Mario "Smokin'" Diaz grew up in the north side of Chicago. He started playing records in the early 80's, doing gigs at house parties and in clubs that formerly housed live bands. Mario played records in between each of the band's sets. During this period of time, Mario was introduced to record blending (mixing) by a friend that had lived in New York City. Mario then formed a group of DJ's and played mainly at house parties around Chicago's north side area.
While working at one of the hottest dance clubs at the time (AKA), Mario was chosen to be a part of a DJ team formed by a power radio station to help recover ratings lost to a rival smaller radio station. Mario Diaz then became a member of the JACKMASTER 5 during the hot mix frenzy in the city of Chicago and the rivalry of two major radios competing for a hotter mix show.
Mario officially joined the HOT MIX 5 team in the 80's due to the departure of Julian Perez who formed his own team that included Bad Boy Bill and other famous Chicago DJ's.
Mario has worked on a number of house songs including his own. He was also a part of the birth of house music in Chicago, exposing the music during mix shows and working along with the many artists of that era. His first two records, Fusion Dance and Let's Do It, were released on the infamous DJ INTERNATIONAL label, one of the original Chicago music labels. Mario has many other songs released on the HOT MIX 5, TRAX, and WARZONE record labels.
Mario is still active playing in different clubs in and out of Chicago. He recently started recording new tracks.
