Bio
Vinnie started mixing
music at the age of thirteen, performing locally in his home town of Yonkers
N.Y. In 1983 at the age of just 16, he landed his first club gig at Wheels
Roller Rink also in Yonkers. After playing at many smaller clubs, he landed a
job in New Rochelle NY at a club called "Streets" This was significant because
Streets had 4 competitors in the immediate area, clubs that were a little bigger
and a little more well known. Vinnie, already a DJ for 4 years, wanted to learn
more not only about playing music, but creating it so he learned about editing
on the Reel-to-Reel, digital drum machines, and samplers. It was 1987. He
brought this new style, and equipment to "Streets" and within a few months
Streets became the most popular club in the area. This was directly related to
Vin's new style of DJing. Using a all this equipment, Vin was able to create new
songs live at the club, play his own special remixes of songs, or make vocal
medleys using acapellas and beats on the 3 Technics 1200 Turntables.
At the age of seventeen he credited his first two mixes for WBLS radio in
NYC. He continued performing at many clubs in Manhattan and the New York area,
and in 1989 started working at “The Loft” Recording Studios as a Remixer /
Producer / Engineer. In the same year he made a Remix Medley Record called “Bits
and Pieces 89” – which got air-time on NY radio. In 1990 his remixes of “Feel
the nasty Groove / Take you Higher” by Fojo reached #5 on the Underground Chart
in Billboard Magazine.
It was at “The Loft” that producers Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers (Rihanna,
Britney Spears, N-Sync, Backstreet Boys) contacted him to do a remix of their
new song “I Wanna Make Love to You” for the group “Rythem Syndicate.” He took
this song, which was a Ballad to a huge Techno hit in Europe. Also in that year
Vinnie composed, mixed, and engineered his own track called “Techno Confusions”
under the name of "Planet V". This record reached #1 domestically and #7 on the
world charts as reported by the then national “U.S. Rave Magazine."
1995 brought on a change in his music career. He created the alias “DJ Vincent Vanguard” and under this alias he continued his work with Techno and Progressive House in the NYC Club Scene performing at some of NY’s biggest clubs including Tunnel, Roxy and Limelight.
While Vincent Vanguard was gaining huge popularity in the club scene, DJ Vinnie Campisi was getting back to his roots of Classic Disco, Funk, Early 80’s Dance Music, and Freestyle – pioneering the widely popular “Play Everything” Open format, in NYC Lounges.
He Reached a point in 2005 where he had to separate his music styles, and Vincent Vanguard came out of the public eye and into the Corporate and Special Event Industry, while DJ Vinnie Campisi became an unstoppable force in the NYC club scene.
**Vincent Vanguard no longer does nightclub appearances, he presently works the Special Event and Corporate Event Industry.
Always evolving both in technique and music selections has kept
Vinnie as one of NYC's most versatile DJ's. You can find him at some of NYC's
coolest Clubs and Lounges 3 to 4 nights a week, and you'll even find him in the
summer in Central Park DJing for 2000 people while they Dance and Rollerskate to
Classic 80's music, Funk and Deep House.
In April 2010, Vinnie decided to add another level of interest to his shows, VIDEO. At every appearance Vinnie mixes music videos. Adding this visual aspect changes everything. It was a big undertaking, adding new software and finding music videos from all genres and eras, but its done and Vinnie amassed a huge collection of music videos from the 70's, 80's, 90's and today's pop and dance music. Vinnie always keeps it fresh and exciting.