Azuli Don- DJing Makes You Insecure

Music industry heavyweight Dave Piccioni, who walked away from becoming one of the first superstar DJs to set up long running house label Azuli Records, did it because he found DJing as a solo career too stressful, he told Skrufff this week.

"I just felt DJing was too insecure; it makes people insecure," said Dave, "If people don't like you, you don't get work, it doesn't matter how good you are and I didn't liked that scenario. "Most DJs, like actors, are insecure people because it involves the public liking you and if they stop liking you, you suddenly can't pay your rent.."

The Huddersfield born Brit moved to New York in 1984, becoming one of the city's biggest house DJs via his residency at breakthrough Manhattan house club the World, until in 1990 he decided to return to England, walking away from a peer group that at the time included Frankie Knuckles, David Morales and Larry Levan.

"I wanted to get into the business of music, I didn't want to be just a DJ; I enjoyed DJing but I didn't want to be a career DJ," he explained, "I wanted to get into the business where I would fail or succeed on my own merits, rather than being liked."

20 years later, Azuli remains one of the top worldwide house labels and Dave has continued his (parallel) DJing career, regularly spinning in Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and Ibiza. He also continues to compile Azuli's acclaimed compilation CDs, including the latest one Miami 2005.


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• Azuli
• Dave Piccioni