DJ Fresh
Fresh has shared the DJ booth with a number of internationals during his career to date, including “Little Louie” Vega, Frankie Knuckles, Armand Van Helden, Chris Lake, Paul Van Dyke, Oskido, Fat Boy Slim, Hoxton Whores, Jazzy Jeff, Harley & Muscle, Ready D, Kenny Gope Gonzales, Viny Da Vinci, Deep, Gregory and Dominic Spreadlove. Cities like Johannesburg, Miami, London, Cape Town, Moscow, Brisbane, Ibiza, Leeds, Durban, Gaborone, Birmingham, Dubai, Montreal and Melbourne have all danced to Fresh’s beats.
An entrepreneur at heart, Fresh is gifted at spotting gaps in the market and he has many projects on the go at any one time. A few examples are Fresh’s cool T-shirt range and merchandise which started out as a fun side project and is now hugely in demand; his company Big Dawg Productions; his partnership with DJ Euphonik called “F.Eu” as well as his ongoing involvement in numerous charities and awareness campaigns.
DJ Fresh (real name Thato Sikwane) is a South African disc jockey who became known first for his breakfast slot on radio station YFM (which he hosted for eight years) and later as the host of the Drive Time (16h00 – 19h00) on 5FM
He has toured extensively in SA (alongside the likes of Lil Louis Vega, Frankie Knuckles, Armand Van Helden, and DJ Spreadlove) and internationally as guest DJ at Southport (2000), and at Pacha in Ibiza (2001). In March 2002, DJ Fresh formed part of a team of SA DJs who attended and performed at the MAW party at the Miami International DJ conference.
With everything that Thato Sikwane has done both as a radio presenter and young entrepreneur, he is after all “so far, not doing badly”. One can only hope that he is still to change more people.
DJ Fresh has 13 house albums under his belt and has shared the DJ booth with a number of international artists, including “Little Louie” Vega, Frankie Knuckles, Armad Van Helden and Dominic Spreadlove and played in Southport in 2000 and at the legendary Pacha in Ibiza in 2002.
He was also part of a team of DJ’s who performed at the Miami Winter Music Conference.
Apart from launching his company Big Dawg Productions, Fresh has established the DJ Fresh Annual Shcolarship programme, which awards tertiary scholarships to deserving students who cannot afford it.
In 2000, Fresh invited YFM to adopt 100 matriculants from Gauteng’s star schools who every Sunday attended extra classes until exams were over. He also arranged career talks for the learners with people from different sectors.
In 2001 another scholarship programme was established. The DJ Fresh Annual Scholarship is an extension of an existing scholarship, but this time in partnership with Rosebank College, which awarded 5 scholarships, Monash University (10 scholarships) and Boston Media House (5 Scholarships).