Mainstream
DJ and bigtime Yankees fan Louie DeVito never dreamed he'd have
a million-selling series of mix albums while working as a construction
worker in the early '90s, but he always loved music and wanted
to be involved. An avid listener of New York City's Hot 103
and Hot 97 and their mix shows, DeVito was moved by the skills
of DJ Franco Lamello and he decided it was time to try his hand
at mixing. It took him nearly a year to get his first club gig,
but it wasn't long before he was dubbed "the Man With the
Golden Ear" because of his ability to pick the next big
hit. A Friday night mix show on WKTU earned him more exposure,
and in 1999 DeVito decided to release his first NYC Underground
Party mix CD on his own. Expecting to sell only 5,000 copies
tops, DeVito used his parents' house to warehouse the CDs but
a little advertising and word of mouth quickly moved 60,000
copies. DeVito continued the Underground series and started
the Dance Factory series to feature more popular and mainstream
music. The CD sales kept growing and DeVito soon had a hectic
DJ schedule putting him behind the decks for venues and events
as diverse as the Casbah in Donald Trump's Taj Mahal and the
celebrity-filled GQ's Man of the Year party.