Tony Varnado
New Jersey
"No Stress" I make my life just that simple. "Just Chillin"
It has been said that good things come to those that wait. This nimble-fingered keyboardist and DJ/Producer has been extremely patient, humbly traveling the dance music landscape visible only to those who “know”. Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Tony V. realized that he had a talent and passion for music when he was about 8 or 9 years old. “I used to bang on my mom’s furniture to get different sounds out of each piece. My grandmother told me that when I was a baby, I would not go to sleep unless I had music playing under my pillow.”
He became involved in DJing through his uncle, DJ Freeze. He used to go with him on gigs and was amazed at how he had the people dancing. On Sundays when his uncle would be attending church services, he would turn on his equipment and start spinning. “It came naturally. I was scratching and blending records like I’ve done it before, I was on cloud nine”.
He had his first professional DJing gig as a teen playing for a city wide high school party. Years later, Tony V. along with high school chums, DJ Ceaser Kelley and Greg Smith decided to put out a 5 series mixed CD of classic dance, R&B and House called The Nocturnal DJ’s Live. This collective, Nocturnal DJ’s, is made up of not only DJ’s but remixers and producers as well. They have done work with Flatline Records, in addition to, Backroom Productions who produced Jersey’s answer to En Vogue, the femme fatale trio, Jomanda. It was jocks like Tony Humphries who was known for playing different kinds of tracks that made a huge impact on Tony V. From that point, he wanted to create his own music that stood out from other productions like the tracks he heard on Tony’s mix show. He sold his drum set and purchased a Casio sampling keyboard and started making his own dance beats. “When I made tapes or played out in the area, I played my tracks alongside the other latest dance hits and the people kept dancing. I knew then I was on the right track”. Joe Smith of Movin’ Records in East Orange, NJ would “demo” his tracks in the store while he was previewing other records. He received a warm reception to his material and continued to produce music. Abigail Adams, the owner of Movin’ Records label/store released Tony V.’s, “Trackin’ Down The House EP” and gave Humphries a copy. Impressed with the EP, he informed Ms. Adams who consequently set up a meeting with Humphries and Tony V. to discuss the possibility of working on some remix projects. Of course, he jumped on the opportunity head first. ”That’s The Way Of The World” by D-Mob became the remix that would usher in a slew of dance remixes he would play on. Hits such as “Love So Special”-Ceybil (Atlantic Records) and the massive “Elvis Is Dead”-Living Colour (Epic Records), “Keep On Pumpin’ It Up - D’ Bora’s (SBK Records) and her follow up “Dream About You” (Smash), The Sun Rising-The Beloved (Atlantic Records) and “Spillin’ The Beans”-Jellybean (Atlantic Records) all were to few. Sorry,ran out of space. LoL!
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