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Matthias Heilbronn began DJing in 1981, at age fifteen, in Bremen, Germany. In 1986, at the age of twenty, during his first visit to New York, some friends took him to the legendary Paradise Garage. "I fell in love that night," remembers Matthias. "It completely changed my life, hearing how and what Larry was playing - and how the crowd reacted to it"!
1989, on his third trip to New York, he was offered an internship by Francois Kevorkian at Axis Studios, and a place to stay by Frankie Knuckles. It was then that he decided to make New York his home. After months of learning the studio equipment and teaching himself to edit and program, he found himself working with artists he'd been admiring from afar just the previous year. He became one of New York's most in demand editors and programmers; working with producers such as Danny Tenaglia, Todd Terry, Tommy Musto, C&C Music Factory and Francois K. himself.
Five years & the house music equivalent of a Harvard education later, in 1994, he started writing and producing some of the biggest Garage tracks of the time under the name Deep Zone Productions with his partner Mike Delgado. Together they wrote and produced Carolyn Harding's " I am What I am", "It's Gonna Be Alright" feat. vocals by Ceybil Jeffries, "Music Takes Me Higher" by Lift and "Live in Unity" by Dangerous Minds. They also remixed for artists, such as Soul II Soul, Randy Crawford and Crystal Waters.
In 1997, his partnership with Delgado dissolved, and for a short time, he began working with his friend Mousse T., producing and remixing for Peppermint Jam Productions. His remixes on Peppermint Jam Productions (of artists such as Blueboy, Backstreet Boys, Paid & Live, Rebekah Ryan and Boom) gave him huge recognition on the European dance charts.
Today, Matthias is known for his productions and remixes that he crafted under his second production company, II Deep Productions, which he started in 1998. He continues to work closely with Francois Kevorkian co-remixing projects, and producing and remixing for François' label, Wave Music. His remixes of Abstract Truth's "We Had A Thing", and Blue 6's, "Sweeter Love" have established themselves as house anthems. In the year 2000, Matthias has remixed tracks of major - label artists Anastacia, Kina and Everything But The Girl. He also has remixed and produced for independent labels, such as, Masters At Work, Chez Music, Rampage, 83 West and Suburban. His compilation, "Selections...by Matthias 'Matty' Heilbronn" was released on NCP Productions and has earned international praise.
Matthias also devotes a good deal of his time co-remixing tracks by artists such as, Moloko, Afro Mudusa, James Ingram, Martha Wash, and Cher with Todd Terry. Last year, they collaborated on Todd's debut D&B album "Resolutions".
Through all of this, Matthias has never strayed far away from DJing, which is how he fell in love with music from the beginning. Although renowned amongst the heads for his garage projects, his DJ sets reveal a much broader cross-section of influences. In true Levan style, on his recent DJ tour of England his sets journeyed from Chaka Khan to Chicago acid.
Matthias' DJing takes him around the globe. In Paris and NY, he's played the respected party Respect Is Burning. He has toured Japan three times, playing at, Precious Hall and the legendary Yellow in Tokyo. He makes several trips to England a year, playing everywhere from Ministry of Sound to the small funky clubs Bar Rhumba and The End. On the beautiful island of Ibiza, Matthias has played at Pacha and Space. Matthias also takes part in legendary festivals around the world, such as The Global Techo Festival – Paris, The Quart Festival – Norway and The Love Parade – Switzerland. He also continues to frequently play in countries such as Germany, Scottland, Switzerland and Portugal and Italy.
At home in New York, Matthias plays at some of the best clubs in the city, from the past... Nell's, Club USA, Webster Hall, The Palladium, and LIFE to the present... Twilo, Centro-Fly, as well as what some consider to be one of the best parties in the world… Body & SOUL. Last year, Matthias started his own weekly party in New York entitled SCHOOL along with DJs Neil Aline and Melvin Moore. All of this, earned him a spot on DJ Magazine's Top 100 DJs In The World of 1999 where they described him as "one of the true unsung heroes of house music".
Above all, Matthias' philosophy is to produce solid music that will last. His DJing creates an outlet for his desire to add his own creativity to the work that others in his field are creating simultaneously. He believes in a collaboration amongst us all to create a positive energy...and creating the music to go right along with it!
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