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Junior Jack,
otherwise known as Vito Lucente, was born in Italy but has been
residing in Brussels ever since his parents moved to Belgium when
he was a teenager.
Vito soon caught
the house virus and in the early 90's he started to release tracks
under different names including Kafé ('Can You See It'),
Hugh K ('Shine On') and Mr. Jack ('Only House Music'). In the same
period he also launched his own label Noisetraxx to which DJ's and
producers like Roger Sanchez, Mouse T, Erick Morillo and Robbie
Rivera contributed their remixing skills.
His first recorded
success under the name of Junior Jack was with the single "My
Feeling" on PIAS recordings in 2000 which entered all the national
charts in Europe, the US and Australia. It was also the first time
a Benelux based producer reached the top spot of the European dance
charts.
Junior Jack
was on the map but it was the next release which proved to be a
milestone in his career. The classic bass-line monster "Thrill
Me' was released in February 2002 and made a huge impact on dance
floors across the world. Whilst being a commercial success, it also
showed Vito's commitment to the underground house sound at a time
when his remixes and production skills were already much in demand
by increasingly successful clients.
With 'Thrill
Me', he also firmly established the distinctive sound of the irresistible
pumping bassline that has become one of the Junior Jack trademarks.
It was immediately picked up by many top DJs who made it a dancefloor
anthem across the world.
The demand
on Junior Jack as a DJ kept increasing and Vito who till then had
always preferred working in his studio as a producer, decided to
team up with Kid Crème. The pair quickly became one of the
most popular acts on the scene and apart from playing regular slots
at all the superclubs around the world including a residency at
the Ministry Of Sound, they released an "In The House"
mix album on Defected
The name Junior Jack quickly rose to fame on the dance scene and
with it came more request on remixes for artists including Bob Sinclar,
Moby and ATFC.
In the meantime
Vito's restless creative output under different monikers did not
slow down either throughout this busiest period in his career. His
signature continued to appear on many successful dance tracks.
At the start
of 2003, Vito topped the UK singles chart with 'Make Luv', a remake
of Oliver Cheatham's 1983 hit ' Saturday Night' released under the
name Room 5 on his own label Noisetraxx. The single kept the no.
1 position for 4 weeks making one of the most successful dance tracks
ever in the UK. In Europe, 'Make Luv' held on to its top rank of
the European dance charts for an incredible 6 weeks in a row. The
track went on to sell a grand total of over 500.000 copies worldwide.
But whilst
'Make Luv' was continuing to dominate the local airplay and dance
charts across the world, the Junior Jack follow up to 'Thrill Me'
was shaping up to become THE summer tune of 2003.
'E-Samba',
an infectious Latin flavoured club smash, was released during he
European summer and resulted in dance floor frenzy everywhere it
was played.
The track was
voted the "Summer anthem of 2003" by DJ magazine at the
Ibiza awards where Junior Jack and Kid Crème also picked
up the award of "Best newcomer DJ's" and Junior Jack was
also awarded the title of "Best Looking DJ!"
In the meantime,
Vito had been spending a lot of time in his studio working on what
so many successful dance producers fail to deliver; a credible artist
album with crossover potential.
The hotly anticipated
debut full-length Junior Jack release was almost completed when
the new Junior Jack single 'Da Hype' was serviced to the DJ elite
and received the same ecstatic reactions as 'E-Samba'; months before
it's release as a single.
It was already
featured in Q magazine as one of the 'Top 3 best Dance Tracks Ever'.
Vito started to work on a vocal version of the album for which Robert
Smith contributed the vocals. It was the last track to be added
to the album and only fired up the anticipation for Junior Jack's
debut artist album 'Trust It'.
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