DJ Alfredo, a legend of Ibiza’s club scene known as the “Father of the Balearic beat”, has died.
Tributes have been paid across the dance music industry after word of the 71-year-old Argentinian DJ born Alfredo Fiorito’s passing began circulating today, 24th December. The news was confirmed in a statement shared by Amnesia Ibiza, the club in which he made his name and fuelled the popularity of dance music on the White Isle throughout the 1980s.
The post read: “Thank you for the nights and beats we shared together. Your music and vision shaped the sound of Balearic Beat and the soul of Amnesia. So many memories were made through your energy, your legacy will live on our dancefloor forever. You will never be forgotten.”
While no cause of death has been disclosed at the time of writing, Alfredo had faced multiple health issues in recent years, having suffered a stroke in 2021 and living in retirement home since. Earlier this year, a GoFundMe was launched to help support his healthcare needs.
Alfredo emigrated from his native Argentina to Spain in 1976, and moved to Ibiza soon after, working as a fashion designer, candle maker, delivery man and barman before eventually becoming a DJ. He played his first set at Amnesia in 1983, and gradually earned a reputation for playing a mix of house, disco, rock, jazz, funk, soul and synth pop records, all culminating in what would come to be known as Balearic beat.
As well being pivotal to the popularisation of dance music in Ibiza, Alfredo is credited as influencing the explosion of dance music in the UK, after a group of young DJs – Danny Rampling, Paul Oakenfold, Nicky Holloway – saw him play in 1987 and started their own club nights in London including Shoom.
Alfredo’s international DJ career continued to grow, and he spent two years as the artistic director of Amnesia from 1988, before becoming a resident DJ at the Pacha club. Over the following years he’d set up shop at legendary parties such as Manumission and Space.
Following news of Alfredo’s passing, tributes have been paid for one of the most influential DJs of all time, whose style would shape the development of dance music in Europe, the UK and beyond. Read some of those, and watch a clip of him DJing at Space, below.