Rui da Silva (born 25 April 1968) is a Portuguese producer and DJ, whose single " Touch Me" topped the Portuguese Singles Chart. Outside Portugal, "Touch Me" also topped the charts in the United Kingdom, where it became the first progressive house song to top the UK Singles Chart, the first song by a Portuguese act to top the chart and the first new UK chart-topper of the 21st century and

third millennium In contemporary history, the third millennium is the current millennium in the ''Anno Domini'' or Common Era, under the Gregorian calendar. It began on 1 January 2001 ( MMI) and will end on 31 December 3000 ( MMM), spanning the 21st to 30th ...

Career

Silva started producing

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

in 1992, just as club culture was getting established in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. Noticing the lack of dance music labels in Portugal, he teamed up with DJ Vibe to form Kaos Records, the first label in Portugal specialized in house and electronic music. His first major hit (and Kaos' first release) was "Não", a track that

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

vocals from a

Xutos & Pontapés Xutos & Pontapés () are a Portuguese Rock music, rock band. The band was founded in 1978, in Lisbon, by the late Zé Pedro, Zé Leonel, Kalú and Tim. Their current lineup consists of Tim (vocals, bass), João Cabeleira (guitar), Gui (saxophone, ...

track, released under the alias Doctor J. With DJ Vibe, he also formed the

Underground Sound of Lisbon Underground Sound of Lisbon (sometimes shortened to USL) is a collaboration between Portugal, Portuguese house music record producer, producers Rui da Silva (DJ), Rui da Silva (then known as Doctor J) and DJ Vibe (real name Tó Pereira), who were ...

project in 1993. A year later, their track "So Get Up" (which features an original spoken-word poem by Californian songwriter Ithaka Darin Pappas) achieved worldwide fame after getting picked by the Tribal America label and support from

Danny Tenaglia Daniel "Danny" Tenaglia (born March 7, 1961) is an Italian American DJ and record producer. Biography Early life Tenaglia left New York in 1985 and started DJing in Miami as a resident at Cheers nightclub, playing classic New York and Chicago ...

. Tenaglia also

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

ed the track. During his years at Kaos, Silva also worked with other artists, namely Luís Leite (under the guise of LL Project, creating the song "Khine #3") and Alex Santos (with whom he released the

garage house Garage house (originally known as "garage"; local terms include "New York house" and New Jersey sound) is a dance music style that was developed alongside Chicago house music. The genre was popular in the 1980s in the United States and the 1990s ...

track "The Sax Theme"). In 1999, he left Lisbon for London, to move from producing to DJing, and also to start working under his own name. Silva left Kaos Records, and produced his final collaborative effort as Underground Sound of Lisbon in 2001. In the UK, he founded Kismet Records, where he began producing a more progressive sound. He has released a number of tracks under his own name, as well as collaborative efforts with Chris Coco and Moshic. Silva has achieved some fame as a

er, creating his own versions of

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...

's "Play",

Lighthouse Family Lighthouse Family were a British pop soul duo that rose to prominence in the mid-1990s and initially remained active until the early 2000s. Singer Tunde Baiyewu and songwriter Paul Tucker formed the act in 1993 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, ...

's "Happy" and

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

's "Walking on Thin Ice".

Discography

:''see

for the rest of Rui da Silva's discography''

Albums

* ''Produced & Remixed'' (2002) * ''Praying Mantis'' (2006)

Singles

Rui da Silva

* " Touch Me" with Cassandra Fox (2000) * "Fire/Earth" (Kismet Records, 2001) * "Feel the Love" (with Victoria Horn (2002) * "Pacman/Punks Run Wild" (64 Records, 2004) * "So Move Closer" (2005) * "Dance.Come.Feel.Exe" (2005) * "Lixuneanos" (2005) * "Amidar" (2006) * "Spreading Isolation/The Regressors" (2007) * "The Whole Room Dematerialized" (2007) * "Escaping My Mind" (2007) * "On My Mind" (with Ben Onono (2008) * "Crazy Love" with Dada featuring One (

Destined Records Matt Schwartz (; born 26 October 1971) is an Israeli-British record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger, programmer, audio engineer, and DJ. Early life Schwartz was born in Israel and moved to London in the early 1990s. He attended King ...

, 2011)

Doctor J

* "Não" (1993) * "The Sax Theme" with Alex Santos (1994) * "Human Soul", as Doctor J Presents Mata Hari (1995)

The Four Elements

* "Earth/Water" (2000) * "Fire" (2002) * "The Fifth Element" (2002) * "Matrix/Stoned" (2003)

Coco da Silva

: ''All are collaborations with Chris Coco'' * "Coisa Nossa/Close My Eyes" (2000) * "Lost" (2001) * "@ Night" (2001) * "Saudade" (Kismet Records, 2002) * "This Time You're Mine" (2002) * "The Shiva Chant" (2003) * "Don't Say Nothing (Say Something)" (2011)

Other aliases

* "So Get Up", as Underground Sound of Lisbon (1993) * "Work in Progress", as LL Project with Luís Leite (1995) * "Khine No. 3 (The Remixes)", as LL Project with Luís Leite (1996) * "Fat Beat/Bossa Nova", as Gum Club (1996) * "Matrix", as Morpheus (1999) * "Obeah Dance", as The Obeah Men with

Terry Farley Terry Farley is a British DJ, remixer and producer from London, active since the mid-1980s. Career Farley started out going to clubs in the late 1970s and first visited Ibiza in 1982. He then started working as a DJ, performing at the same clubs ...

(2001) * "Riding", as Teimoso with Shelly Preston (2001) * "Radar House", as Hyper da Silva with

DJ Hyper Guy James Hatfield (born 23 February 1977) better known by his stage name DJ Hyper or just Hyper, is a British DJ, producer and remixer, known for his use of live bass, guitars and uncompromising vocals. He has done remixes for artists such a ...

(2003) * "Deep as the Rivers", as Moshic da Silva with Moshic (2003) * "Gibberish", as Moshic da Silva (with Moshic (2003) * "Cosmic Mind", as Sound Projectors (2003) * "Dark Love, as The Downloaderz (2004)

References

External links

Rui da Silva's homepageKismet Records, Rui da Silva's labelRui da Silva page at DiscogsRui Da Silva page on The Dj ListRui Da Silva on Spotify
– Free Streaming
Rui Da Silva on Soundcloud
– Listen to & Free Downloads {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Rui da Portuguese house musicians Portuguese DJs Club DJs Remixers Living people 1968 births Electronic dance music DJs