Robert Racic (8 January 196425 October 1996) was an Australian DJ and

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. He was influential within the local

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and house music circles, but was less well known internationally. Racic produced several top 10 '' Billboard'' dance hits including

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' artists

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' "Greater Reward" and

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's "Freemason", "Insect" and "Gas Stop". He died in 1996, aged 32, of a brain virus, JC virus, which caused progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.

Biography

Robert Racic was born on 8 January 1964 and grew up in Melbourne. At the age of 18 he began working as a clerk at Waltons menswear store in Sydney. Soon after he was a DJ at the 45 Club, Kings Cross, on weekends and followed with other harbour city venues. He imported "New York garage and Chicago house records and as such became widely-regarded as 'benevolent godfather' to the nebulous Australian dance music scene." In 1987 he recalled how he started remixing, "I got tired of the way some 12-inchers present themselves... I wanted to make them more exciting... so I bought myself a reel-to-reel recorder, sat down and started to edit". One of his first remixes was of

Nona Hendryx Nona Bernis Hendryx (born October 9, 1944) is an American vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician, and author. Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady ...

' "I Want You" from ''The Art of Defense'' (1984), which was played on 2 JJJ radio by Tim Ritchie. In 1986 Racic started working with experimental music group,

, he collaborated with their founder,

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, on their sixth album, '' Come Visit The Big Bigot'' (September 1986). Racic "would remix selected tracks for the dance floor market." In May of the following year he edited and mixed tracks for the group's seventh album, '' Bad Mood Guy'' (October 1987). Racic co-produced "Thief" (July 1988), a single, by

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with the band's members Bryon Jones, his brother Jonathon Jones, and Raymond Medhurst (see ''

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'').

References

External links

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"Biographical cuttings on Robert Racic, disc jockey and dance music producer, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Racic, Robert 1964 births 1996 deaths 20th-century Australian musicians Australian DJs Australian electronic musicians Australian record producers Club DJs Electronic dance music DJs