Lou DeVito

Lou Devito was a landmark nightclub disc jockey that influenced generations of DJ's to come, including myself. A soft spoken, gentle guy, he never spoke over the microphone (as many DJ's at that time would do) because he was concerned about disrupting the experience the dancers were having. It was important to him to stay a silent host, so you would connect to the music alone and get lost in your blissful moments of being surrounded, almost enveloped by the music he was playing. He was into providing a unique experience that was almost intimate. He knew what it was like to get lost in music on a dance floor and how powerful that experience was to each individual, and he did not want to interrupt that. He was a perfect musical host.
He did mixes on Chicago's Disco DAI - a fantasy outlet for music that would normally only be experienced in nightclubs. Hearing a mix for the first time literally blew my little 12 year old mind. I remember sitting next to a radio with a tape recorder so that I could try to capture that magic and experience it over and over again. It was unbelievable at the time to experience one song literally melting into another - it was unheard of!!!! I can only compare it to the first time someone experiences something completely foreign to themselves and is not even sure how to react. It was so unique and magical - literally breathtaking for me. Sure, now it seems dramatic to imagine reacting that way because of all the technology we have in our lives, but there was a time before iPhones, cable TV, fax machines or digital anything when we were naive and sort of technologically innocent. It was just magic to us. Lou knew that and provided that experience.
I believe due to that, he isn't as well known as other DJ's at the time who were more into making careers for themselves and being famous. Lou liked to stay in the background - talented, insightful and pioneering in what he did.
I've never experienced anything like it since then.