The newest member of the World Wide Message Tribe is CAMERON DANTE. He spoke about his past and his Christian conversion.

Cameron Dante

Cameron Dante was born and grew up in Manchester. By age 16 he was already riding the fast lane. With two friends, Jason and Howard, who were eventually to become members of Take That, Cameron starred in a top breakdancing group. They won awards and championships and Cameron found himself on TV and courted by "the beautiful people". Eventually leaving dancing he drifted out to Ibiza, the holiday island off the coast of Spain. In a nightclub one night, he was asked to deejay by the manager. "The deejay at that club was Boy George. We deejayed there together. I just became incredibly interested in deejaying - we were playing this incredible music that people were shaking their heads to, jumping up and down. I'd never heard it before. It was called 'Baccalo' which was the original name for house music.

"So I started buying a lot of records. I spent four years over there. I was off my face and having a great time. I was doing everything. I was doing amphetamines, cocaine, I discovered this new drug called Ecstasy. Actually, things like cocaine were given to me by the management. They said, 'This will make you work well.' So it was pushed upon me by the management first of all. And then it just became a part of everyday life. At the time I thought this is fine, ! can get this stuff for nothing. Then came the winter, the major nightclubs closed down and most of the English customers went home. Everyone had to fight to find work basically. You had to go and work in a small bar or something like that. And you had to go and buy your own drugs. That's when I got into trouble. "One day I thought this is pathetic. So I sold all my records and came home."

Resolving to get his life into some kind of shape, back in Manchester Cameron found old habits die-hard. "I found I still had a problem with amphetamines. You can't get a physical addiction but you can get a mental addiction. So I wandered around for six months. I had a friend I went to see at a club. There was a support band playing called Bizarre Inc that nobody had heard of. I got talking to a couple of them. They said, 'What do you do?' and I said, 'I deejay and rap,' and they said, 'Let's hear a bit of your rapping.' So there in the nightclub I started rapping. So they said, look, come to the studio with us. Have you got any records?' Well, I'd sold all my records - but I had a mate with some. They said, 'Bring some down and we'll sample them.' So we did."
Starting with the smash hit "Took My Love" on which Cameron rapped, Bizarre Inc became an international hit act. The hard-core disco activists toured the world. It was a dream come true for Dante. But despite all the glitz and success Cameron made bad mistakes. "I was stupid to sell my royalties for 500 quid. I was writing tracks for them. Then the record company dangled 500 pounds in my face and asked me to waive royalties. And I was that naive enough to sign and take the money! I really didn't care at the time, the money wasn't an issue. I was having a great time, I was touring the world, seeing all this limelight, doing Top Of The Pops, doing all these big TV shows, touring the States, travelling around in limousines. It was really good, I really enjoyed it."

Then Bizarre Inc went really quiet for two years. They were in dispute with their record company and their management. "I thought, 'This is the end of Bizarre Inc really. It's time for me to strive on my own.' I made some records out on my own. I had one of the best backgrounds that impress any A&R man. But they'd take the tune and half-heartedly put it out along with three or four other tunes that week. So I got really disillusioned with the record industry.

"Then I began to think about God for the first time. I don't know why. I'd been brought up in a Catholic home but wasn't in the least religious. But one day I said to myself, 'I've got to write a gospel tune!' And I wrote it in about two minutes! It was unbelievable, these things that were coming out! Really meaningful words. I'd arranged to go and see about eight record companies in London and the first person that I went to went absolutely mad about it. For me that was a sign from God."

Feeling "a great hole" in his life, Cameron found himself talking about spiritual things to Zarc Porter. Cameron had used Zarc's Perfect Music on and off for four years, recording songs. "I always knew there was something different about Zarc but I didn't know what it was. I always knew he was the nice guy. I showed him a bit of respect. I didn't swear when he was there! It was amazing when I became a Christian and I prayed with Zarc for the first time, it was one of the most joyous occasions. I saw him in a totally different light. "It was Zarc who invited me down to a Planet Life service. I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I knew there was something in me that was screaming to be found out, I didn't know what it was, I couldn't explain it at the time. I knew that I'd had, what I could only describe as a 'gift from God', songs that really MEANT something, whereas before I'd always written about love, like physical love. But now I was writing about a different kind of love. I couldn't explain it. There was something inside me, a hole that needed filling. I didn't know what it was. Zarc said, 'Why don't you come down to Planet Life and see if that hole could be filled.' Now I didn't really know what Zarc was talking about. But I decided to go."

Cameron didn't tell his girlfriend about his decision to take up Zarc's invitation. Cameron remembers the Planet Life service in 1994 vividly. "There was a Canadian evangelist there called Mike Hack, he was giving a talk. For some reason his talk really struck home. Now in typical American evangelism style - that we don't think much of in England - he said, 'Anyone out there who hasn't received the Holy Spirit into you life...STAND UP!' It was frightening. I didn't stand up. I was PUSHED! Honestly, I didn't mentally say to myself, 'I've got to stand up.' I was just apprehended as it were and pulled out of the seat. The next thing I could remember was that I was stood up. I looked round the church and there was no one else stood up! I was the only person standing. The thing was Mike Hack hardly acknowledged me. I started getting these burning feelings 'cause I was stood up for ages and ages and the whole church was looking at me. I was looking at Mike hack and saying to myself, 'Please say something to me.' Then finally he said, 'Yeah, sit down and come and speak to me at the end.' Zarc and his wife Miriam were sat beside me and they were just beaming, big smiles on their faces.

"I kept saying to them, 'I don't know what's happened, I can't explain it, I don't really know why I stood up but I think this is what I want...this is it, I need God in my life.' I went to see Mike Hack at the end of it and he said, 'Do you want to give up your life to Jesus Christ?' And I said, 'Yes, I totally commit my life to Jesus Christ.' And he said, 'Let's pray together,' and I thought, 'Wow, hang on a minute...I only know one prayer and that's Our Father.' He said, 'You just pray the way you need to pray, so go on.' So I said (voice getting higher), 'Uh...err...how do I pray?' I'd never heard anyone praying before. So he prayed first...then I got the idea."

Profoundly converted the born-again Cameron returned home. "My girlfriend was waiting for me. She said the first thing she noticed was that I was beaming; she said there was like a light shining from me. She said she'd never, ever seen me that excited or happy in her life as when I first walked through the door. It was that beam I'd noticed in Zarc! That was when I truly knew I'd been accepted into the Kingdom of God."