Five minutes with Benny Benassi

Five minutes with Benny Benassi

21 April, 2010 | 7.20AM

• Written by: Kirsty Kane
• Filed under: Music News: benny benassi

Italian electro house star Benny Benassi is one of the world’s most popular DJs, having been a permanent fixture in DJ Magazine’s Top 100 DJs poll since his 2002 worldwide smash hit ‘Satisfaction’.

These days, Benassi is helping to inject dance music into the mainstream via star-studded collaborations - his latest venture sees r&b goddess Kelis and Black Eyed Peas’ Apl.de.ap team up for a dance hip hop hybrid ‘Spaceship’ (Benassi debuted it at Ultra Music Fest in Miami this year).

We caught up with Benny Benassi for a quick interview, to find out more about his recent movements.

Where are you right now?

I’m on a bicycle writing the answers as I pedal to the studio, in northern Italy. The studio is in partnership with my cousin, Alle. He’s my musician and producer.

When did you begin to work professionally in music?

I always wanted to be a DJ and started as a teenager in a club near where I lived. I started producing with Alle over ten years ago.
 
You have been at the forefront of modern electronic music for some time now, where do you find the inspiration to keep things fresh?

I don’t know. I still like to listen to what younger DJs are doing and I am turned on by it. As long as that lasts, I guess I’m connected.
 
What’s your favourite track that you’ve produced?

It’s hard not to say ‘Satisfaction’ as it changed my career and my life. But I also really love ‘Love Is Gonna Save Us’ and my new single with Kelis, Apl and Jean Baptiste, called ‘Spaceship’. It’ll be ready just in time for summer.
 
How was it working with Kelis?

It was a series of coincidences. My management sent a beat to a writer in L.A. called Jean Baptiste Kouame, who also features on the track. He’s a great guy, writes for Rihanna and The Black Eyed Peas, among others.

He wrote a great melody and some hypnotizing lyrics. We loved it and asked him what he thought it would sound like with female vocals. Without saying anything, he sent it back two weeks later with Kelis on it. Then we said, ‘hey that’s great now we need a rapper’. So he sent it back with Kelis and Apl, as well as himself.
 
And then you debuted the track at the Ultra Music Festival Main Stage in Miami with Kelis performing live. How was that?

It was an amazing set and there were people as far as the eye could see. I really enjoyed it. Kelis came on and sang ‘Spaceship’ and the remix Alle and I did of ‘Acapella’, her new single. She was irresistible.

 
You must have fulfilled some ambitions by now. Is there anything else you feel you want to achieve in the music world?

I am a lucky person. I am well paid to do what I love and I get to see the world too. But the stimulus to be creative and work with new writers and singers never goes away.
 
If you weren’t a DJ what would you be doing?

I would have tried to become a professional cyclist.

Benny Benassi is headlining London’s Ministry Of Sound on May 1st, for Toolroom Knights.

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