Nick Rotteveel (; born January 6, 1989), professionally known as Nicky Romero or Monocule, is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer from

Amerongen Amerongen () is a town in the municipality of Utrechtse Heuvelrug in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands, on the border of the Utrecht Hill Ridge. It lies about 7 km (4.3 mi) southwest of Veenendaal (10.5 km or 6.5 mi by road). Th ...

Utrecht Province Utrecht (), officially the Province of Utrecht ( nl, Provincie Utrecht, link=no), is a province of the Netherlands. It is located in the centre of the country, bordering the Eemmeer in the north-east, the province of Gelderland in the east an ...

. He has worked with, and received support from DJs, such as

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was ...

, Fedde le Grand,

Sander van Doorn Sander Ketelaars (; born 28 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sander van Doorn () or the initials SvD, is a Dutch electro house DJ and record producer from Eindhoven. Background Sander van Doorn began his recording career in 200 ...

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter who has released six studio albums. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'', was released in June ...

, Armand van Helden,

Avicii Tim Bergling (; 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii (, ), was a Swedish DJ, remixer and music producer. At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first rec ...

and

Hardwell Robbert van de Corput (; born January 7, 1988), known professionally as Hardwell, is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted the world's number one DJ by ''DJ Mag'' in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2022, he was ranked at number 43 i ...

. He currently ranks at number 26 on ''

DJ Mag ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lat ...

''s annual Top 100 DJs poll. He is known for his viral hit song "

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

Early life

Nick Rotteveel was born and raised in

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He moved to

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

, Canada for a year, and later moved back to the Netherlands to continue his education where he did his final semesters in France.

Career

Romero signed to Once Records and released the tracks "Privilege" and "Qwerty". It was followed by the track "Funktion One" was released, which was mixed by Azucar (from Madskillz and Gregor Salto) and later added "Hear My Sound". In 2009 he remixed Tony Cha Cha's track "Get on the Floor" and a bootleg for

entitled "When Love Takes Over". Both tracks increased his profile and the Ministry of Sound contacted him to do some remixes on their label. He also made a remix for the Dirty South track "Alamo". Nicky Romero at Factory Cleanhoven

In 2010 Nicky Romero came up with a new track called "My Friend" (released on

Spinnin' Records Spinnin' Records is a Dutch electronic music record label founded in 1999 by Eelko van Kooten and Roger de Graaf. In September 2017, Warner Music Group acquired Spinnin' Records for over $100 million. Background Van Kooten is the son of former ...

) which features a sample from the well known

Groove Armada Groove Armada are an English electronic music duo, composed of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay. They achieved chart success with their singles "At the River", " I See You Baby" and " Superstylin'". The duo have released nine studio albums, four of w ...

track of the same name. "My Friend" has been played by DJs and record producers such as

Axwell Axel Christofer Hedfors (; born 18 December 1977), better known by his stage name Axwell, is a Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and owner of Axtone Records. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angell ...

, Fedde Le Grand,

and many more. The track reached Number 4 at

Beatport Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be used ...

worldwide overall chart, Number 1 at Dance-Tunes chart and several other famous DJ charts. 2011 saw Romero release plenty of remixes such as "Where Them Girls At" by David Guetta featuring

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida (, ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 breakout single " Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the record for digital dow ...

and

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated flow in her rapping, alter egos and accent ...

, "What A Feeling" by Alex Gaudino featuring

Kelly Rowland Kelendria Trene Rowland (born February 11, 1981) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the world's List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling girl ...

, "Stronger" by Erick Morillo and Eddie Thoneick featuring Shawnee Taylor, "Where Is The Love" by Eddie Thoneick and "Rockin' High" by

Ben Liebrand Ben Liebrand () (born 27 September 1960 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands) is a Dutch dance music DJ and remixer. He has produced for artists such as Forrest and MC Miker G & DJ Sven and remixed tracks by artists such as Alexander O'Neal, Salt-N- ...

2012–2013: Mainstream success

In 2012, Romero achieved popularity with the recording "

", which became a mainstay on the Beatport Top Ten for a significant period of time. Recognizing his talent,

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

named him an

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

artist to watch in 2012. His popularity has risen in recent years, and he has attained a joint residency with David Guetta at party hot spot

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

for the summer of 2012. In October 2012, Nicky Romero received the

'Highest New Entry' award on DJ Mag's top 100 DJs fan poll, and with spot number 17, he is one of the highest new entries ever, together with

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ and music producer. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he joined the post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead si ...

and

Dash Berlin Dash Berlin is a Dutch electronic music duo started in 2007 in The Hague by Eelke Kalberg and Sebastiaan Molijn. Dash Berlin were voted the seventh most popular DJs in the world according to ''DJ Mag'' in 2012; Kalberg and Molijn were record pro ...

. In that same year, Romero collaborated with Swedish DJ/Producer,

, to produce the highly anticipated single "

I Could Be the One "I Could Be the One" is a song by Swedish DJ Avicii and Dutch DJ Nicky Romero, which features uncredited vocals from Swedish singer Noonie Bao. The song was released as a digital download in Sweden and the Netherlands on December 26, 2012. It p ...

" which became a massive success across Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom, where the single debuted at number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on 17 February 2013 ― for the week ending on 23 February 2013 ― becoming both Romero and Avicii's first chart-topper in the UK. On the UK Dance Chart, "I Could Be the One" debuted at number one ahead of

Baauer Harry Bauer Rodrigues (born April 30, 1989), known professionally as Baauer, is an American record producer and DJ, best known for his double platinum song "Harlem Shake (song), Harlem Shake". He has produced varied dance music from the age of 13 ...

's " Harlem Shake", which entered at number two. Following "I Could Be the One" in 2013, Romero released his long-awaited single, "Symphonica", that reached No. 1 on the overall

Top 100 chart. His next release, a collaboration with

Krewella Krewella is an American electronic dance music band from the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, Illinois, United States, that formed in 2007. Their musical style has been mainly described as EDM, dance-rock, and dance-pop. However, Krewella's style ...

, "Legacy" also saw Beatport chart success hitting the No. 1 spot. Romero then took on a collaboration with Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, "S.O.T.U.", that he released on

Steve Angello Steven Patrik Josefsson Fragogiannis ( el, Στέφεν Πάτρικ Γιόζεφσον Φραγκόγιαννης; born 22 November 1982), better known by his stage name Steve Angello, is a Greek-Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and record ...

's Size Records. Amid his 2013 releases, he performed as a resident at The Light Las Vegas and he also played numerous major festivals including

Ultra Music Festival Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music festival that takes place during March in Miami, Florida, United States. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. It was first held on Miami Beach, bu ...

Coachella Coachella may refer to: * Coachella, California * Coachella Canal, in California * Coachella (festival), an annual music and arts festival in California * "Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind", a 2017 song by Lana del Rey See also

* Coachell ...

, Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas and Puerto Rico,

Sensation White Sensation is an indoor electronic dance music event which originated in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and organized by ID&T. The original event, which ran exclusively in the Amsterdam Arena for a period of five years until 2005, is now located throughou ...

, and

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions t ...

, amongst others. One of his most notable gigs was at

TomorrowWorld TomorrowWorld was an electronic music festival, held in the Atlanta metropolitan area within the town of Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia. Held from 2013 to 2015, the festival was a spinoff of the Belgian festival Tomorrowland. The festival was ...

where he was one of the first music acts to present an interactive performance experience using

Google Glass Google Glass, or simply Glass, is a brand of smart glasses developed and sold by Google. It was developed by X (previously Google X), with the mission of producing an ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information to the wearer using ...

. In October 2013, Romero ranked at number 7 on ''DJ Mags Top 100 DJs annual fan poll. He helms his own weekly radio show, Protocol Radio and his own record label, Protocol Recordings.

2014–present: Studio work

In June 2014 he released a song called "Feet On The Ground" with vocals by the Dutch singer Anouk. Beside his music, he is up for different kinds of charity projects, as '10.000 Hours – People Planet Party' which is made to help renovate playgrounds for disadvantaged kids. "Legacy" was used as the backing track by Australian television network Channel Seven in on-air promotions for the 2014 season return of hit show ''

Revenge Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...

''. After the advertisement's high rotation during the high rating

2014 Australian Open The 2014 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 13 and 26 January 2014. It was the 102nd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of event ...

, the song charted in Australia at number 50. In August 2014, Nicky partnered with EDM lifestyle brand Electric Family to produce a collaboration bracelet for which 100% of the proceeds are donated to Fuck Cancer. In November 2015, Romero indicated that he had been suffering from anxiety which forced him to reduce his touring commitments and scale back his studio work. In 2018, Nicky Romero released a song with ROZES, titled "Where Would We Be".

Other productions

In addition to all "Nicky Romero" singles, he also co-produced the track " Right Now" (featuring David Guetta) from Rihanna's seventh studio album ''

Unapologetic ''Unapologetic'' is the seventh studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was released on 19 November 2012 by Def Jam Recordings and SRP Records. It was recorded between June and November 2012, during promotion of her sixth studio album, ' ...

'', which was released on 19 November 2012. Before his performance at Tomorrowland, he mentioned in an interview with MTV that he was also working on a new project with Rihanna. He co-wrote and produced " It Should Be Easy" by

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

for her eighth studio album ''

Britney Jean ''Britney Jean'' is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Britney Spears. It was released on November 29, 2013, by RCA Records. The album is Spears's second eponymous record after '' Britney'' (2001), though the album's name re ...

''. Romero also co-produced "Bang My Head" (featuring

Sia Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...

) and "No Money No Love" from David Guetta's 2014 album titled

Listen Listen may refer to: * The action of listening * Auditory system#Central auditory system, Central auditory system listening is how the brain processes what you hear * Listening behaviour types in human communication Computing * LISTEN, a Transm ...

. Furthermore, he co-produced "Dragon Night" from Sekai no Owari's second studio album

Tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

Criticism

As Romero has become more popular, he has become the target of criticism from underground music producers and underground music satire web articles; subjects include his actual abilities and contribution to the electronic music canon. Critics have targeted his style, his appearance and his music-production abilities. Such suggestions describes elements of Romero's abilities as brief and insufficient. Romero has since rebuffed the suggestions as minor.

Other ventures

Protocol Recordings

Protocol Recordings is a Dutch record label founded on May 8, 2012 by

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

producer and DJ Nicky Romero. They have released music by notable underground electronic artists such as

Blasterjaxx Blasterjaxx is a Dutch DJ and record producer duo composed of Thom Jongkind (born 1990) and Idir Makhlaf (born 1991), originated in The Hague and active since 2010. They are mostly known for producing big room house and electro house music, bein ...

Don Diablo Don Pepijn Schipper (; born 27 February 1980), better known by his stage name Don Diablo, is a Dutch DJ, digital artist, record producer, musician and songwriter of electronic dance music from Coevorden. He is one of the pioneers of the future h ...

R3hab Fadil El Ghoul ( ar, فضيل الغول; born 2 April 1986), performing under the stage name R3hab (stylized in all caps as R3HAB; pronounced "rehab"), is a Dutch-Moroccan disc jockey and music producer. Ranked at number 12 on the DJ Mag Top 1 ...

Vicetone Vicetone is a Dutch electronic music DJ and production duo formed by Ruben den Boer ((), born 22 January 1992) and Victor Pool (born 9 July 1992) from Groningen. The duo began as a DJ act, and in 2013, they were voted into the ''DJ Mag'' Top 10 ...

Stadiumx Stadiumx is a Hungarian progressive and future house DJ and production duo, comprising Dave (Dávid Nagy) and Sully (Zsolt Milichovszki). Career The duo initially met at a producer workshop in Budapest (2009). Sully was already in Muzzaik f ...

Thomas Gold Thomas Gold (May 22, 1920 – June 22, 2004) was an Austrian-born American astrophysicist, a professor of astronomy at Cornell University, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the Royal Society (London). Gold was ...

Arno Cost Vadim Arnaud Constantin (, born in Nogent-sur-Marne), better known by his stage name Arno Cost, is a French musician, DJ and record producer. Biography His talent came through their parents exposed to music from an early age, and like so many o ...

and Volt & State. The label's first release was "WTF!?" by Nicky Romero and ZROQ. Protocol Recordings has become a successful record label as a result of releases by Nicky Romero. The most successful international single from the label was

Like Home "Like Home" is a song by Dutch DJ and producer Nicky Romero and Australian twin sisters NERVO. It was the third single released from Romero's label, Protocol Recordings. It was also the second song from the label to top the Beatport Top 100 char ...

by Nicky Romero and Australian duo

NERVO Nervo (stylised as NERVO) are an Australian DJ duo comprising twin sisters Olivia and Miriam Nervo (born 18 February 1982). After signing with Sony/ATV Music Publishing at 18 years of age, the sisters pursued careers as songwriting partners and ...

, which reached 37th place in Sweden, 15th place in the general chart and 5th place in the dance chart of the Netherlands and 33rd place in the singles chart and 9th place in the dance chart of the United Kingdom. Five releases have reached number one on the Beatport Top 100. Four of these have been produced by Nicky Romero and another, Howl At The Moon, produced by Hungarian duo

StadiumX Stadiumx is a Hungarian progressive and future house DJ and production duo, comprising Dave (Dávid Nagy) and Sully (Zsolt Milichovszki). Career The duo initially met at a producer workshop in Budapest (2009). Sully was already in Muzzaik f ...

, which reached 59th place in the French SNEP chart. Protocol Radio is a weekly podcast and syndicated radio show created in 2013 and is hosted by Nicky Romero. It comprises upcoming releases on Protocol Recordings and tracks that he supports. In 2019, Romero joined fellow DJ,

Steve Aoki Steven Hiroyuki Aoki (, ; born November 30, 1977), best known as Steve Aoki, is an American DJ, record producer, music programmer, and record executive.

, in his investment in the Rogue esports team. In 2021 Nicky Romero expanded his output by delivering an in-depth music production masterclass for aspiring DJs and producers.

Filmography

Romero made a cameo appearance in the 2015 film '' We Are Your Friends'', starring Zac Efron. He appeared in the ending, playing himself during the movie's Summerfest party.

Discography

References

External links

Official site

Label site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romero, Nicky 1989 births Living people Dutch DJs Dutch house musicians Dutch expatriates in Canada Dutch expatriates in France People from Amerongen Progressive house musicians Electronic dance music DJs