I started out in the DJ world in 1981 while still at school. I decided that being a DJ is what I wanted to be after going out to a couple of clubs called: – Bella Napoli, Q’s & The Dome. This is where I first saw ‘Bobby Summerfield’, ‘Maurizio Bazan’ & Saan Mohammed. Maurizio ‘BAZ’ was the DJ that I l took too and looked up to in my formative years. He just is the best DJ I know.

My first regular club gig was at Club Donna in Alberton where I was mentored by ‘Mike Byron’ who taught me all the fundamentals of beat mixing and music selection. This is also where I first met and worked with ‘Malcolm Franz’, who is still to this day one of my best friends I then moved me to Club Fusion in Vereeniging where I had the privilege of working with one of the best DJ’s ‘David Smith’ and happens to be one of my best friends to this day. While still working at Fusion, I was playing ‘Thunderdome’ on Thursdays for Ladies night and where I would become lifelong friends with ‘Chris Dalamakis’ who was the resident DJ.

After Fusion I reached out to Mike K @ ‘Bella Napoli’ who I’d known for a long time and always said to me “when you are ready come see me”, so end of September 1989 I started at which I now know to be the best club in SA as the Full time DJ and my first big turning point in my life and DJ career, “BELLA NAPOLI”. Mike K to this day is my best friend and my brother from another mother.

I worked with Scott for a couple of months before he moved on, and started working with ‘Dean Athienides’ probably one of the best DJ’s and music producers SA has ever produced. We played together upstairs at ‘Bella’ as “DOUBLE TROUBLE” a name Mike gave us and one which ‘Dean’ made famous at a later stage with Surge. This also when a young apprentice ‘Peter Raaff’ came to work with me after ‘Dean’ left.

I stayed at Bella’s until end August 1992 after which I moved onto The White Horse Inn until end October 1994, and which would be the release of my first CD, “Mega Hits from the Mega Club”. My endless ambition to get better saw me moving from White Horse to The Don in Vanderbijl Park & then on to Baghdad Café in Rivonia. By this time, I wanted to do something more & while at Baghdad Café I joined EMI Music Company in 1996 to learn about the music industry, this is where I started releasing more albums with Paul Almeida, through EMI namely, Dance Club, Dream Dance & Spaced on Dance, until I left in early 1997 and did some freelance work releasing DJ Rave & House Nation.

1997 marked the second & most significant point in my DJ career, the opening of ‘Bump Nightclub’ and the beginning of what has now become my labour of love, the release of “BUMP” through RPM Dance. November 1997 saw the release of the first Bump album, which went on to sell over 40 000 cd’s. This wasyet another beginning to a new chapter: a beginning to what is now the biggest and most successful dance icompilation in South Africa. I have mixed & Co-Compiled all the Bump albums (Vol. 1-35). While at ‘Bump Nightclub’, I had the privilege of working with another one of my longtime friends ‘Stevie C’ for the first. This allowed me the opportunity to work on other releases through RPM Dance namely, Absolute Club Classics, Absolute High Energy, Absolute Trance Classics & Versus. Also I have mixed ClubTraxxx 10-14 through Electromode and most recently in January 2015 my iTunes release of DJ COSTA® presents BIGG BASS through Just Music. In December 2022 I mixed and released DJ COSTA NYE 2023 on Apple Music.

Since 1997 I have been taking the Bump CD on tour around SA, and have had the pleasure of playing at
many of SA’s clubs over the years, namely: – Crush (Ballito), Numbers (East London), Raffles (Umhlanga), Backline (Margate), Presleys (Boksburg), Friar Tucks (Grahamstown), Sovereign (J-Bay), News Café, Stables(Nelspruit), Riverside Estate (Middelburg) & Velvet Lounge (Walvis Bay), Club London (Windhoek), Stones (Fourways), Barbas (Bloemfontein), but to name a few.

I have also had the opportunity to travel outside of our borders and have also played in Namibia,
Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, as well as the USA.

I’ve also had the privilege of playing at “The Good Old Days” from the first party. These are the DJ’s I am happy to call friends and mentors, and who I also look up to. Mike Byron, Maurizio Bazan, Chris Dalamakis, Saan Mohammed, Daryn Mildenhall, Paul Almeida, Dean Wolf, Dean Athienides, Steven Chambers, Nelson Moreira, Malcolm Franz, Mark Stent, Trevor Pascoe & many more.

God Bless & have a wonderful day
DJ Costa®