Mitch Winthrop

Mitch Winthrop started his career as a disco and funk DJ in Toronto in 1979 and he began to develop a huge following by the mid 80's. Additionally, he has hosted over six different mix shows on various radio stations, spanning the last fifteen years. This includes stints on Energy 108 (Canada's biggest dance music station at the time) and Buffalo, New York's WBLK, as well as contributing to the original "Keys To House" (a nationally syndicated program in the U.S.), and hosting and producing the first ever radio show in Canada solely dedicated to house music back in 1987 (The "Rhythm Method" on CHRY in Toronto) that he continued to do for over 10 years before moving his show to CHIN-FM and then subsequently to 1GROOVE.COM/89.5FM.

As a DJ, Mitch has amassed a portfolio over the years that includes many residencies in some of Toronto’s biggest clubs, like the legendary LIFE & FREEDOM nights @ The Phoenix, JUICE @ Power and REVIVE @ Klub Max.  He also DJ’d regularly at RPM, The Living Room, Roxy Blu, The Vatikan, The World, The Wellington, Left Bank, Ballroom 99 and C-Lounge, to name just a few, and has appeared at The Guvernment, Limelight, The Palladium, Fly Nightclub, Buzz, Bauhaus and Jet as well as appearing at Fashion Cares, Toronto’s Pride Day and The Charity Ball for Rwandan Refugees.  Internationally, Mitch has DJ’d memorable sets in New York City and London England as well as Mexico’s massive ACA SoundFest (a three day Woodstock-like festival in the jungle outside of Acapulco that drew over 50,000 people) and Germany’s Giganten II event (a massive rave in Hamburg) as well as Hamburg’s legendary Front Club.  Throughout his career, Mitch has had the opportunity to be featured at events alongside virtually every major international DJ there is, including Frankie Knuckles, Masters At Work, Roger Sanchez, Angel Moraes and Dennis Robertson.  As Mitch continues to forge new musical territory, his audiences today have come to expect a solid repertoire of tribal flavoured house and pumping, soulful garage, with elements of progressive house, classic house and disco - all mixed & programmed to his very high standards.  He has always strongly believed that DJing can and should be an art form, and as such, has approached his major gigs the same way a visual artist creates an abstract painting, evoking various emotions with his aural palette of ”colours“, ”textures“ and message.

Although he still takes the occasional DJ gig, in recent years Mitch has chosen to focus more on music production.  His credentials include having remixed tracks for Lil’ Louis, Kon-Kan (A.K.A. Nervous/Tommy Boy Records' Barry Harris), Oval Emotion, and The People Movers, among others; he has collaborated with The Stickmen and Hi-Bias' Kenny Moran on a variety of releases, and he has also been featured as producer or remixer on releases for Hi-Bias, SPG, Quality, Release, Stickman, Aquarius and Container Records. Mitch's most recent releases include his "Still Groovin'" b/w ”The Anthem“ & ”The Get Down EP" (both on Aquarius Records) and his remix of OSS’s ”Symmetric“ on Release Records, as well as countless tracks that can only be heard when Mitch himself is DJing.   Look for new material in 2007 as Mitch has spent much of his time in the last few months revamping his own studio.