Armin van Buuren

Armin van Buuren (2017)

Armin van Buuren (* 25. December 1976 in Leiden ) is a Dutch Trance - DJ and - producer . Because of his success he is known as the " King of Trance ".

Life

Armin van Buuren grew up in a family of musicians; his father had an instinct for many different musical styles and his brother Eller van Buuren is a guitarist. As a result, Armin has been fascinated by music since childhood and kept spending his money on new records . When he was ten years old, his mother bought a computer , which made his interest in these devices grow and he got a feel for the technical. Ever since he watched his uncle experiment with sequencers on his computer, Armin wanted to produce music too. At the age of 14, he finally bought his first sampler , took his father's synthesizer and started making music.

He is married and has a daughter and a son.

Activity as a producer

Inspired by the music of Jean-Michel Jarre and Ben Liebrand , he produced electronic dance music , and since 1995 numerous tracks have been released on various labels with increasing success. His first big success was the single Blue Fear , which was released in 1997. This was able to book him a chart placement in the British single charts. Two years later he surpassed success with the single Communication by advancing to number 18 in the British charts. At the same time, he increased his fame through the production of remixes of titles such as Single Minded People ( The Sunclub , 1997) and Gouryella ( Gouryella , 1999).

In 2001 he released the song The Sound of Goodbye under the pseudonym Perpetuous Dreamer with vocals by Elles de Graaf . This enabled him to enter the German single charts. Furthermore, he achieved a placement in his home country for the first time.

In 2003 he released his first studio album 76 . With the single Yet Another Day , which was released from it, a second success appeared in his home country. As a third single release van Buuren released the single Burned With Desire , which was able to assert itself in Great Britain. A new edition of Blue Fear was released as the last single from his debut album.

In 1999 van Buuren founded the label “Armind” together with “ United Recordings ”. Due to the great success he founded the independent label " Armada Music " in 2003 together with Maykel Piron and David Lewis . Today “Armada Music” has more than twenty sub-labels, one of which is “Armind”, which has not belonged to “United Recordings” since 2005. With “Armada Music” he enabled numerous trance producers to take the leap to commercial success, including Dash Berlin , W&W and Ørjan Nilsen . All three projects also each founded their own imprint of “Armada Music”.

In June 2005 Shivers and Serenity , the anthem to Sensation White 2005, were released in the Netherlands. The latter achieved his greatest success to date with 11th place in his home country. Both appeared as pre-singles for his studio album of the same name Shivers , which followed in August 2005. In the following years a number of singles appeared, most of which were able to advance into the single charts in his homeland. The track Rush Hour was used as the anthem of the U-21 European Football Championship in 2007 .

In 2008 he reached the top 10 in his homeland as the first of his singles with the single In and Out of Love from the album Imagine, which was mixed in 2015 by the Belgian DJ and producer Lost Frequencies . Imagine was able to advance to number one on the album charts. In the United States, he succeeded with this for the first time a chart placement. The album Mirage , released two years later, also made it possible for the first time to enter the German charts. This included collaborations with Adam Young , Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Nadia Ali , among others .

On April 29, 2013 he released the song This Is What It Feels Like with Canadian singer Trevor Guthrie . This was a very pop-heavy production and developed into a worldwide chart success. In 2014 it was nominated for the Grammy Award in the “Best Dance Recording” category. Other songs from the studio album Intense , which was released shortly thereafter, were also based on that style. The album reached number two in the Netherlands and was the first Armin van Buuren album to reach the top 20 in Germany. With the track D # Fat , which was created in collaboration with the DJ duo W&W who are active on “Armada”, he released a song that hit the interface between trance and the growing big room track.

In the following year he released the song Save My Night , the main track of which is represented by a remix by the Dutch DJ duo Blasterjaxx , and the single Ping Pong , the title track of which was released in the form of a remix by Hardwell , two productions that differ significantly from remove his otherwise very trance-heavy style. They were much more oriented towards the electro house or big room, which was popular at the time. This change in style was reinforced by the first teasers of his upcoming studio album.

In 2015, Embrace was released as his sixth studio album. The musical advancement was here. While he mainly released trance with the previous albums, the new album featured EDM and electro house music. The album was preceded by a first official collaboration with the house DJ Hardwell , which could clearly be classified in the area of ​​the big room . The single If It Ain't Dutch with W&W, released in December 2015, continued this style.

In 2016 van Buuren released the EP Old Skool . For this he re-recorded techno and trance classics. The remakes could be classified into different genres. The most successful track was the big-room remake of the song Dominator by Human Resources. At the end of 2016, the track Great Spirit was released . This was created in collaboration with the two psytrance projects Vini Vici and Highlight Tribe and developed into a festival hit, which at the same time reinforced the increasing hype surrounding the genre.

In July 2017 he released the song You Are , created in collaboration with Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano . This corresponded to the style of his big room productions from previous years.

In 2018 his song Blah Blah Blah, initially only intended for fun, developed into a festival hit and reached the charts in several European countries.

Activity as a DJ

Armin van Buuren 2007 in New York

Armin Van Buuren came into contact with the Dutch dance scene through radio in the early 1990s . His first engagement as a DJ was in a local club called "Nexus". The young DJ made excessive use of his holidays in particular to hang up. Appearances of six to seven hours in length were not uncommon.

In 1999 he met Dave Lewis, who brought him to England and the USA as a DJ . Two years later, in 2001, he was voted 27th on the DJ list of the Top 100 DJ Poll by British magazine DJ Mag . This led to a significant increase in its popularity. Since then, Van Buuren has played in over 25 countries and has also appeared at music festivals such as the renowned Sensation , Trance Energy and Nature One . He can be seen regularly in well-known clubs such as Amnesia ( Ibiza , Spain ) or Gatecrasher ( Sheffield , England).

At the end of 2002 he set the national record for the longest live set in Club Eau ( The Hague ) with a time of 12.5 hours.

Between 2003 and 2005 he reached 3rd place in the renowned Top 100 DJ Poll of the British magazine DJ Mag ; He finished second in 2006 before winning for the first time in 2007. Since then, van Buuren has taken first place in this poll four times in a row; he is the first DJ to do this. In the online poll in 2011, David Guetta ousted him from first place, but in 2012 the renowned and passionate Dutchman managed to regain first place.

On April 19, 2008, after a one-year break, another “Armin Only” party took place in the Jaarbeurs halls in Utrecht, which attracted 16,000 visitors. In 2010 van Buuren was awarded the "Golden Harp". This award is given to artists and performers who have made a special contribution to the Dutch music and music scene.

On the occasion of the celebrations for the enthronement of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands on April 30, 2013, he gave a concert with the Royal Orchestra in the port of Amsterdam. The new king spontaneously interrupted his harbor tour and personally greeted the DJ and the orchestra on stage.

As part of its 20th anniversary, he was able to celebrate his biggest success so far with "The Best of Armin Only" in the sold out Amsterdam ArenA on May 12, 2017 and May 13, 2017 with a total of over 80,000 visitors.

Pseudonyms

Armin van Buuren worked under various pseudonyms , which are listed below:

Armania Armin Darkstar E = mc²

Gimmick Hyperdrive Inc. Misteri A

Perpetuous dreamer Problem boy Rising Star The Shoeshine Factory

Van Buuren was also involved in various joint projects:

Alibi (together with Tiësto ) Electric Movement (together with MIKE ) Electrix (together with Floris Klinkert) Gaia (together with Benno de Goeij ) Lilmotion (together with Dennis Verheugd and Sjaak Scheffer) Major League (together with Tiësto ) II = I (together with Hardwell )

Monsieur Basculant (together with Johan Cyber) Red & White (together with Gert den Heijer) Technology (together with Gert den Heijer) Vodka Wasters (together with Olav Basoski) DJ's United (together with Paul Oakenfold and Paul van Dyk in a cooperation for the benefit of the victims of the Love Parade 2010) Triple A (together with Alex MORPH and Ana Criado)

A state of trance

→ Main article : A State Of Trance

A State Of Trance (abbreviated ASOT , English " Trance State ") is the title of a weekly radio show in which van Buuren presents the latest tracks from trance and progressive trance in a two-hour set.

Discography

→ Main article : Armin van Buuren / discography

Studio albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)							Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	Dance	NL
2003	76 United Recordings	-	-	-	-	-	-	NL38 (10 weeks) NL	First published: November 17, 2006
2005	Shivers Armada Music	-	-	-	-	-	Dance10 (6 weeks) Dance	NL23 (8 weeks) NL	First published: August 8, 2005
2008	Imagine Armada Music	-	-	-	-	US157 (1 week) US	Dance5 (9 weeks) Dance	NL1 gold (25 weeks)NL	First published: August 8, 2005
2010	Mirage Armada Music	DE37 (4 weeks) DE	AT53 (1 week) AT	-	-	-	Dance5 (6 weeks) Dance	NL3 gold (31 weeks)NL	First published: September 19, 2010
2013	Intense Armada Music, Kontor Records	DE16 (3 weeks) DE	AT20 (2 weeks) AT	CH26 (4 weeks) CH	UK37 (3 weeks) UK	US65 (2 weeks) US	Dance2 (9 weeks) Dance	NL2 gold (76 weeks)NL	First published: May 3, 2013
2015	Embrace Armada Music	DE73 (1 week) DE	-	CH82 (1 week) CH	-	-	Dance4 (2 weeks) Dance	NL1 (34 weeks) NL	First published: October 29, 2015
2019	Moons of Jupiter Armada Music	-	-	-	-	-	-	NL27 (1 week) NL	First published: July 5, 2019 as Gaia (with Benno de Goeij)
	Balance Armada Music	DE45 (1 week) DE	AT70 (1 week) AT	CH52 (1 week) CH	-	-	Dance13 (1 week) Dance	NL11 gold (9 weeks)NL	First published: October 25, 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Armin van Buuren's GRAMMY Day: Trance Star Gives a Play-By-Play of His India-to-LA Sunday , Trancetribe.com, By Kerri Mason | January 28, 2014 4:50 PM EST
2. ↑ Is Armin van Buuren still the “King of Trance”? In: youredm.com. Retrieved January 12, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Top100 DJs 2006 , DJMag.com, accessed April 2, 2010
4. ↑ Top100 DJs 2007 , DJMag.com, accessed April 2, 2010
5. ↑ Armin van Buuren won a Golden Harp Award  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Trancetribe.com, accessed April 2, 2010  
6. ↑ TV BFN at 9:00 p.m.
7. ↑ The Best Of Armin Only. Retrieved January 29, 2018 (American English). 
8. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK1 UK2 US NL albums NL singles

Web links

Commons : Armin van Buuren  - Collection of Images

• Armin van Buuren official website (English)
• Armin van Buuren at Discogs (English)