International Artist Series: Meet Cristina Lazic
December 4, 2024
December 4, 2024
Emerging from Italy, world class DJ & producer Benny Benassi is a name needing little introduction but deserving of wide acclaim. Having built a career and reputation spanning over a decade, this humble, authentic and charming musician has grown from club DJ to festival king to multi-million selling record producer with grace and ease taking success in his stride. Having trademarked his unique infusion of house and electro early on, his music continues to inspire and evolve whilst still remaining true to the very core of the Benassi sound.
There is no better place to start delving into the rich history of the Benassi career than with his global smash “Satisfaction”. Spiralling this Italian DJ from local hero to international success overnight, “Satisfaction” and its game-changing music video were the first real step into stardom for Benny. Created with his cousin and producer, Alle Benassi, and inspired by the car horns outside an open street facing window. Kicking off in Europe the single graced the charts with a #1 in France, #2 in the UK and Germany. Surely then it comes as no surprise his debut album ‘Hypnotica’ naturally followed suit, reaching top 20 across nearly all parts of Europe within the first month of release. It also landed him the title of “European Border Breakers Award” for most record sales for an Italian album outside of Italy.
The next few years for Benny were a culmination of successes, whether it be the major festivals he went on the play (Coachella, EDC, Beyond Wonderland to name a few) or his two proceeding artist albums (‘Phobia” in 2005 and “Rock N Rave” in 2008). In 2008 the most note worthy recognition of his talent was awarded to him, when he won a Grammy Award for his incredible remix of Public Enemy “Bring The Noise” further catapulting the Benassi name into stardom.
In 2011, Benny teamed up with a star-studded album cast for his most recent album “Electroman” which featured Kelis, Jean-Baptsiste and Apl.de.ap amongst others and most famously Gary Go with his chart-topping single “Cinema”. The Skrillex remix of “Cinema” not only went Gold in the US and platinum in Australia and Canada but won the Benassis another Grammy whilst holding firm in the iTunes top 10 dance chart for over 6 months. Two years on the remix could still be found in the US top 40 charts.
Still on this exceptional career high, Benny Benassi combined talents with Chris Brown to create one of the biggest cross-over dance records of its time with “Beautiful People”. He had done it again, reaching top 10 status in the UK charts amongst many others. The following years have been a measure of incredible world tours which includes a stint supporting the queen of pop, Madonna, and producing for her and many more record releases like his record “Dance The Pain Away” with John Legend, which premiered live on stage at Coachella with John himself.
Beyond his own production he cemented his in the wider musical audience with a flurry of high-profile remixes with the likes of Bobby Marley & The Wailers, Giorgio Moroder and Rolling Stones; a weekly radio show on the US heavy-weight iHeart Radio and plays to a staggering 750, 000+ people annually. His most recent singles “I Wanna Be Disco”, “Aphrodisiak” and “Who I Am” have all taken the club world by storm. Suffice to say if you can’t go far without hearing the name Benassi and it’s for a very good reason. This industry stalwart has earned his reputation, and we can only but guarantee there’s still more to come.