Kaskade

Not to be confused with KASCADE or Cascada.
Kaskade

Ryan Gary Raddon in Indianapolis, Indiana in 2012.
Background information
Birth name Ryan Gary Raddon
Born (1971-02-25) February 25, 1971
Origin Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • DJ
  • record producer
  • remixer
Instruments
  • Synthesizer
  • drum machine
  • music sequencer
  • personal computer
Years active 1989–present[1]
Labels
Associated acts
Website kaskademusic.com

Ryan Gary Raddon (born February 25, 1971), better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ, record producer and remixer. On October 20, 2011, DJ Mag announced the results of their magazine, with Ultra Music, Kaskade placed at No. 30.[2] DJ Times voted Kaskade "America's Best DJ 2011" and "America's Best DJ 2013".[3][4]

Along with producers deadmau5 and Wolfgang Gartner, Kaskade became popular during the revival of American progressive house in late 2008–early 2009.

Early life

Born in Chicago,[5] Kaskade grew up in nearby Northbrook and attended Glenbrook North High School.[6] His brother, Rich Raddon, became an entrepreneur and film producer.[7] He attended Brigham Young University in Provo, UT from 1989 to 1990, working on his DJ skills in his dorm room.[5][8] At age 19, Raddon served a two-year full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan.[5] Following his mission, in 1992, he moved to Salt Lake City to attend the University of Utah, ultimately graduating with a degree in communications.[5][9] While attending school, he ran a record store in Salt Lake City called Mechanized.

Musical career

In 1995, Raddon began DJing his first weekly Monday night party at a basement venue called Club Manhattan. He used this additional income to purchase studio essentials.[10] In May 2000, Raddon moved to San Francisco where he got a job working as an A&R assistant to Chris Smith at Om Records, a house and electronic label. To Raddon's benefit, San Francisco was an emerging site of a new deep house movement.[10] While at OM records he continued DJing and producing music. Soon after, Raddon created his alter ego, Kaskade, which his wife worried would remind people of the dish detergent.[11] He took his stage name from a nature book when he saw a picture of a waterfall and a co-worker agreed "cascade" was a good choice, but he then changed the spelling. He did not take his name from the Cascade Range in Washington as fans sometimes cite.[12]

By 2003, after mixing the third volume in the Sounds of Om series, Ryan was offered a three-album deal for Kaskade. He kicked off the deal with a full-length house debut, It's You It's Me. Garnering critical acclaim on both sides of the pond, spawning several singles, and receiving a prestigious Dance Star nomination for Best New Artist, the release put Kaskade squarely on the dance music world's radar.[13] Concentrating on his DJing skills, Kaskade started to experiment and develop his own sound.[14]

Kaskade released his first single "What I Say" on the label in 2001.[15] In the Moment saw Kaskade's first top 10 single with "Steppin' Out" reaching No. 5 on Billboard Magazine's Hot Dance Club Play chart and No. 6 on Dance Radio Airplay.[16] The fourth single to be released from the album, "Everything," reached No. 1 on Billboard Magazine's Hot Dance Club Play.[16]

Kaskade's fourth solo album Love Mysterious was released in September 2006.[17] The first single from the album, "Be Still", reached No. 4 on Billboard Magazine's Hot Dance Club Play.[16] The single features vocalist Sunsun, and includes remixes by Jay-J and Robbie Rivera. Follow up single "Stars Align" hit number No. 8 on "Billboard Magazine" Hot Dance Airplay chart and just missed the top ten, No. 11, on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. His fourth single released from "Love Mysterious", "Sorry", was his third consecutive top ten hit on Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay Chart, at No. 9. Dirty South provided a remix for "Sorry". The remix was nominated for a 2008 Grammy for Best Remixed Recording.

In late 2006, Kaskade left OM Records and signed with Ultra Records.

Kaskade worked with Canadian house/electronic DJ/artist deadmau5 to produce tracks on Strobelite Seduction, including the first single (released as an EP) Move for Me. The single became his fifth top ten hit on Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay Chart, reaching the number one position in its September 6, 2008 issue.[18] It also gave Kaskade his first number one single on this chart. The dance single has become a crossover hit, managing to reach number 71 on the Canadian Hot 100 as of February 14, 2009. "I Remember", another collaboration with deadmau5, became his first UK hit, peaking inside the top 15 on the UK Singles Chart. The video-clip which accompanied "I Remember" was filmed in Manchester, England. The single became his second chart topper on the Billboard dance chart. The follow-up single, "Angel on My Shoulder" with Tamra Keenan, also found success on the dance chart, placing at number 5 on Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay Chart. His song "Step One Two" was the last single from the album, being released late in 2008.

In 2010, he added another number one Billboard Hot Dance Airplay track to his credit with "Dynasty", featuring Haley Gibby on vocals.[19]

In March 2012, Kaskade headlined at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida, coming on before Armin van Buuren Sunday night.[20]

In April 2012, Kaskade took to Indio, California to headline opposite Radiohead two weekends at Coachella Valley Music Festival.[21] In June 2012, the American House producer was one of the headlining acts at Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, Nevada.[22] That same month, he started the "Freaks of Nature" summer tour in support of his released album Fire & Ice.[23]

In December 2013, Kaskade was nominated for two Grammy Awards: the song "Atmosphere" for Best Dance Recording and the album Atmosphere for Best Dance/Electronica Album.

In 2014, Kaskade was listed as the No. 8 highest paid DJ in the world according to Forbes, earning $17 million.[24]

In 2015, he was a guest star on BYUtv's Studio C. He played a DJ whose music makes people do unbelievable things. Additionally in 2015, he headlined Coachella alongside Drake for two weekends and, over the course of the two weekends, pulled in the two largest crowds the festival had ever seen.[25]

Other Projects

Kaskade is also an active member of Summer Of Space, Late Night Alumni and The Sellars.

Kaskade is one of 9 artists who participated in thetruth.com's Remix Project, where he remixed the Sunny Side song "Smaller Babies".

On May 30, 2010 Kaskade became a resident DJ for daytime pool parties at the Encore Beach Club in Las Vegas, NV. The parties were entitled "Kaskade Sundays." [26][27]

Kaskade's song "I Remember" with deadmau5 is played on a level of GoldenEye 007 for the Wii. "I Remember" and "Move For Me" were also featured in DJ Hero 2 and are credited as being performed by deadmau5 & Kaskade

Kaskade also produced Haley's album All This Love released by Ultra Records.

Kaskade's single "4 AM" was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto V on the fictional radio station "FlyLo FM."

Personal life

Raddon is married and has three children.[28] He has a brother in Croatia named Fran Gubic and is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[29]

Discography

Main article: Kaskade discography
Studio albums

Official Tours

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

Year Recipient/Nominated work Award Result
2013 Fire & Ice Best Dance/Electronica Album Nominated
2014 Atmosphere Nominated
"Atmosphere" Best Dance Recording Nominated
2015 "Smile (Kaskade Edit)" Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical Nominated
2016 "Runaway (U & I) (Kaskade Remix)" Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical Nominated

America's Best DJ Award

Year Place
2009 4th
2010 2nd
2011 1st
2013 1st

[31]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Twitter / kaskade: making Mondays suck less since 1995". Twitter.com. 2012-11-19. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  2. ↑ "DJ Mag's Top 100 DJ's". DJ Magazine. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
  3. ↑ "DJ Times Blog". Djtimes.com. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  4. ↑ "Kaskade Takes America’s Best DJ 2013 - America's Best DJ". Djtimes.com. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Schulman, Michael. "DJ Kaskade is Ryan Raddon, a Mormon". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-04-14.
  6. ↑ "Premium Blend". Emusician.com. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Family feud: Kaskade and his ZEFR-founding bro take different stances on copyright law". PandoDaily. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Kaskade Bio, Music, News & Shows". DJZ.com. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
  9. ↑ Scott Iwasaki (April 3, 2009). "Night-club DJ is proud of Utah ties". DeseretNews.com. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  10. 1 2 "How Ryan Raddon Became the -a-Night D.J. Known as Kaskade". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  11. ↑ "A 200,000 a Night DJ Known as Kaskade is Really Ryan Raddon a Mormon". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-11-26.
  12. ↑ "On the roof with producer/DJ Kaskade". Retrieved April 3, 2009.
  13. ↑ Preve, Francis. "Spotlight: Say Om - Kaskade's Analog Approach is Something to Chant about." Keyboard 12 2004: 46-9. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
  14. ↑ "KASKADE: Biography". The DJ List. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  15. ↑ "Om Records: Kaskade". om-records.com. Retrieved January 7, 2008.
  16. 1 2 3 "Billboard.com". Billboard.com. Retrieved March 17, 2007.
  17. ↑ "KASKADE LOVE MYSTERIOUS ALBUM". Sing365.com. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  18. ↑ "Billboard.com - Current Hot Dance Airplay". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  19. ↑ "KaskadeDynasty". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  20. ↑ "Kaskade – Live @ Ultra Music Festival 2012 – 25.03.2012". Livesets.at. Retrieved 2015-11-26.
  21. ↑ "Review: Kaskade at Coachella Valley Music Festival - Blog - EDM Lounge | Electronic Dance Music, News, and Reviews". EDM Lounge. 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  22. ↑ "Electric Daisy Carnival 2012 Phase 1 Lineup Released! - Blog - EDM Lounge | Electronic Dance Music, News, and Reviews". EDM Lounge. 2012-04-08. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  23. ↑ "Kaskade's Freaks of Nature - Tour - Summer 2012". Freaksofnaturetour.com. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  24. ↑ Zack O'Malley Greenburg. "No. 8: Kaskade million - In Photos: The World’s Highest-Paid DJs 2014". Forbes. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  25. ↑ http://www.noiseporn.com/2015/04/kaskade-drew-biggest-crowds-coachella-history/
  26. ↑ Julie Kasperson. "Q&A with Encore Beach Club's resident Kaskade - Las Vegas Sun News". Lasvegassun.com. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
  27. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110724023617/http://www.wantickets.com/images/event/Kaskade-Sundays-All-Summer-v00.jpg. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved September 2, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  28. ↑
  29. ↑ Stern, Marlow. "The Straight Edge Mormon DJ Taking Over the World". Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  30. ↑ "Kaskade Concert Setlists". setlist.fm. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
  31. ↑ "America's Best DJ". americasbestdj.us. Retrieved 2015-10-04.

External links

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