Hernán Cattáneo was born in Buenos Aires, where he grew up listening to bands like Simply Red, Level 42, Depeche Mode and New Order while carefully studying Billboard magazine, the only source of information that was readily available at the time. In 1987, one of his friends visited Vinylmania in New York and returned with some vinyl records. These records were to be Hernán’s first exposure to Chicago House. During that period, Frankie Knuckles, who would have a huge influence on Hernán and his blossoming career, broke into the scene and quickly became an icon of the burgeoning House genre. The way Frankie Knuckles and artists like Inner City and Derrick May brought together the energy of European electronic music with the soul of North American music left an impact on Hernán and set the foundations for his career. His elemental understanding of dance music might be the reason why he has firmly positioned himself amongst the most respected DJs in the world.
Hernán became a DJ after being inspired by a collection of Chicago house records brought back from the United States by a friend, featuring artists such as Frankie Knuckles and Inner City. This music played a role in the music he now plays. Hernan describes the music he plays as deep, progressive, funky and tribal house.
In 1996, he won the residency at Clubland Pacha in Buenos Aires. His performances were a great success and led to Cattaneo being invited to DJ at clubs around the Americas. Clubland eventually attracted big-name DJs, such as Sasha, John Digweed, Dave Seaman and Paul Oakenfold who played alongside Hernan. Oakenfold was impressed and signed Hernan Cattaneo to his Perfecto Records label and they toured together in Europe and the United States from 1997 to 1999.
By 2000, Cattaneo was becoming a major name on the world club circuit. Underground releases entitled Clubland Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 created an underground buzz. Also, Ministry magazine released one of his mixes called Funky, Deep & Tribal in 2001. In 2002 he produced the international hit “Deep Funk”, released his first mix compilation entitled “Perfecto Presents South America” on Paul Oakenfold’s label, and won the “Best Newcomer DJ” at the Pacha Ibiza Awards. Since releasing his first compilation, he has played about 120 shows a year on every continent around the world.
As a DJ with an ever increasing fanbase, he rose to #22 and then to #6 on the DJ Mag poll of the Top 100 DJs. In addition to appearing repeatedly on John Digweed’s Kiss 100 Show, Hernan started a weekly residency show in London which also enjoys great success. Entitled Sequential (like two of his mix compilations) it has been broadcast on Metrodance 95.1 FM every Saturday since 2002. In early 2004, he followed up his first mix compilation with the Renaissance Master’s Series Volume One, after which he toured extensively promoting the album on the Renaissance Master’s Tour. In early 2005, Hernan released the Renaissance Master’s Series Volume 2, to great success both critically and among his growing fanbase.
Cattaneo is a major supporter of other South American producers and DJs that have been influenced and inspired by him, including: Oliverio, MOS, Deep Mariano, and Martín García. He is also known for bringing relatively unknown tracks to the forefront in his mixes; this is usually because the producers of these tracks allow him access to them before they are even released through their own labels. 2005 included a major production release by the name of Warsaw (on John Digweed’s Bedrock Records), remixing work on numerous tracks with John Tonks as well as extensive worldwide touring. His fourth compilation and his third for the Renaissance imprint, entitled Sequential, was released in April of 2006 to positive reviews. As with previous compilation albums, Cattaneo embarked on the Sequential world tour. In May of 2007 he released Sequential Volume 2, which was once again followed by another worldwide tour to promote the compilation. Due to a very busy schedule, the creation of Hernan Cattaneo’s own label has been put off for quite some time. According to Cattaneo, this label would feature producer and DJ talent from around the world reflecting the diversity of his compilation albums.
On the first of May in 2008, Metrodance 95.1 FM which had been airing Cattaneo’s Sequential show for approximately six years, dropped the program based on the decision of new ownership to change the musical direction of the station. No new outlet for the show has been made available.
Live sets 