Biography :

John 'Julius' Knight was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He has always been into the sounds of club classics. At a young age he would stay at home every Friday and Saturday night listening to Tony Humphries on Kiss FM and Timmy Regisford on WBLS. At a later age he would go to clubs like the Paradise Garage. Zanzibar and The Loft.

John has been involved with music and djing since he was a child. Some of John's first gigs were in Boston at clubs such as Paradise, Loft, Nine club, also Nells, Lovelight, Club Manila in New York and the Paradox in Baltimore. His musical style is best described as raw, energetic, funky soulful house with an emphasis on the era of the Paradise Garage. This emphasis is no coincidence, as John was first hand witness to the legendary club and its maestro Larry Levan.

Probably best known in the biz today for his work with personal friend and long time collaborator Brian Tappert; John's involvement with the Soulfuric / Jazz-N-Groove camp goes way back. He met Brian Tappert 1992 when he moved from NY to Miami where his focus changed from djing to producing and remixing. John's first collaborations with Brian were productions on Bassline Records and AM:PM in 1993.

John's first solo project was The "Knightime Funk" EP released on Soulfuric Trax in 1996. Growing up listening to club classics all his life: disco, funk and soul were imbedded in his blood. In 1999 John and Brian Tappert began a collaboration called the "Cleptomaniacs". They took the classic records that they were inspired by and sampled them making them into current house classics.

Cleptomaniacs "Numero Uno" on Soulfuric Trax was the song that got the attention of the masses and wondering who they were. Next came the Cleptomaniacs v. Stevie Wonder "All I Do" which was bootlegged. The bootleg caused so much hype that a cover version was inevitable. It featured the vocals of Bryan Chambers, the record made it into the Top 40 National charts in the UK. Since then John has been remixing for Defected, Fluential, Z Records, Look At You, Swing City, SFP Records and many other labels.

John's first trip to Europe djing was in October 2000 where he played at the Defected party during the Amsterdam Dance Event and at D Club in Lausanne, Switzerland. Since then he has played at the Ministry of Sound, Garage City, Queen Club in Paris and Torres de Avila, Spain, just to name a few. John has appeared as guest DJ on major radio stations including Kiss FM, Danny Rampling's Lovegroove Dance Party on Radio One in the UK, Fun Radio in Paris, and Galaxy FM with the Slammin Boys.

While John resides in Miami, Florida he has played at all the major clubs including Crobar, Level, Liquid, Groove Jet, N Lounge and Blue. He continues to work at Soulfuric Studios remixing and producing while djing all over the world. A recent project with Brian Tappert and Marc Pomeroy is a collaboration with Kathy Brown "Give It Up" on Defected Records, plus John is currently having success with "Find a Friend" which has been released on Soulfuric Trax and is one of the tunes of the year in my opinion. Watch out for forthcoming productions, remixes and dj guest spots from John 'Julius' Knight.