Tiësto

Tiësto
Background information
Birth name Tijs Michiel Verwest
Born (1969-01-17) 17 January 1969
Breda, Netherlands
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • DJ
  • record producer
Years active 1994–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website tiesto.com

Tijs Michiel Verwest (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈtɛi̯s miˈxil vərˈʋɛst],[3] born 17 January 1969),[4] better known by his stage name Tiësto (/tiˈɛst/ tee-ES-toh; Dutch pronunciation: [ˈcɛstoː]), is a Dutch DJ and record producer.[5][6]

In 1997, he founded the label Black Hole Recordings with Arny Bink, where he released the Magik and In Search of Sunrise CD series. Tiësto met producer Dennis Waakop Reijers in 1998; the two have worked together extensively since then.[7]

In 1999 and 2000, Tiësto collaborated with Ferry Corsten to create Gouryella. His 2000 remix of Delerium's "Silence" featuring Sarah McLachlan exposed him to more mainstream audiences. In 2001, he released his first solo album, In My Memory. The title track is a remix of an original song written by and featuring Nicola Hitchcock. This album gave him several major hits that launched his career. He was voted World No. 1 DJ by DJ Magazine in its annual Top 100 DJs readership poll consecutively for three years from 200204.[8]

Just after releasing his second studio album Just Be he performed live at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Athens, the first DJ to play live on stage at an Olympics. In April 2007 Tiësto launched his radio show Tiësto's Club Life on Radio 538 in the Netherlands and released his third studio album Elements of Life. The album reached number one on the Belgian album chart as well on "Billboard Top Electronic Albums" in the U.S. and received a nomination for a Grammy Award in 2008.[9] Tiësto released his fourth studio album Kaleidoscope in October 2009, followed by "A Town Called Paradise" in 2014. He won the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for his remixed version of John Legend's hit "All Of Me" at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards[10]

Life and musical career

Early life and career

Tijs Michiel Verwest was born in Breda, Netherlands on 17 January 1969.[11]

Tiësto, in Sant Antoni, Ibiza, before his DJ set at Amnesia, July 2000

In 1994, he began releasing material on Noculan Records' sub-labels Chemo and Coolman. During these years, he produced hardcore and gabber tracks under such aliases as Da Joker and DJ Limited. Tiësto was later discovered by the general manager of Rotterdam-based Basic Beat Recordings.[12]

In late 1994, Tiësto signed to Basic Beat where he met Arny Bink. From 1995-96 he released four extended plays on Bonzai Jumps and XTC, sub-labels of Lightning Records. In 1997, he joined his friend Yves Vandichel on his sub-label, DJ Yves, a division of the now defunct Human Resource label XSV Music. In 1997, Bink and Tiësto decided to leave Basic Beat and create their own label, Black Hole Recordings, Trashcan was discontinued and Guardian Angel continued releasing music until 2002. Through Black Hole, Tiësto released the Magik series and also created two major sub-labels in 1998; In Trance We Trust and SongBird.

From 1998-99, he released music on Planetary Consciousness where he met A&R Hardy Heller and invited him to release some records on Black Hole. Tiësto later included the In Search of Sunrise series on SongBird. In 1999, Tiësto joined forces with fellow Dutch deejay Ferry Corsten to create the trance based duo of Gouryella.[13] He collaborated with Benno de Goeij from 1998-2000 under the name Kamaya Painters. Since November 1999, he performed monthly in Sheffield, and played a 12-hour set, his longest, in Amsterdam.[14]

Late in 2000, Tiësto decided to concentrate on his solo work and left Ferry Corsten to take on the Gouryella project solely as his own.[13] Tiësto introduced Armin van Buuren and Johan Gielen to mainstream audiences with his first compilations and the In Trance We Trust series. Summerbreeze became Tiësto's debut DJ mix album in the US.[12] Summerbreeze featured his remix of Delerium's "Silence", which spent four weeks in the UK's Top Ten chart and reached number three in the Billboard dance chart.[12] In Search of Sunrise 2 was released in 2000. Tiësto created a new sub-label, Magik Muzik.

In My Memory (2001–04)

Tiësto logo

Tiësto's popularity started to rise in the early 2000s after his set at the first ID&T Innercity party (Live at Innercity: Amsterdam RAI), and the release of In My Memory, his first solo album released in 2001 which contained 10 singles and 5 major hits; The singles from the album were: "Lethal Industry" which was actually produced in 1999 and had only 3 copies released at that time, the track was officially released in 2001 which was remixed by Richard Durand in 2006 along with "Flight 643" which was another leading single that was later adapted with vocals by Suzanne Palmer and released as "643 (Love's on Fire)". Other tracks were "Obsession" in which Tiësto worked alongside Junkie XL, the instrumental tracks "Dallas 4PM" and "Suburban Train" with "Urban Train" as its B-Side which contained some vocals. The last singles to be released were "In My Memory" which is the title track for the album as it only received high ratings in the United States and the opening track "Magik Journey" which opened Tiësto in Concert (2003). On 2 February 2002, Tiësto played nine consecutive hours during the second edition of the Dutch Dimension festival.

Tiësto at The Love from Above party, the night after Love Parade 2003, in Columbiahalle, Berlin.

On 27 February, Tiësto was awarded a Zilveren ('Silver') Harp music award. The same year he also received a Lucky Strike Dance Award in the category Best DJ Trance/Progressive. In August he became part of Moby's Area2 Tour. For eighteen days he travelled through the United States with artists such as Moby himself, but also David Bowie and Busta Rhymes. In January 2003, Tiësto received the annual Dutch Popprijs ('Pop Award') during the Noorderslag festival. After touring with Moby, Tiësto remixed two songs from him, "We Are All Made of Stars" and "Extreme Ways" in the same year, having "We Are All Made of Stars" reach No. 13 in the Hot Dance Club Play. In 2002 he released his first In Search of Sunrise mix to feature a place on its name, In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama. On 28 March 2003; Tiësto, Dieselboy, Bad Boy Bill, and Noel Sanger joined the PlayStation 2 Dual Play tour. Tiësto and Noel's appearance began on 13 April and ended on 6 June.[15]

His fame continued to increase for then known he has in the early 2000s, following his six-hour "Tiësto Solo" sets which he performed without other DJs or opening acts. This idea, of one DJ playing alone to a large crowd was new. Tiësto was the first DJ to hold a solo concert in a stadium; on 10 May 2003, he performed for 25,000 people in Arnhem's GelreDome, later called Tiësto in Concert. He repeated the same type of concert the following year during two consecutive nights in late October.[16] In addition to holding these two concerts for 35,000 of his fans, he held another concert for a crowd of 20,000 in Hasselt, Belgium the following week.[16] DVDs of both his 10 May 2003 and 30 October 2004 concerts have been released, having the other DVD titled Tiësto in Concert 2. The DVD's show the journey from the first idea to the main event, it features live performances by Andain, Dinand Woesthoff, and Jan Johnston. The event includes live music and dancers performing at different times throughout the set. The theme of the event is a mystical, musical journey around the world based on the theme of Magik.[17]

Just Be (2004–07)

Tijs Michiel Verwest in 2004

In 2004, he released his second artist album Just Be, which featured his first single "Traffic" which is the first non-vocal track to reach number one spot in the Dutch national charts for 23 years.[18]

The track "Sweet Misery" was originally written for Evanescence but it did not meet the deadline for the release of their album. In support to his Just Be album, he played at Breda, Eindhoven, Utrecht, and Amsterdam; these stops were later named Just Be: Train Tour. On 20 May 2004 he was appointed Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. The Athens Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (ATHOC) asked Tiësto to perform at the Olympic Games, making him the first DJ to play live on stage at an Olympic Games at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Athens, where he played for 90 minutes.[19]

Tiësto flew to Athens in January 2004 to have a meeting with the ATHOC. His Tiësto in Concert DVD caught their attention, after which he was asked to write more tracks based on his opening tune "Adagio for Strings" which would fit in with the Olympic spirit and combine the classical with the modern age. The first rehearsal was on Saturday, 7 August, for an empty stadium; the second rehearsal was on Sunday, 8 August, with 35,000 volunteers. The last rehearsal included almost 60,000 people in the stadium which was on Tuesday, 10 August, and there were some technical problems.

During the course of his performance at the Olympics, the Dutch athletes started dancing in front of the DJ booth and had to be moved on by officials. The performance included new tracks produced especially for the Opening Ceremony and songs that were created to complement the spirit and theme of the ceremony. A condensed studio-recorded album of the songs played on the Olympic set was later released, including new songs specially composed for the occasion, entitled Parade of the Athletes in October 2004.[20] In the liner notes, he noted the IOC requested that the music not contain any lyrics as they could be inadvertently misinterpreted. In late 2004, he began his touring across Latin America, with his release of In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama in which he gained influence from the sun and sand in summer 2002. The tour continued in 2005, and Tiësto performed live in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia. Following the tours, In Search of Sunrise 4: Latin America was released in 2005, featuring a second CD for the first time in the In Search of Sunrise series.[21]

In 2005, his Perfect Remixes Vol. 3 compilation was released through Warlock Records, containing ten tracks which were created during the beginning of his career, between those is Junkie XL, Mauro Picotto and The Roc Project. On 20 August 2005, Verwest took Tiësto in Concert to the US when he played to 16,000 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena with Cirque du Soleil dancers.[22]

For the second year in a row he performed live at a New Year's Eve/New Year's concert in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Orleans Arena to a sell-out crowd. His four-city US tour was postponed due to the hurricane damage in New Orleans and Miami. BPM magazine has an annual poll in the US which is unveiled in the WMC, in 2005 Tiësto took the No. 1 spot.[23] The influences of Los Angeles remained with him and would later influence his In Search of Sunrise compilation.

A wax sculpture of Tiësto was placed behind a turntable at Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam where visitors can mix Tiësto's music together.[24][25] Stops were made in Ukraine, Slovakia, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Croatia, Poland and South Africa. The United States tour that was part of Tiësto in Concert was dwarfed by his appearance at Sensation White in 2006 where he performed to over 45,000 people in Amsterdam.[26]

The compilation was launched in the Winter Music Conference in Miami Beach to support his release, Tiësto went on his In Search of Sunrise 5 Asia Tour for more than three weeks.[27]

In September 2006, Tiësto was admitted to hospital after experiencing pain in his chest. He was diagnosed with pericarditis and subsequently had to cancel a number of shows.[28] With the diagnosis, he was invited to support Dance4Life to help teens who are not aware of the risks of HIV/AIDS. On 6 April 2007, Tiësto began presenting a new weekly two-hour radio show called Tiësto's Club Life on Dutch radio station Radio 538. Later in 2007, he played at the large beach rave at Ipanema, Brazil.

Elements of Life (2007–09)

Tiësto performing on his Elements of Life World Tour on 21 June 2007

On 16 April 2007, Tiësto released his third studio album Elements of Life, the album moved 73,000 units in its April release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[23]

During the production of the album Tiësto in several cases sent a demo with the music to certain artists, and they replied back with the lyrics and vocals and other duration times. In the case of Christian Burns from BBMak, Tiësto met him through MySpace and got in contact with him and the production of the single "In the Dark".[29] The album consists of rock, trance and experimental music, which shows the style Tiësto has grown throughout the years since his previous albums which contained lyrics, In My Memory and Just Be. Producer Brian Transeau collaborated with Tiësto in three tracks, he composed "Bright Morningstar" and "Sweet Things", he performed the vocals in the single "Break My Fall". Together, they produced more tracks which were not released in the album, Tiësto has mentioned they would work again during the coming summer.[29]

Tiësto in Tallinn, in the Radisson SAS Hotel on 8 June 2007

In December 2007 it was announced that the album was nominated for a Grammy Award, in the category "Best Electronic/Dance Album."[9] The album also received gold certifications in Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, and Romania. In support of the album, he embarked on the worldwide Elements of Life World Tour, and released the Copenhagen: Elements of Life World Tour DVD in 2008.

Tiësto announced his residence at Privilege. He played sets in Ibiza every Monday, from 7 July to 22 September in the style of his In Search of Sunrise series. In 2007, he had released In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza which was inspired by the island.[30]

On 28 April, he released Elements of Life: Remixed, a recompilation of the Elements of Life album with all remixed versions. In mid-2008, Tiësto announced his In Search of Sunrise: Summer Tour 2008, which was presented by Armani Exchange in May in support of his In Search of Sunrise 7: Asia compilation[31] and the previously released In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza.

Kaleidoscope (2009–11)

On 6 October 2009, he released his fourth studio album Kaleidoscope, which featured artists such as Priscilla Ahn, Calvin Harris, Tegan & Sara and Nelly Furtado. Unlike his earlier albums, which were all mostly trance, Kaleidoscope explores other electronic genres, and is considered Tiesto's most experimental album. The first single "I Will Be Here" featuring Sneaky Sound System being released in July 2009. It reached number three on the much acclaimed Driscoll 5, and lasted there for 24 weeks in the beginning of 2012.[32][33][34] In its first week, the album reached the Top 10 chart on iTunes.[35]

To release the album he has set up a new record label called Musical Freedom after parting ways with Black Hole Recordings. Tiësto felt that his music was evolving in a new direction and his focus as an artist was moving away from what Black Hole was set up to support.[36] His new tour, sharing the name of his new album, called Kaleidoscope World Tour commenced in late September.[37]

Tiësto contributed songs to both the DJ Hero and DJ Hero 2 video games and is a playable character in the second game.[38][39]

Tiësto produced a trance-flavored song for Memphis rap duo Three 6 Mafia's upcoming album called "Feel It", which features Sean Kingston and Flo Rida.[40]

On 16 March 2010, he released a greatest hits album, Magikal Journey: The Hits Collection 1998–2008, a two disc album focusing on his most famous songs and remixes of his songs. On 7 April 2010, he announced that he would start a new compilation series called A New Dawn with his own label Musical Freedom. In his interview Tiësto furthermore confirmed that he would no longer have any more involvement with Black Hole Recordings.[41]

On 31 August 2010, Kaleidoscope: Remixed was released, a remix album of his album Kaleidoscope.

Club Life, Kiss from the Past & A Town Called Paradise (2011–present)

Tiësto performing at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show

On 4 April 2011, his mix compilation Club Life: Volume One Las Vegas was released.[42][43]

On 13 June, his studio album, Kiss from the Past, was released under his alias Allure, and featured Christian Burns, JES, and Emma Hewitt.[44]

Club Life: Volume Three Stockholm was released worldwide physically on 25 June 2013 and it hit #16 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart. He followed up his third "Club Life" installment with the 2014 effort, A Town Called Paradise. The album featured an assortment of guest stars and was preceded by two singles, "Red Lights" and "Wasted" – yielding his first two gold singles in the U.S.[45] A medley from the album also soundtracks a presentation at the Bellagio (resort) fountain in Las Vegas, a first for a dance music artist.[46]

Club Life: Volume Four New York City is the fourth installment of his Club Life compilation series and it was released through Musical Freedom on 18 May 2015.

Tiësto launched a Deep house label, AFTR:HRS to promote deep house music.[47] The first release is BLR’s “Nungwi”.[48]

Philanthropy

In 2015, Forbes estimated that Tiësto's annual income was $36 million.[49]

On 6 January 2005, Tiësto performed in an outdoor fundraiser in De Dam, Amsterdam. The free event involved Dutch artists like Dinand Woesthoff, BLØF, Acda & De Munnik, Di-rect, and Trijntje Oosterhuis were involved in it to provide financial aid to the people who suffered from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in southern and southeastern Asia.[50]

In April 2006, Tiësto was named the official worldwide ambassador for the Dance4Life foundation promoting awareness of HIV/AIDS, as the foundation's ambassador he has helped the organisation with fundraising along with recording the track "Dance4life" that he recorded with Maxi Jazz from Faithless. The foundation consists on a better way of living with safe sex in exchange of entertainment to the young crowd.[51] The song was a huge success, peaking for five weeks in number 3 and eleven consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of the Dutch Singles Chart, it reached number 5 in Belgium, number 6 in Finland and also charting in the UK and Germany.

With the successful release of Elements of Life, Tiësto and fashion designer Giorgio Armani collaborated on a limited edition Tiësto T-shirt available at Armani Exchange stores. His single "Sweet Things" comes with the shirt including an exclusive "A|X Remix" by Tom Cloud which shows the great influence Tiësto has in fashion culture.[52] The charity raised over US$300,000.[31]

In November 2012, Tiësto released a compilation album Dance (RED) Save Lives in collaboration with Product Red, with the aim of donating any proceeds from the album to the fight against AIDS.[53]

In June 2014, Tiësto headlined the first-ever Thank You Festival, presented by Global Citizen in partnership with World Childhood Foundation.[54] As a part of the festival campaign, Tiësto took part in supporting ThankYou.org. For every song shared, the Carlson Family Foundation donated $5 to the World Childhood Foundation.[55]

In September 2014, Tiësto headlined the free Global Citizen Festival [56] in New York's Central Park.

Discography

Main article: Tiësto discography
Studio albums

Awards and nominations

See also

References

  1. "Tiesto Left Trance "To Be In Touch With The New Kids"". pulseradio.net.
  2. "Tiësto exits the big room with his mellowed-out new label, AFTR:HRS". beatport.com.
  3. "Profile". Tiësto Blog. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  4. "DJ Tiësto profile". Allmusic. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
  5. "Tiesto Biodata". DJZ.com. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  6. Tiësto profile, Imorecords.co.uk; accessed 23 June 2015.
  7. Tan, Emily (June 2007). "Tiësto Returns With "Elements of Life", Another Crowd-Pleasing Dish of Melodic Trance. But Is The World's Biggest DJ Still Following His Muse?". DJ Times Magazine. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  8. Ben (2015-07-18). "A Look Back At 23 Years Of The DJ Mag Top 100 Poll - EDMTunes". EDMTunes. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  9. 1 2 "50th Annual Grammy Awards Nominations". Variety. 6 December 2007. Retrieved 5 December 2007.
  10. "Grammy.com". www.grammy.com. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  11. Tiësto trotse Bredanaar in alle uithoeken van wereld. BredaVandaag.nl; retrieved 23 June 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 "Basic Beat Recordings". Star Pulse. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
  13. 1 2 "Gouryella". The DJ List. Retrieved 17 April 2008.
  14. "Longest concert in Amsterdam". AskMen.com. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  15. "Top DJs Sign On For Dual Play Tour". Billboard. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  16. 1 2 "Tiësto In Concert". Tiesto.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  17. "Tiësto in Concert Review". About.com. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  18. "Tiesto (Black Hole, Holland)". Megamind. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  19. "Tiësto Performed Olympics Set in Athens". Internet DJ. Retrieved 17 April 2008.
  20. "Tiësto Performs At Olympic Games Opening Ceremony". Remix Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 May 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  21. "2004–2005 Tours". CD Universe. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  22. "Tiësto Live At The Los Angeles Sports Arena". Groove Radio. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  23. 1 2 "Remix Magazine March 2004 by Kylee Swenson". Remix Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  24. "In the mix with Tiësto at Madame Tussauds Amsterdam". Tiesto.com. Archived from the original on 27 December 2008. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  25. "Tiësto at Madame Tussauds Amsterdam". Madame Tussauds. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
  26. "Sensation White 2006". Sensation White. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  27. "Tiësto to Launch In Search Of Sunrise 5: Los Angeles". Internet DJ. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  28. "Tiësto in Heart Scare". Megamind. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
  29. 1 2 "Elements of Life interview". About. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  30. "Residence at Privilege, Ibiza". Tiesto.com. Archived from the original on 30 July 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  31. 1 2 "Armani Onboard With Tiesto For Summer Tour". Billboard. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  32. "Tiesto is the King of the World". Styletraxx. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  33. "King of Spin Does the Biz". Rachel McArthur Emirates Business 24-7. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
  34. Sachs, Mark. "L.A. scene inspires his sound". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 May 2009.
  35. "ClichéMagazine - Issue 08". Clichemag.com. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  36. "Tiësto signs[PIAS] deal — Australia & New Zealand". Altsounds.com. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
  37. "Tiësto Conquers The World". Pollstar.com. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  38. "Daft Punk mixing up DJ Hero". GameSpot.com. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
  39. "DJ Hero 2 spinning 105 songs". Gamespot.com. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  40. "Three 6 Mafia Lays Down 'Laws Of Power'". Billboard. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  41. "Tiesto Announces New Mix Album Series - 'A New Dawn'". Mixmag. Archived from the original on 9 September 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  42. Fusilli, Jim (30 March 2011). "Tiësto: Electronic Music's Superstar". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  43. "Tiesto's "new style" at work on 'Club Life' mix-CD". Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  44. "Kiss From The Past". Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  45. http://electronic.vegas/news/tiesto-celebrates-gold-certified-singles-hakkasan-gold-party/
  46. http://newsroom.bellagio.com/bellagio/latest-news/fountains-of-bellagio-learn-new-dance-to-hits-by-famed-djproducer-tisto.htm
  47. "Tiësto Launches AFTR:HRS Deep House Sub-Label, Premieres BLR's 'Nungwi': Exclusive". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  48. "Tiësto Exits the Big Room With His Mellowed-Out New Label, AFTR:HRS". Beatport News (EN). 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  49. "Tiësto". Forbes. 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  50. "Tiësto closes fundraiser in the Netherlands for Asian tsunami victims". Tiesto.com. Archived from the original on 27 December 2008. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  51. "Tiësto new ambassador of Dance4Life". dance4life.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  52. "Armani Exchange and Tiësto team up to "Remix the future" and support mercy corps". Styletraxx. Retrieved 23 March 2008.
  53. "Press". Joinred.com. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  54. http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/code/6041168/tiesto-above-beyond-to-perform-at-global-citizens-thank-you-festival
  55. http://www.tiestoblog.com/tiesto-thankyou-childhood-campaign/
  56. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jay-z-no-doubt-tiesto-set-to-headline-free-global-citizen-festival-20140709

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
John Digweed
DJ Magazine Number 1 DJ
2002-2004
Succeeded by
Paul Van Dyk
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