Tiësto

At the forefront of electronic dance music since 2000, Grammy-winning Dutch DJ and producer Tiësto is one of the genre’s most recognizable figures, with his legendary extended live sets, prolific output, and a pop-oriented crossover appeal that scored him multiple hit singles in the 2010s including “Red Lights,” “Feel It in My Bones” with Tegan & Sara, “Wasted” with Matthew Koma, and “Jackie Chan” with Dzeko, Preme, and Post Malone. A Top Ten fixture in the DJ Mag Top 100 Ranking for decades, Tiësto has also accumulated numerous accolades throughout his career, including a Grammy in 2015 for his remix of John Legend’s “All of Me” and a royal appointment as Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau, one of the highest honors in the Netherlands. He scored a Billboard number one Top Dance/Electronic Album with 2007′s Elements of Life and cracked the Top 20 of the Billboard 200 with 2014′s A Town Called Paradise. In 2020, Tiësto scored his 18th Top Ten electronic hit album with The London Sessions. He subsequently released charting collaborations with Karol G, Ava Max, and Charli XCX. His seventh studio set, the global Top 40 platinum hit Drive, landed in 2023, followed in 2024 by “My City” with Prophecy. A native of Breda, the Netherlands, Tiësto was born Tijs Verwest on January 17, 1969, and first started DJ’ing at a hometown club called the Sprock. Discovered there by the GM of Rotterdam-based independent label Basic Beat Recordings, Tiësto released his first of five mix CDs as a part of the label’s Forbidden Paradise series. With quick success and an accelerated work ethic, he partnered with Arny Bink in 1997 to form Black Hole Recordings, a private label that became the birthplace for both his Space Age and revered Magik series. Black Hole also brought the world the first mix compilations from artists like Ferry Corsten, Johan Gielen, and Armin van Buuren, and introduced yet another prized series called In Trance We Trust. Relentless global touring ensued and, in three short years, the world outside Holland took notice of Tiësto’s talent, with Nettwerk finally signing him to a stateside deal. Summerbreeze marked Tiësto’s U.S. debut, a mix album that showcased his remix of Delerium’s “Silence” (featuring Sarah McLachlan), an 11-and-a-half-minute tour de force of throbbing beats and sweeping synthesizers with McLachlan’s vocals at the forefront. Aside from reverberating throughout dance clubs everywhere, the remix was commercially successful as well, spending four weeks in the U.K. Top Ten, peaking at number three on the Billboard dance chart, and becoming one of the most influential tracks of the progressive dance era. Soon recognized as one of the most sought-after producers and remixers, Tiësto helped pioneer a stylized musical trend of weaving threads of ethereal female vocals deep within the ebbs and flows of pulsating electronic rhythms. He churned out remixes that ran the gamut, including tracks by Chicane, Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer (on Delerium’s “Innocente”), and Faithless. In My Memory, Tiësto’s first solo album, was released in 2001, mixing original compositions and club anthems with more commercial fare. “Lethal Industry,” its first single, reached number six on the Dutch pop chart. The following year, his catalog expanded with the release of the third volume of his hypnotically elegant, Ibiza-influenced, and aptly named mix compilation entitled In Search of Sunrise. (He would continue to mix the series through the seventh installment.) His first chart-topper, Just Be, followed in 2004, as did Parade of the Athletes, which served as the soundtrack to the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games and recalled the work of Jean-Michel Jarre and Giorgio Moroder. He capped off his banner year with an appointment as an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau (OON) by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. When Elements of Life arrived in 2007, Tiësto scored his second number one and earned his first Grammy nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album. He maintained his mainstream momentum with his fourth official LP, Kaleidoscope. Released in 2009, the year Tiësto founded the Musical Freedom label, the set included a star-studded guest list ranging from Sigur Rós vocalist Jónsi to pop singer Nelly Furtado. “Feel It in My Bones,” a collaboration with indie sister act Tegan & Sara, was certified platinum and the album became a hit in the pair’s native Canada. A year later, Magikal Journey: The Hits Collection 1998-2008 rounded up some career highlights, while 2011 saw the launch of a new city-based mix series when Club Life, Vol. 1: Las Vegas hit the shelves. That year, he also released a new studio album, Kiss from the Past, under his Allure alias. Club Life, Vol. 2: Miami followed a year later, featuring Tiësto’s remixes of Coldplay (“Paradise”) and Gotye (“Somebody That I Used to Know”), while 2013′s Club Life, Vol. 3: Stockholm featured remixes of artists like Icona Pop (“I Love It”) and Passion Pit (“Carried Away”). The fifth Tiësto studio album, A Town Called Paradise, appeared in 2014 on Casablanca. It featured the most pop-oriented productions of his career. Its two biggest singles, “Red Lights” and “Wasted,” peaked in the Top Ten of the Billboard dance chart and earned gold and platinum certifications in multiple countries. During the latter half of the 2010s, Tiësto continued to roll, often while collaborating with emerging producers and vocalists born after he made his recorded debut. He released well over a dozen singles in 2015 and 2016, including collaborations with Martin Garrix (“The Only Way Is Up”), the Chainsmokers (“Split [Only U]“), “On My Way” (featuring Bright Sparks), and Oliver Heldens and Natalie La Rose (“The Right Song”), the last of which resulted in a silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry. Tiësto’s remix discography grew at nearly the same rate, highlighted by his work on John Legend’s “All of Me,” which won a Grammy in the category of Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical. In 2018, he hit the Top Ten of the Dutch, Canadian, Irish, and U.K. charts with “Jackie Chan,” a collaboration with Dzeko, Preme, and Post Malone. The track was later certified platinum in the U.S. and U.K. All the while, Tiësto remained deeply invested in many aspects of the dance music industry as an evangelist, global performer, tech startup advisor, and satellite radio DJ. Following a bevy of singles in early 2019, Tiësto issued the EP Together. Several more non-album tracks followed in 2020, including “My Frequency” with 7 Skies and Rebmoe, and “Nothing Really Matters” with Becky Hill. Tiësto started the 2020s with the release of his sixth official studio effort, The London Sessions. Inspired by the titular city’s scene, the LP included late-2010s hits like “Jackie Chan,” “God Is a Dancer” with Mabel, and “Ritual” with Jonas Blue and Rita Ora. In September 2020, he signed to Atlantic Records and made his debut for the label with the Grammy-nominated “The Business,” which featured uncredited vocals from James Yami Bell. An international hit, the song topped the charts in the Netherlands and landed at number two on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. A follow-up track, “The Business, Pt. II” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, arrived in January 2021. Later in the year, Tiësto landed another hit with “Don’t Be Shy” featuring Karol G. “The Motto” (with Ava Max) brought him to the top of the Dutch charts again, and “Hot in It” (with Charli XCX) arrived the following year. All these tracks appeared on the full-length Drive, which was released in April 2023. Topping the U.K. dance chart and earning Top 20 status in multiple territories, album number seven reached number 87 on the Billboard 200. It also yielded a handful of U.S. Dance chart hits in “Drifting” and “Both,” the latter featuring 21 Savage and Bia. Among Tiësto’s 2024 standouts were was “Explode” with Moguai and “My City” with Prophecy. ~ Robert Evanoff & Neil Z. Yeung