One of the genres most successful and easily recognizable disc jockeys, Bobby Viteritti grew with the disco scene from it's infancy. Bobby told me his career started in 1973 around the same time as Lou DiVito's did.

Bobby began spinning 7" 45's. Anyone who has every mixed a record will tell you that it's hard enough to spin 12" singles let alone a 45. But Bobby, always the pro, figured out the key to "quick mixing" the tiny vinyl discs to thrilling results. His early career gained noteriety when the native New Yorker moved to Florida and began spinning at the now legendary "Poop Deck" at the Marlin Beach Hotel.

His career kicked into high gear when he began spinning at the still legendary "Copa" in Ft. Lauderdale. Lou briefly took an opportunity to spin there, although I'm not sure if it was before or after Bobby's reign there.

Word about the talented spinner at the hottest club in the south quickly spread like wild fire throughout the industry and the club scene. Bobby was soon the most sought after D.J. in the south and the most widely respected.

It wasn't long till Hollywood came a calling, actually it was San Francisco that called and Bobby answered. Bobby was inticed to move to the west coast gay mecca to be the resident spinner at a new club, "Trocadero Transfer." The club scene in San Francisco was inspired to import it's early D.J.'s from New York, Florida and Boston, among other places. The club scene became  a dancer's delight with some of the world's greatest jocks competing for the nightly floor trade. The competetion became so fierce that at one point the city was divided by the "Troc" group and the "Dreamland" gang. The D.J.'s were paid handsomely for their talents, at one point Viteritti was making a $1,000 per evening, which was an unheard of sum of money in the late 1970's. But listening to his tapes it's certainly justifiable.

Great pains were taken to enhance the "experience" at "Trocadero." Bobby and his equally reknown lightman Billy Langenheim would carefully plan the scope of each evening's set. "Billy and Bobby would get together at the beginning of the night and plan where they would take the crowd and with what songs. They believed that if they could totally control the audio and visual enviroments, then they could actually control the group consciousness and influence people's trips, which they did. It was like nothing I've ever seen," gushed a clubber in David Diebold's book "Tribal Rites."

"We'd suddenly go into a wild, frenzied, high energy set and we'd beat the crowd with strobes and wild music. We'd whip them up with one rough song after another then throw them into a whirlpool, smoothing out with "Touch Me In The Morning" by Marlena Shaw or "Rise" by Herb Alpert, and bring everybody back together in the same head space," proudly claims Viteritti.

Without a doubt the formula that Bobby and Billy used created magic and the long lines outside and the packed dance floor inside were proof. As the disco-era began it's slow painful demise and the calendar turned into a new decade the Bobby/Billy team moved over to San Francisco's "Dreamland." They continued their magic but the club scene was changing. A.I.D.S. had moved in, the drugs were changing, the 1970's dancers were growing up and moving on. Bobby continued doing his famous parties and tape remixes while retreating to the comfort of his place up on the Russian River.

During the 1980's  Bobby took to the road doing guest spots at some of the top clubs in the world. He related to me his "5-minute guest spot at Studio 54." Seems this took place in 1979. "I was at the annual Billboard convention in New York and as Lou and all the other visiting jocks would do, I stopped by to see Richie (Kaczor) at "54." While up in the booth Richie left the booth, probably to go to the bathroom. I watched as the record was nearing the end, I grabbed Bonnie Pointer's "Heaven Must Have Sent You" and sorta slammed into it as the other record was fading out. The crowd went wild...it was kinda of a joke. Their was no expertise involved, they just screamed I guess, because after all it was Studio 54....you know all the hype." 

Bobby also told me the acoustics in the booth at 54 were horrible. A fact I could relate to as many booths I played in were acoustic nightmares.

Bobby spent the remainder of the 1980's and into the 1990's dabbling in his wonderful and unique tape edits and remixes, doing the occasional guest spot and party.

He moved back to his native hometown, New York City, and enjoys an easy going and relaxed life style after many years of club life. He works on his tapes, he's in the process of converting them to compact disc. He offers them for sale and is always happy to hear from his fans. Bobby is a truly gracious and delightfully funny legend. His stories about the "good old days, Lou DiVito and disco in general" kept me in stitches and gave me a wonderful insight into his world, my friend Lou and life at the top in the disco-era. Thank you Bobby! I'm so glad that you're still here and still sharing your talents with us.