The Magician

Stephen Fasano, the Belgian DJ and producer who once formed one half of the nu-disco duo Aeroplane, departed the group in 2010 to pursue a solo career that quickly yielded commercial breakthroughs. Born in the late 1970s and half-Italian by heritage, he spent his childhood in a deprived industrial zone of southern Belgium, absorbing pop and disco recordings from his father’s collection that included ABBA, Supertramp, Michael Jackson, and Giorgio Moroder. During his early teenage years he received a cache of Italo-disco vinyl from an uncle who had retired from DJ work, an acquisition that ignited his own interest in performing. For many years afterward he balanced club sets with a conventional day job.

In 2004 Fasano encountered Vito de Luca, another Belgian-Italian who ran a record shop; the pair quickly connected through overlapping musical preferences. They experimented with several short-lived ventures before establishing Aeroplane in 2007. The duo’s lush nu-disco productions earned strong approval, leading to worldwide DJ engagements and the completion of their album We Can’t Fly in 2010. Just prior to its release, Fasano exited the partnership amid creative disagreements and re-emerged under the name the Magician.

Initial recognition arrived through a monthly series of freely downloadable mixes he titled “Magic Tapes,” each packed with scarce Italo-disco selections. His first EP, Twist, appeared on Kitsuné via a collaboration with Yuksek under the alias Peter & the Magician. A second EP, Memory, and the single “I Don’t Know What to Do” soon followed. Wider notice came from high-profile remixes for artists such as Lykke Li, Chromeo, Clean Bandit, and Wolf Gang, prompting a 2013 signing to Parlophone. The label debut “When the Night Is Over” reached the Belgian Top 30, yet the decisive breakthrough arrived with 2014’s “Sunlight,” a collaboration featuring vocalist Olly Alexander of the British electro-pop trio Years & Years. The buoyant track climbed to number seven on both the Belgian and U.K. charts. That same year Fasano launched the digital imprint Potion, taking its name from his club event series. Further singles “Together” and “Shy” surfaced in 2015 and 2016. He moved to Sony in 2017, the year he joined Julian Perretta on the track “Tied Up.”