John Rocca was born
September 23 1960 in
London,
England and first became known/famous as a
dance music/
disco performer, remixer and record producer. In the early eighties, John Rocca formed, played with, wrote for, produced and managed his first musical vehicle
Freeez to various successes. After his first self funded and self released effort;
Keep in Touch hit number 1 in the UK Blues & Soul Magazine Dance Charts and 49 in the
United Kingdom Gallup charts - partly via sales from the back of a van - his next effort,
Southern Freeez by
Freeez - now a
Jazz Funk Classic - was not only a UK Blues & Soul Dance Chart number 1 but a pop chart hit in various other countries around Europe topping the
United Kingdom Gallup Charts at number 8. In
1983 John’s Falsetto voice and one of the first records to use digital sampling -
IOU by
Freeez - became one of the dance anthems of the eighties
electro music dance scene. It reached number one in dance charts in Europe and the US Billboard
Hot Dance Music/Club Play and had pop chart success across the world spending 3 weeks at number 2 in the a
United Kingdom Gallup Charts. As a solo artist John Rocca hit the number one spot yet again, this time with
I Want It To Be Real, number 1 on the US
Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in
1984. After these and various other successes John went on to engineer, produce and mix for various other artists as well as recording under his own name and many other pseudo names. John Rocca retired from the music business in
1993. His last recording under the pseudo name
Midi Rain saw John write, play all instruments, record, engineer, produce and mix all the songs.
Midi Rain topped the Billboard US
Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with
Shine, number 1 in
1993.
See also