
resides in Miami, Florida he has played at all the major clubs including
Crobar, Level, Liquid, Groove Jet, N Lounge and Blue. He continues
to work at Soulfuric Studios remixing and producing while djing
all over the world. His latest project with Brian Tappert and Marc
Pomeroy is a collaboration with Kathy Brown "Give It Up"
forthcoming on Defected Records. John's current project in the works
is "Knightime Funk 3" which will be released on Soulfuric
Trax. Watch out for forthcoming productions, remixes and dj guest
spots from John 'Julius' Knight.
Fri 8 Nov
- Tank (Syd) * Sat 19 Nov - Coast (Auck, NZ) * Fri 25 Nov - Electric
Circus (Adl) * Sat 26 Nov - Platform 1 (Melb)
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