Johnny Vicious

DJ/remixer/producer Johnny Vicious, born John Coles, entered the dance scene after setting aside his 1980s rock collection to pursue the hypnotic acid house sound emerging from Chicago. His first club work took place at the New York venue Mars, after which he secured a professional booking at Manhattan’s Paladium in 1989. Shortly thereafter he partnered with Jeffrey Rodman to launch the independent imprint Vicious Musik, which promptly released the EP Liquid Bass.

Vicious’s breakthrough arrived through a series of high-profile remixes, beginning with the up-tempo club/dance track “Ecstasy (Take Your Shirts Off)” from the album Webster Hall Presents a Groovilicious Night, followed by No Mercy’s dance/pop single “Kiss You All Over,” React’s “Let’s Go All the Way,” Whitney Houston’s “It’s Not Right but It’s OK,” and the 2001 Ministry of Sound compilation Club Nation America. That 28-track double album paired a disc mixed by Vicious with another mixed by Tall Paul and included selections by Paul Van Dyk, Moby, and Fatboy Slim alongside additional major dance hits of the era. In 2002 he issued Johnny Vicious Presents Ultra Dance, Vol. 1.