HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( , ), is a Dutch DJ and record producer. He was voted "The Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was voted by ''
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, Lati ...
'' readers as the "best DJ of the last 20 years". He is also regarded as the "Godfather of EDM" by many sources. In 1997, he founded the label Black Hole Recordings with Arny Bink, where he released the ''
Magik Magik (Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina) (Russian language, Russian: Ильяна Николаевна Распутина) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cock ...
'' and '' In Search of Sunrise'' CD series. Tiësto met producer Dennis Waakop Reijers in 1998; the two have worked together extensively since then. From 1998 to 2000, Tiësto collaborated with
Ferry Corsten Ferry Corsten OON (; born 4 December 1973) is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer. He is well known for producing many pioneering trance tracks during the 1990s–2000s under his numerous aliases, including System F, Moonman, Pulp Victim an ...
under the name Gouryella. His 2000 remix of
Delerium Delerium is a Canadian new-age ambient electronic musical duo that formed in 1987, originally as a side project of the influential industrial music act Front Line Assembly. Throughout the band's history, their musical style has encompassed a ...
's "
Silence Silence is the absence of ambient hearing, audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low sound intensity, intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be exten ...
" featuring
Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is ''Surfacing (album), Surfacing'' (1997), for which she won two G ...
exposed him to more mainstream audiences. In 2001, he released his first solo album, '' In My Memory'', which gave him several major hits that launched his career. He was voted World No. 1 DJ by ''DJ Magazine'' in its annual Top 100 DJs readership poll consecutively for three years from 2002 to 2004. Just after releasing his second studio album, '' Just Be'', he performed live at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, the first DJ to play live on stage at an Olympics. In April 2007, Tiësto launched his radio show '' Tiësto's Club Life'' on Radio 538 in the Netherlands and released his third studio album, '' Elements of Life''. The album reached number one on the Belgian album chart as well on ''Billboard'' Top Electronic Albums in the U.S. and received a nomination for a
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
in 2008. Tiësto released his fourth studio album ''
Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...
'' in October 2009, followed by '' A Town Called Paradise'' in June 2014. He won the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for his remixed version of
John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...
's hit " All of Me" at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.


Early life

Tijs Michiel Verwest was born in
Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...
,
North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...
, on 17 January 1969. He discovered his passion for music at the age of 12. He used to listen to radioshows like the Ferry Maat ''Soulshow'' and ''In The Mix'' from
Ben Liebrand Ben Liebrand (; born 27 September 1960) is a Dutch dance music disc jockey, DJ and remixer. He has record producer, produced for artists such as Forrest (singer), Forrest and MC Miker G & DJ Sven and remixed tracks by artists such as Alexander O ...
. At age fourteen, he intensified his commitment to the art, and began DJing professionally at school parties. Between 1985 and 1994, Tiësto began a residency at several clubs in the Netherlands at the behest of his manager. At the Spock, a small club in Breda, he fine-tuned his own live style by performing from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. on weekends. In the beginning of his career as a DJ he mostly played new beat and
acid house Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...
.


Career


1994–2000: Early projects and success

In 1994, he began releasing material on Noculan Records' sub-labels Chemo and Coolman. During these years, he produced hardcore and
gabber Gabber ( ; ) is a style of electronic dance music and a subgenre of Hardcore (electronic dance music genre), hardcore, as well as the surrounding subculture. The music is more commonly referred to as hardcore, and is characterised by fast beats ...
tracks under such aliases as Da Joker and DJ Limited. Tiësto was later discovered by the
general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...
-based Basic Beat Recordings. In late 1994, Tiësto signed to Basic Beat where he met Arny Bink, Tiësto released records on the sub-label Trashcan, founded by Arny, and later created the Guardian Angel sub-label with Arny in which they introduced the popular ''Forbidden Paradise'' series. From 1995 to 1996 he released four extended plays on Bonzai Jumps and XTC, sub-labels of Lightning Records. In 1997, he joined his friend Yves Vandichel on his sub-label, DJ Yves, a division of the now defunct Human Resource label XSV Music. In the fall of 1997, Bink and Tiësto decided to leave Basic Beat and create their own parent label, Black Hole Recordings, Trashcan was discontinued and Guardian Angel continued releasing music until 2002. Through Black Hole, Tiësto released the ''Magik'' series and also created two major sub-labels;
SongBird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5,00 ...
and In Trance We Trust. From 1998 to 1999, he released music on Planetary Consciousness where he met A&R Hardy Heller and invited him to release some records on Black Hole. In 1998, Tiësto joined forces with fellow Dutch deejay
Ferry Corsten Ferry Corsten OON (; born 4 December 1973) is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer. He is well known for producing many pioneering trance tracks during the 1990s–2000s under his numerous aliases, including System F, Moonman, Pulp Victim an ...
to create the
trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
-based duo of Gouryella. The first Gouryella track, also called "Gouryella", was released in May 1999 and became a huge hit, scoring various chart positions around the world, including a top-15 position in the UK Singles Chart. Tiësto showcased this track in '' Magik Three: Far from Earth'' as well as in his set at the first ID&T Innercity party ('' Live at Innercity: Amsterdam RAI''), his first major breakthrough. The next single, entitled "Walhalla", also made it on the charts worldwide, peaking at No. 27 in the UK Singles Chart. Released via Ferry's Tsunami label, both singles went on to be certified Gold on record sales. During these years, Tiësto also collaborated with Benno de Goeij of Rank 1 under the name Kamaya Painters. In November 1999, he released the first installment of the ''In Search of Sunrise'' series. Since then, he performed monthly as a resident at Gatecrasher in
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
, and played a 12-hour set, his longest, in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. On 31 December 1999, he performed at Trance Energy 2000, a special party held by ID&T for the turn of the millennium. Together with Armin van Buuren, Tiësto created two projects in 2000; Alibi – "Eternity", which was released on Armind, and Major League – "Wonder Where You Are?", on Black Hole. After the release of "Tenshi" in September 2000, Tiësto decided to concentrate on his solo work and left Ferry Corsten to take on the Gouryella project solely as his own. Through his first compilations and the "In Trance We Trust" series, he ended up introducing Armin van Buuren and Johan Gielen to the mainstream. '' Summerbreeze'' marked Tiësto's U.S. debut, a mix album that showcased his remix of
Delerium Delerium is a Canadian new-age ambient electronic musical duo that formed in 1987, originally as a side project of the influential industrial music act Front Line Assembly. Throughout the band's history, their musical style has encompassed a ...
's "
Silence Silence is the absence of ambient hearing, audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low sound intensity, intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be exten ...
", which spent four weeks in the UK's Top Ten chart and reached number three in the ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' dance chart. '' In Search of Sunrise 2'' was released in November 2000.


2001–2003: ''In My Memory''

In 2001, Tiësto created a new sub-label, Magik Muzik, and released his first solo album, '' In My Memory'', which contained 5 major hits; " Lethal Industry", which was actually produced in 1999 and had only 3 copies released at that time, the track was officially released in 2001 which was remixed by Richard Durand in 2006 along with " Flight 643" which was another leading single that was later adapted with vocals by Suzanne Palmer and released as " 643 (Love's on Fire)". Other tracks were " Obsession" in which Tiësto worked alongside Junkie XL, the instrumental tracks "Dallas 4PM" and " Suburban Train" with " Urban Train" as its vocal version. The last singles to be released were " In My Memory" which is the title track for the album as it only received high ratings in the United States and the opening track "Magik Journey" which opened Tiësto in Concert (2003). On 2 February 2002, Tiësto played nine consecutive hours during the second edition of the Dutch Dimension festival. On 27 February, Tiësto was awarded a Zilveren ('Silver') Harp music award. The same year he also received a Lucky Strike Dance Award in the category Best DJ Trance/Progressive. In August he became part of Moby's Area2 Tour. For eighteen days he travelled through the United States with artists such as
Moby Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...
himself, but also
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
and
Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...
. In January 2003, Tiësto received the annual Dutch Popprijs ('Pop Award') during the Noorderslag festival. After touring with Moby, Tiësto remixed two songs from him, " We Are All Made of Stars" and " Extreme Ways" in the same year, having "We Are All Made of Stars" reach No. 13 in the
Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...
. In 2002 he released his first ''In Search of Sunrise'' mix to feature a place on its name, ''In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama''. On 28 March 2003; Tiësto, Dieselboy, Bad Boy Bill, and Noel Sanger joined the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
Dual Play tour. Tiësto and Noel's appearance began on 13 April and ended on 6 June. His fame continued to increase for then known he has in the early 2000s, following his six-hour "Tiësto Solo" sets which he performed without other DJs or opening acts. This idea, of one DJ playing alone to a large crowd was new. Tiësto was the first DJ to hold a solo concert in a stadium; on 10 May 2003, he performed for 25,000 people in
Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...
's GelreDome, later called '' Tiësto in Concert''. He repeated the same type of concert the following year during two consecutive nights in late October. In addition to holding these two concerts for 35,000 of his fans, he held another concert for a crowd of 20,000 in
Hasselt Hasselt (, , ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. As of 1 August 2023, Hasselt had a total population of 80,846. The old ...
, Belgium the following week.
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
s of both his 10 May 2003 and 30 October 2004 concerts have been released, having the other DVD titled '' Tiësto in Concert 2''. The DVDs show the journey from the first idea to the main event, featuring live performances by Andain, Dinand Woesthoff, and Jan Johnston. The event includes live music and dancers performing at different times throughout the set.


2004–2006: ''Just Be'' and appointment to the Order of Orange-Nassau

In 2004, he released his second artist album '' Just Be'', which featured his first single "
Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...
" which is the first non-vocal track to reach number one spot in the Dutch national charts for 23 years. The track "Sweet Misery" was originally written for
Evanescence Evanescence is an American Rock music, rock band founded in 1994 by singer and keyboardist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody in Little Rock, Arkansas. After releasing independent extended play, EPs and a Origin (Evanescence demo album), demo ...
but it did not meet the deadline for the release of their album. In support to his ''Just Be'' album, he played at
Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...
,
Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...
,
Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
, and
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
; these stops were later named Just Be: Train Tour. On 20 May 2004, he was appointed Officer of the
Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...
by Her Majesty
Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born during the reign of her maternal gr ...
of the Netherlands. The
Athens Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
(ATHOC) asked Tiësto to perform at the Olympic Games, making him the first DJ to play live on stage at an
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, where he played for 90 minutes. Tiësto flew to Athens in January 2004 to have a meeting with the ATHOC. His '' Tiësto in Concert'' DVD caught their attention, after which he was asked to write more tracks based on his opening tune " Adagio for Strings" which would fit in with the Olympic spirit and combine the classical with the modern age. The first rehearsal was on 7 August, for an empty stadium; the second rehearsal was on 8 August, with 35,000 volunteers. The last rehearsal included almost 60,000 people in the stadium which was on 10 August. During the course of his performance at the Olympics, the Dutch athletes started dancing in front of the DJ booth and had to be moved on by officials. The performance included new tracks produced especially for the Opening Ceremony and songs that were created to complement the spirit and theme of the ceremony. A condensed studio-recorded album of the songs played on the Olympic set was later released, including new songs specially composed for the occasion, entitled ''
Parade of the Athletes ''Parade of the Athletes'' is a retrospective mix by Dutch DJ Tiësto of his live set performed during the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece on 13 August 2004 (see 2004 in music). This was the first time that ...
'' in October 2004. In the liner notes, he noted the IOC requested that the music not contain any lyrics as they could be inadvertently misinterpreted. In late 2004, he began his touring across
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
, with his release of ''In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama'' in which he gained influence from the sun and sand in summer 2002. The tour continued in 2005, and Tiësto performed live in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia. Following the tours, '' In Search of Sunrise 4: Latin America'' was released in 2005, featuring a second CD for the first time in the ''In Search of Sunrise'' series. In 2005, his '' Perfect Remixes Vol. 3'' compilation was released through Warlock Records, containing ten tracks which were created during the beginning of his career, between those is Junkie XL, Mauro Picotto and The Roc Project. On 20 August 2005, Verwest took ''Tiësto in Concert'' to the US when he played to 16,000 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena with
Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...
dancers. For the second year in a row he performed live at a New Year's Eve/New Year's concert in
Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
at the
Orleans Arena Orleans Arena is a 9,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Paradise, Nevada, in the Las Vegas Valley. It is located at the The Orleans, Orleans Hotel and Casino and is operated by Coast Casinos, a subsidiary of Boyd Gaming, Boyd Gaming Corporation. ...
to a sell-out crowd. His four-city U.S. tour was postponed due to the hurricane damage in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
and
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
. BPM magazine has an annual poll in the US which is unveiled in the WMC, in 2005 Tiësto took the No. 1 spot. The influences of
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
remained with him and would later influence his ''In Search of Sunrise'' compilation. A wax sculpture of Tiësto was placed behind a turntable at Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam where visitors can mix Tiësto's music together. Stops were made in Ukraine, Slovakia, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Croatia, Poland and South Africa. The United States tour that was part of '' Tiësto in Concert'' was dwarfed by his appearance at Sensation White in 2006 where he performed to over 45,000 people in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. The compilation was launched in the Winter Music Conference in
Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean an ...
to support his release, Tiësto went on his In Search of Sunrise 5 Asia Tour for more than three weeks. In September 2006, Tiësto was admitted to hospital after experiencing pain in his chest. He was diagnosed with pericarditis and subsequently had to cancel a number of shows. With the diagnosis, he was invited to support Dance4Life to help teens who are not aware of the risks of HIV/AIDS.


2007–2008: ''Elements of Life''

On 6 April 2007, Tiësto began presenting a new weekly two-hour radio show called '' Tiësto's Club Life'' on Dutch radio station Radio 538. Ten days later, Tiësto released his third studio album '' Elements of Life''. The album moved 73,000 units in its April release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. During the production of the album Tiësto in several cases sent a demo with the music to certain artists, and they replied back with the lyrics and vocals and other duration times. In the case of Christian Burns from BBMak, Tiësto met him through MySpace and contacted him and the production of the single "In the Dark (Tiësto song), In the Dark". The album consists of rock music, rock, trance music, trance and experimental music, which shows the style Tiësto has grown throughout the years since his previous albums which contained lyrics, '' In My Memory'' and '' Just Be''. Producer BT (musician), Brian Transeau collaborated with Tiësto in three tracks, he composed "Bright Morningstar" and "Elements of Life, Sweet Things", and performed the vocals in the single "Break My Fall". Together, they produced more tracks which were not released in the album, Tiësto has mentioned they would work again during the coming summer. In December 2007 it was announced that the album was nominated for a
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
, in the category "Best Electronic/Dance Album." The album also received gold certifications in Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, and Romania. In support of the album, he embarked on the worldwide Elements of Life World Tour, and released the ''Copenhagen: Elements of Life World Tour'' DVD in 2008. Tiësto announced his residence at Privilege Ibiza, Privilege. He played sets in Ibiza every Monday, from 7 July to 22 September in the style of his ''In Search of Sunrise'' series. In 2007, he had released ''In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza'' which was inspired by the island. On 28 April, he released ''Elements of Life: Remixed'', a recompilation of the ''Elements of Life'' album with all remixed versions. In mid-2008, Tiësto announced his In Search of Sunrise: Summer Tour 2008, which was presented by Armani Exchange in May in support of his In Search of Sunrise 7: Asia compilation and the previously released ''In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza''.


2009–2012: ''Kaleidoscope'' and ''Kiss from the Past''

On 6 October 2009, he released his fourth studio album ''
Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...
'', which featured artists such as Priscilla Ahn, Calvin Harris, Tegan & Sara and Nelly Furtado. Unlike his earlier albums, which were all mostly trance, Kaleidoscope explores other electronic genres, and is considered Tiesto's most experimental album. The first single "I Will Be Here" featuring Sneaky Sound System being released in July 2009. It reached number three on the much acclaimed Driscoll 5, and lasted there for 24 weeks in the beginning of 2012. In its first week, the album reached the Top 10 chart on iTunes. To release the album he set up a new record label called Musical Freedom after parting ways with Black Hole Recordings. Tiësto felt that his music was evolving in a new direction and his focus as an artist was moving away from what Black Hole was set up to support. His new tour, sharing the name of his new album, called Kaleidoscope World Tour commenced in late September. On 16 March 2010, he released a greatest hits album, ''Magikal Journey: The Hits Collection 1998–2008'', a two disc album focusing on his most famous songs and remixes of his songs. On 7 April, he announced that he would start a new compilation series called ''A New Dawn'' with his own label Musical Freedom. In his interview Tiësto furthermore confirmed that he would no longer have any more involvement with Black Hole Recordings. On 31 August, ''Kaleidoscope: Remixed'' was released, a remix album of his album ''Kaleidoscope''. Also in 2009 and 2010, Tiësto contributed songs to both the ''DJ Hero'' and ''DJ Hero 2'' video games and is a playable character in the second game. He also produced a trance-flavored song for Memphis rap duo Three 6 Mafia's album called "Feel It (Three 6 Mafia song), Feel It", which features Sean Kingston and Flo Rida. On 4 April 2011, his mix compilation ''Club Life: Volume One Las Vegas'' was released. On 13 June, his final trance studio album, ''Kiss from the Past'', was released under his alias Allure, and featured Christian Burns, Jes Brieden, JES, and Emma Hewitt. In March 2012, satellite radio broadcaster Sirius XM Satellite Radio, Sirius XM launched Tiësto's Club Life Radio, one of five dance/electronic stations on the platform. Programming was "curated by Tiësto himself". The station ran until 2017.


2013–2018: ''Club Life'' and ''A Town Called Paradise''

''Club Life: Volume Three Stockholm'' was released worldwide physically on 25 June 2013 and it hit No. 16 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart. He followed up his third "Club Life" installment with the 2014 effort, '' A Town Called Paradise''. The album featured an assortment of guest stars and was preceded by two singles, "Red Lights (song), Red Lights" and "Wasted (Tiësto song), Wasted" – yielding his first two gold singles in the U.S. A medley from the album also soundtracks a presentation at the Bellagio (resort), Bellagio Fountains of Bellagio, fountain in Las Vegas, a first for a dance music artist. In a 2014 interview with ''DJ Magazine'', Tiësto revealed why he left trance music. When asked whether his decision to leave the genre was influential to his popularity in the United States, the Dutch producer said: "Maybe, it's hard to say. I think I'd still be the 'Tiesto trance guy' but the difference is you're not really being relevant. Some of the old trance guys still have their following but it doesn't feel like anybody really cares – and that's the biggest difference. It's nice to be in touch with the new kids who are coming up – the 16 and 18-year olds who are producing house music see me as kind of a godfather, and it's really cool to be in touch with them. I think if I'd still been a trance DJ, they'd have been so disconnected with that sound that I wouldn't be much inspiration for them, and vice versa." In 2015, at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, he won the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for his remixed version of
John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...
's hit " All of Me". The same year his fourth installment of the Club Life compilation series, titled ''Club Life: Volume Four New York City'', was released through Musical Freedom. In April 2016, he launched a deep house label, AFTR:HRS, to promote deep house music. He appeared in the 2016 Grammy Award, Grammy-nominated documentary film about American DJ and producer Steve Aoki, titled ''I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2016 film), I'll Sleep When I'm Dead''. On 14 January 2017, Tiësto was awarded the key to the city of Las Vegas. The day is now known as "Tiësto Day" in Clark County, Nevada. He was featured in the 2017 documentary starring Carl Cox and Martin Garrix, titled ''What We Started''. On 6 October 2017, the fifth installment of the Club Life series entitled ''Club Life, Vol. 5 – China'' was published. The compilation album features tracks by John Christian (musician), John Christian, SWACQ, Tiësto and Z.Tao, and collaborations between Tiësto and Aloe Blacc, John Christian, Dzeko (DJ), Dzeko, Diplo, KSHMR, Talay Riley, Sevenn, Stargate (record producers), Stargate, SWACQ and Vassy (singer), Vassy. In March 2018, ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' named Tiësto as number eight on their 2018 ranking of dance musicians titled Billboard Dance 100. On 30 March 2018, Tiësto released his debut EP titled ''I Like It Loud (EP), I Like It Loud'', featuring four songs that are collaborations with artists such as John Christian (musician), John Christian, Mesto, Matisse & Sadko and MOTi.


2018–2020: ''The London Sessions''

On 2 July 2018, Tiësto released with Dzeko (DJ), Dzeko, Post Malone and Preme a track titled "Jackie Chan (song), Jackie Chan". On 31 May 2019, Tiësto released with Rita Ora and Jonas Blue a track called "Ritual (Tiësto, Jonas Blue and Rita Ora song), Ritual". On 14 June 2019, Tiësto released his remix of Avicii's posthumous "Tough Love (Avicii song), Tough Love". On 7 May 2020, Tiësto announced his seventh studio album ''The London Sessions (Tiësto album), The London Sessions''; it was released 15 May 2020. The album features the previously released singles "Jackie Chan", "Ritual", "God Is a Dancer", "Blue (Tiësto song), Blue" and "Nothing Really Matters (Becky Hill and Tiësto song), Nothing Really Matters".


2020–present: ''Drive''

On 25 September 2020, Tiësto released the song "The Business (Tiësto song), The Business". On 21 January 2021, Tiësto released a remix version of the song titled "The Business, Pt. II" featuring American rapper Ty Dolla Sign. On 28 May 2021, Tiësto released his remix of Ben Platt's "Imagine (Ben Platt song), Imagine." Later that year, he released "Don't Be Shy (Tiësto and Karol G song), Don't Be Shy" with Karol G on 12 August, "The Motto (Tiësto and Ava Max song), The Motto" with Ava Max on 4 November, Savage with Deorro and a remix of No Mienten and You got the Love by Becky Hill. On 30 June 2022, Tiësto released "Hot in It, Hot In It" with English singer Charli XCX. The track was previously teased by Charli XCX and Tiësto multiple times on TikTok. On 7 October 2022, Tiësto released a remake of Black Eyed Peas song "Pump It" called "Pump It Louder". On 3 November 2022, Tiësto released "10:35" with Tate McRae. On 6 January 2023, Tiësto released "Lay Low". On 9 March 2023, Tiësto officially announced his new studio album called ''Drive (Tiësto album), Drive'', along with the release of his single "All Nighter". The album was released on 21 April 2023. On 11 February 2024, Tiësto was scheduled to perform at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas both before and during the game, which would have made him the first DJ to perform throughout the Super Bowl. However, he canceled his performance due to a family emergency and was replaced by Kaskade. In January 2025, Tiësto released the extended play Prismatic: Pack One, which featured collaborations with Winona Oak, Oaks, Jordan Shaw, and Alex Mills. In March of 2025, it was announced that Tiësto would premier a new "''In Search of Sunrise''" set at EDC Las Vegas 2025. In April, the 2025 Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix promoted an entertainment lineup to include Tiësto, Pitbull (rapper), Pitbull'','' Kygo and Kaskade.


Income

''Forbes'' estimated that Tiësto's annual income for 2017 was $39 million, with an average nightly gross of $250,000.


Philanthropy

On 6 January 2005, Tiësto performed in an outdoor fundraiser in De Dam, Amsterdam. The free event involved Dutch artists such as Tiësto, Dinand Woesthoff, BLØF, Acda en De Munnik, Acda & De Munnik, Di-rect, and Trijntje Oosterhuis and provided financial aid to the people who suffered from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in South Asia, southern and Southeast Asia, southeastern Asia. In April 2006, Tiësto was named the official worldwide ambassador for the Dance4Life foundation promoting awareness of HIV/AIDS. As the foundation's ambassador he has helped the organisation with fundraising along with recording the track "Dance4life (song), Dance4life" that he recorded with Maxi Jazz from Faithless. The foundation consists on a better way of living with safe sex in exchange of entertainment to the young crowd. The song was a huge success, peaking for five weeks in number 3 and eleven consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of the Dutch Top 40, Dutch Singles Chart, it reached number 5 in Belgium, number 6 in Finland and also charting in the United Kingdom, UK and Germany. With the successful release of '' Elements of Life'', Tiësto and fashion designer Giorgio Armani collaborated on a limited edition Tiësto T-shirt; Tiësto's single "Elements of Life, Sweet Things" comes with the shirt and includes an exclusive "A, X Remix" by Tom Cloud. The charity raised over U.S. $300,000. In November 2012, Tiësto released a compilation album ''Dance (RED) Save Lives'' in collaboration with Product Red, with the aim of donating any proceeds from the album to the fight against AIDS. In June 2014, Tiësto headlined the first-ever Thank You Festival, presented by Global Citizen in partnership with World Childhood Foundation. As a part of the festival campaign, Tiësto took part in supporting ThankYou.org. For every song shared, the Carlson Family Foundation donated $5 to the World Childhood Foundation. In September 2014, Tiësto headlined the free Global Citizen Festival in New York's Central Park.


Personal life

In September 2019, Tiësto married Annika Backes, a model, in Amangiri, Utah, after proposing to her in 2018. In November 2020, they had a daughter, and on 27 August 2022, they had their second child, a son. He is a fan of Italian football club Inter Milan, and has collaborated with them on numerous occasions.


Discography

;Studio albums * '' In My Memory'' (2001) * '' Just Be'' (2004) * '' Elements of Life'' (2007) * ''
Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...
'' (2009) * '' A Town Called Paradise'' (2014) * ''The London Sessions (Tiësto album), The London Sessions'' (2020) * ''Drive (Tiësto album), Drive'' (2023)


Filmography

Documentary and concert films * Clublife 500 (2016) - In celebration of the 500th episode of his radio show Tiësto's Club Life, Clublife, Tiësto hosted a special, one-night-only event on October 21, 2016, at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. On 31 October 2023 the show was made available to stream on demand via the On Air concert streaming service.


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiesto Tiësto, 1969 births Living people 2004 Summer Olympics Black Hole Recordings artists Dutch club DJs Dutch electronic dance music DJs Dutch emigrants to the United States Dutch musicians Dutch progressive house musicians Dutch remixers Dutch trance musicians Eurodance musicians Future house musicians Grammy Award winners Latin Grammy Award winners Love Da Records artists MTV Europe Music Award winners Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau People from Breda PIAS Recordings artists Revealed Recordings artists Ultra Records artists World Music Awards winners