As the son of Eritrean refugees, Johannes Debese a.k.a. Johnny D. became acquainted with a wide array of music styles at an early age – from Tigrinya, the Eritrean music of his heritage, to hip-hop, funk and soul. During the breakbeat-craze in the Rhein-Neckar delta he first came into contact with electronic music at the age of thirteen, soon afterward deciding to take to the turn tables. His first electronic music sets at modest breakbeat events followed, and Johnny D. quickly developed into a versatile artist active in the Mannheim Collective.