A club and mobile disc jockey since the age of 12, Matt Villacarte first broke into the industry in 1993 as a mixshow disc jockey doing guest spots for San Francisco radio station KMEL. The guest spots became a springboard for a long career as a radio mixshow DJ with stints at “Hot 97.7” KHQT (San Jose, CA), KWIN (Stockton, CA), Wild 94.9 KYLD (San Francisco, CA) and more recently KDON (Salinas, CA).
In addition to his work in radio, Villacarte has also garnered considerable experience working on the record label side of the music business. After earning a B.A. in Mass Communication from California State University Hayward and completing an internship with the company in 1995, he became the Radio Promotion Manager for Classified Records. In 1996, after contributing to the mainstream success of Classified artist Jocelyn Enriquez, Villacarte was named the Senior Director of Promotion for the label. During his tenure, he spearheaded campaigns that produced 6 Billboard charting singles including “Do You Miss Me” (’96) and “A Little Bit of Ecstasy” (’97) by Jocelyn Enriquez, “Is It Real” (’97) and “Next Time” (’98) by Pinay, “Sweet Honesty” (’98) and “What Do You Remember” (’98) by M:G. Villacarte also was the A&R project manager for Classified’s successful Pinay project.
In 2000 Villacarte joined Jazzy Jim Archer’s Straight Hits Entertainment as Senior Director of Promotion where he again spearheaded numerous campaigns that produced significant radio airplay for acts such as Innerlude, Mr. Mixx & Daz Dillinger, Haus-A-Holics, and Adriana. In 2001, Villacarte reunited with former Classified Records producers Glenn Gutierrez and JP Nebres to form Planet Hype while also taking on the position of San Francisco representative for NY-based Promo Only Promotions, working to national radio, projects that included Janet Jackson, Nelly Furtado, Bob Marley, Chili Hi-Fly (#1 Billboard Club Chart), and Plummet (signed to Atlantic Records).
Matt Villacarte has also done work as a writer, producer and re-mixer, co-writing “Next Time” and “Come Go Away With Me” by Pinay as well as producing/co-producing remixes for SWV “Rain” (RCA), Mya “It’s All About Me” (Interscope), One Voice “Loving You” (Kamikaze), and Arbol “Rosita” (Universal). In addition, he has produced and written tracks for Pinay’s latest CD, “What Now” which is in stores and is also available here online at Planet Hype.
