John Acquaviva (born 1963) is an Italian Canadian DJ, producer, artist, and musical entrepreneur.

Music career

Acquaviva began his career in Detroit where he performed under the name of J'acquaviva+8. He met fellow DJ

Richie Hawtin Richard "Richie" Hawtin (born June 4, 1970) is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He beca ...

at The Shelter, and the two tried unsuccessfully to catch the attention of labels like Transmat. In 1989, Acquaviva and Hawtin founded what would become one of the world's best known and influential techno labels,

Plus 8 Plus 8 (also spelled as Plus8) is a Canadian techno record label, based in Windsor, Ontario. Along with Underground Resistance and Planet E, Plus 8 was one of the early producers of Detroit Techno's 'Second Wave' music at the start of the 1990 ...

Records. The founding of Plus 8 Records put John Acquaviva and Richie Hawtin at the vanguard of the emerging international electronic music movement and DJ culture. In May 1990, they released the new label's first records, "Elements of Tone" and "We Shall Overcome". In 1993, Acquaviva and Hawtin also founded Definitive Recordings. Acquaviva was one of the first people to take notice and embrace electronic music's digital future at the dawn of 2000 by championing Final Scratch. And following that success, Acquaviva took another step to help found and launch '' Beatport.com'', the largest dance-music download site in the world. Acquaviva currently runs Definitive Recordings, a label that he began in 1993 with

and Karl Kowalski. After the label's hiatus in the late 1990s, Acquaviva relaunched Definitive Recordings in 2005 with an entertainment attorney, Mark Quail. Since then, the label has carved out a name with its distinctive

tech house Tech house is a subgenre of house music that combines stylistic features of techno with house. The term ''tech house'' developed as a shorthand record store name for a category of electronic dance music that combined musical aspects of techno, ...

sound and six number one tunes on '' Beatport.com''. Not satisfied with just his own work, Acquaviva started fostering new artists for his Definitive label, DJ and producers such as

Olivier Giacomotto Olivier Giacomotto (born 2 February 1976 in Bordeaux, France) is a French electronic music producer and disc jockey (DJ), also known as Superskank, Ohmme, or OG. Born in Bordeaux, France, he started his career in 1999, first entering the world ...

, Simon Doty, Damon Jee, DJ Tonio, Jan Van Lier and

Dan Diamon Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

. Having been on the international DJ circuit since the founding of

in 1990 and on a perpetual world tour ever since, Acquaviva achieved his commercial pinnacle in 2006 when he reached number 22 on the ''DJ Mag'' 2006 list. His international career has spanned well over two decades, throughout thousands of parties with millions of people having heard him play, keeping him in high demand. Acquaviva has had, both personally and with his label, six number ones and narrowly missed a seventh when his track "Sofa King", made together with

, peaked at number two on the overall Beatport chart. In December 2012, John Acquaviva released an official music video for the underground track "Good Music" made together with

Alex D'elia Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple peo ...

Nihil Young ''Nihil'' is the eighth studio album by German industrial band KMFDM, released on April 4, 1995, by Wax Trax! Records. The album marked the return of former band member Raymond Watts and the first appearance of journeyman drummer Bill Rieflin, ...

and the US based singer

Dan Diamond Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

Number one Beatport entries

* John Acquaviva & Lutzenkirchen - "Zombie (Original Mix)" Blufin (2005) *

- "Gail In The O (Damon Jee & John Acquaviva Remix)" Definitive (2007) *John Acquaviva presents Sven Webber - "First Stroke (Original Mix)"

Great Stuff ''Great Stuff'' is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Henry Kendall, Betty Astell and Alfred Wellesley. In the film, a woman's parents became robbers in a desperate effort to prevent her marrying an unsuita ...

(2007) *Robot Needs Oil - "Volta (Olivier Giacomotto remix)" Definitive (2008) *Mantra - "Feedback With Madox (Original Mix)" Definitive (2009) *

- "Guacamoli (Original Mix)" Definitive (2009) *Bass Kleph - "I'll Be Ok (Superskank Remix)" Definitive (2011) *Robot Needs Oil - "Volta (Olivier Giacomotto remix)" Definitive (2008)

External links

www.john-acquaviva.com

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acquaviva, John Living people Canadian DJs Canadian techno musicians Canadian house musicians 1963 births People from the Province of Foggia Electronic dance music DJs