Victor Simonelli

Victor Simonelli is a Brooklyn-born DJ, producer, remixer, songwriter, and label owner associated with New York house and underground dance music. He grows up in Brooklyn, New York, and begins music training at a young age, taking lessons in piano, drums, guitar, bass, and voice. His early musical influences come from his father’s record collection, which covers jazz, blues, electronic music, disco, new age, rock, soul, classical, new wave, ethnic, and world music. By the age of 11, he is listening to New York radio mix shows on WBLS, WKTU, and WXLO, where he discovers DJ mixing.

Early DJ work and studio training

Simonelli starts DJing as a teenager, initially helping his father and playing one of his first parties with him in 1979. Within a year, he begins playing mobile parties on his own and develops his approach by reading the crowd and selecting tracks for impact. He studies at the Centre For Media Arts, then in 1987 joins Shakedown Studios, owned by Arthur Baker, after about a year of trying to get an entry-level position. At Shakedown he works alongside or learns from figures including David Cole, Robert Clivillés, Danny Krivit, Benji Candelario, Albert Cabrera, Junior Vasquez, and Bobby Konders, and he begins producing, mixing, and editing projects for artists such as David Bowie, Will Downing, Talking Heads, Quincy Jones, Deborah Harry, Sinéad O’Connor, and Al Jarreau.

Production work and Brooklyn Funk Essentials

In late 1988, Simonelli joins Lenny Dee to form Brooklyn Funk Essentials, a remix and production team that works on projects for Pajama Party, Al Jarreau, Denise Lopez, Arthur Baker, Robert Owens, and New Order. Around the same period he completes early productions for Criminal Records and continues work for labels including Vendetta, Fourth Floor, and Nu Groove, which helps establish his profile in New York dance music. He also collaborates with producers such as Danny Krivit and Satoshi Tomiie, and signs a management deal with 23 West, joining a roster that includes Masters At Work and C&C Music Factory. He later moves to Def Mix, working alongside Frankie Knuckles and David Morales.

Key releases, remixes, and collaborators

Between 1989 and 1991, Simonelli is involved in a number of high-profile projects. He composes Sybil’s “Oh How I Love You,” arranges and edits James Brown’s Love Overdue, and works on BeBe and CeCe Winans’ version of “I’ll Take You There” featuring Mavis Staples. He also works on Quincy Jones’ “I’ll Be Good to You,” featuring Chaka Khan and Ray Charles. During this period he writes and produces for Martha Wash and Sabrina Johnston, and he works on material with Yvonne Turner, Boyd Jarvis, Gwen Guthrie, and Hamilton Bohannon.

His 1990s productions include “Feel So Right” by Solution, “I Want You To Know” by Groove Committee, “It’s So Good” by Creative Force, “I Know A Place” by Sound of One, and “Dirty Games” on Nu Groove in the US and Vinyl Solution in the UK. He also produces Street Players Vol. 1 EP, which later influences Kenny Dope’s “The Bomb.” Other work in this period includes involvement with Michael Jackson’s “In the Closet,” featuring Madonna, and production and arrangement work on Danny Tenaglia’s “The Harmonica Track,” which appears on Arthur Baker’s Minimal Records. He also collaborates with Kerri Chandler on the Ionosphere EP track “All Join Hands.”

Labels, companies, and releases

Simonelli forms several labels and related ventures over time. With Barry Koven and Vincent Dimino, he co-founds BASSLINE Records and BIG BIG TRAX in the mid-1990s, with releases including New York’s Finest’s “Do You Feel Me,” Connie Harvey’s “Thank You Lord,” Urban Blues Project’s “Deliver Me,” Colonel Abrams’ “Not Gonna Let,” and Mone’s “Better Way” and “Never Gonna Be The Same.” He also launches V.J.S. Productions, Inc., where he works with and helps introduce artists including Angel Moraes, Jazz ’N’ Groove, Urban Blues Project, Federal Hill, Harlem Hustlers, Jay Jay Hernandez, and Julius Papp.

In 1995 and 1996 he signs a compilation deal with MCA Records for Sound of Simonelli. He later sets up VJS Productions, Inc. Europe in response to increasing work in Europe, opens a studio in Rome in 1997, and starts West Side Records, which issues releases by Kings of Tomorrow/Sandy Rivera, Johan S., Soul Creation, and Simonelli himself. He also founds Stellar Records in 2000, based in Europe, and later launches UNKWN REC as part of his label group.

International DJ work and radio

Simonelli becomes widely booked as a DJ in the 1990s, with work taking him to Japan, England, Italy, Germany, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Australia, Switzerland, Portugal, Ibiza, and France. In 1998 he joins Couleur 3 Radio in Switzerland for Groove Lift, a house music radio and internet programme broadcast across Switzerland and nearby parts of Europe. The show later includes residents Mr. Mike, Charles Schillings, Djamin, and Simonelli, with live broadcasts from clubs in Switzerland.

He continues touring through the 2000s, with first performances in Mexico City, Jerusalem, Denmark, Brazil, Argentina, Bulgaria, Poland, Dubai, Thailand, the Philippines, and mainland Spain. He also appears at the first annual Dance Parade in New York and shares the DJ booth with DJ Kool Herc at the closing event in Washington Square Park.

Later releases and ongoing work

In the 2000s Simonelli continues to remix and license material across labels in the US, UK, Europe, South Africa, and elsewhere. His work includes “Living On The Frontline” by Keith Thompson, “Never Too Late” by Robert Owens, “Clouds (Breezin’)” with members of Jamiroquai, “Do You Want Me” by Cloud 9, “Dollar Wine” by Colin Lucas, and remixes for Nicky Siano, Inner Life featuring Jocelyn Brown, and many compilation projects. His production and label activity also includes Groove Lift compilation work and various releases on West Side Records and Stellar Records.

Simonelli is associated with a long list of acts and projects including Critical Rhythm, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Club Z, Ozone Layer, Africaribbean Connections, A Church, A DJ & A Sampler, Afrimerican Coalition, Children of the Underground, Subliminal Aurra, SK Project, V.T. Connection, T.M.V.S., Innervision, and Second Choice. His work sits within house, funk, and New York underground dance music, and he remains identified with DJing, production, mixing, songwriting, and label management.