Dimitri from Paris

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Dimitri from Paris bigraphy, stories - French DJ and Producer

Dimitri from Paris : biography

October 1963 –

Dimitri from Paris (born Dimitris Yerasimos in October 1963) is a French music producer and DJ of Greek origins. His musical influences are rooted in 1970s funk and disco sounds that spawned contemporary house music, as well as original soundtracks from 1950s and 1960s cult movies such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, La Dolce Vita and The Party, which were sampled in his album Sacrebleu.IMO Records , IMO Records,Retrieved on 11 February 2012. Dimitri fused these sounds with electro and block party hip hop he discovered in the 1980s.

Discography

Studio albums

  • Sacrebleu, 1996
  • Cruising Attitude, 2003

Compilation albums

  • Monsieur Dimitri’s De-Luxe House of Funk, 1997
  • A Night at the Playboy Mansion, 2000
  • Disco Forever, 2000
  • My Salsoul, 2001
  • After the Playboy Mansion, 2002
  • In the House, 2004
  • Neko Mimi Mode, 2004
  • The Kings of Disco, 2004 compiled by Dimitri from Paris and Joey Negro
  • TV Tokyo Animation Tsukuyomi–Moon Phase– Best Collection "Zenbu, Kikitakunacchatta…", 2005
  • Super Disco Friends, 2005 compiled by Dimitri from Paris and DJ Muro
  • Southport Weekender, 2005 compiled by Dimitri from Paris, Jazzie B, and Quentin Harris
  • In the House of Love, 2006
  • Cocktail Disco, 2007
  • Return to the Playboy Mansion, 2008
  • Night Dubbin’, 2009 compiled by Dimitri from Paris & The Idjut Boys
  • Get Down With The Philly Sound, 2010
  • Knights of the Playboy Mansion, 2011

Biography

Contrary to his musical pseudonym, Dimitri was born not in Paris but in Istanbul, Turkey. Born in Turkey to Greek parents, Dimitri grew up in France where he discovered DJing at home, using whatever he could find to "cut and paste" samples from disco hits heard on the radio, blending them together to make tapes. This early experimentation helped him launch his DJ career.

Early career

He started out by DJ’ing at the French station Radio 7, before moving on to Skyrock and finally to Radio NRJ, Europe’s largest FM radio network, in 1986. There, he introduced the first ever house music show to be broadcast in France, while simultaneously producing runway soundtracks for fashion houses such as Chanel, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Hermès and Yves Saint-Laurent. He also released two solo EPs from 1993 to 1994, and contributed to the Yellow Productions compilation La Yellow 357.

Recording career

In 1996 Dimitri gained worldwide recognition with the release of his first full album, Sacrebleu, released on Yellow Productions. A blend of diverse influences including jazz, original film soundtracks, samba, and organic house, Sacrebleu sold 300,000 copies worldwide and was named Album of the Year by UK’s Mixmag magazine.

In 2000, Dimitri followed Sacrebleu up with A Night at the Playboy Mansion (Virgin) and Disco Forever (BBE), followed by My Salsoul in 2001, After the Playboy Mansion in 2002. In 2003, Cruising Attitude was released, to be closely followed by his first outing on UK’s premier dance music label Defected: Dimitri from Paris In the House.

He has followed a somewhat glamorous musical path by recording soundtracks and advertising campaigns for fashion houses Chanel, Jean-Paul Gautier and Yves Saint Laurent and remixing hundreds of artists as diverse as Björk, The Cardigans, James Brown, New Order and Quincy Jones. He also did the music for the anime Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase and mixed the soundtrack for the French luxury dessin animé Jet Groove produced by Method Films.

Recent developments

There was a rumour that he worked with Sophie Ellis-Bextor on her third album, as she said she worked with "a French guy called Dimitri", but this was later proved false.

2005 saw Dimitri go back to his Funk and Disco roots, with Japanese hip hop producer and über collector DJ Muro for Super Disco Friends a double CD mixdown. In 2006 he offered his House of Love outing to Valentine’s Day’s lovers. Later on Dimitri produced Los Amigos Invisibles "Super Pop Venezuela" album which grabbed a nomination for a grammy award.

2007 saw the release of the Cocktail Disco project with longtime partner BBE, a handful of Disco classics remixes and other surprises down the line.

2009 saw the release of the Night Dubbin’, a post-disco R&B compilation remix album.[ "Night Dubbin’"] at Allmusic. Retrieved on August 15, 2009