Tiësto

Tiësto, born Tijs Michiel Verwest on 17 January 1969 in Breda, Netherlands, is a Dutch DJ and record producer whose career spans trance, electronic dance music and pop-oriented club records. He became widely known at the turn of the millennium through a run of mixes, remixes and original productions that helped bring his sound beyond the specialist dance floor.

In 1997, he and Arny Bink founded Black Hole Recordings, the label through which he issued the Magik and In Search of Sunrise CD series. A year later, Tiësto began an extensive working relationship with producer Dennis Waakop Reijers. Between 1998 and 2000, he also collaborated with Ferry Corsten as Gouryella. His 2000 remix of Delerium's “Silence,” featuring Sarah McLachlan, brought him to a broader mainstream audience. In 2001, he released his debut solo album, In My Memory, which produced several major hits and launched the next phase of his career.

DJ Magazine readers voted Tiësto the world’s number-one DJ for three consecutive years, from 2002 through 2004. Following the release of his second studio album, Just Be, he performed at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, becoming the first DJ to play live on stage at an Olympics. In 2007, he launched the radio show Tiësto’s Club Life on Radio 538 in the Netherlands and released his third album, Elements of Life. The record reached number one on Belgium’s album chart and Billboard’s Top Electronic Albums chart in the United States, and received a Grammy Award nomination in 2008.

He followed with Kaleidoscope in 2009 and A Town Called Paradise in 2014. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Tiësto won Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for his remix of John Legend’s “All of Me.” Mix magazine named him “The Greatest DJ of All Time” in a 2010/2011 fan poll, while DJ Mag readers voted him the best DJ of the previous 20 years in 2013.