Dj Tiesto's Biography

THE BEGINNING

Tijs Verwest was born on 17 january 1969 in Breda. His interest for music started very early,at the age of twelve he already created music. When he reached twenty it became very serieus. Now a days he is one of the most famous and beloved DJ 's in the world, according to Paul Oakenfold the "Godfather" of the English dancescene. Since november 1999 he monthly performes as a resident in Gatecrasher at Leeds, the most popular club of England. In february of that same year he has a break trough with his spectecular set at Innercity. And with Gouryella, a production with Ferry Corsten, he get's a Top-20 hit in England. But however the fame and glory of this incredible DJ the man behind DJ Tiësto is still a very normal guy from Breda.


THE FIRST CLUB YEARS

Tijs has always had the feeling that he wanted to share his music with others. He never seriously had in mind to become such a star but everything became more and bigger. At the end of the eighties he mostly played in a little club called Spock, in Breda. Every thunderday, friday and saturday from 22.00 till 4.00 hour in the morning. At that time Breda wasn't the center of House music but that has made the style of his music and the final 'sound of DJ Tiësto'. There weren't any other DJ's so he wasn't influenced by the style of others. Spock was very small club, however very extravagant like the Roxy. There was space for two hundred people.

"It didn't matter if there where less people, I could do what I wanted, the isolement from other DJ's was good. Through that I could develope myself and my music." In the beginning of his carrier as DJ he mostly played new beat and acid house, sometimes some Madonna.Tijs likes the work of Madonna because her music shows that she likes to dance. Before the release of her album there where already dancemixes. for example 'Vogue' was one of the songs of Spock.

He also loves to do sets for seven or eight hours. "Because when you play somewhere for two hours you'll never know what's before and after you. you can't play the same ID's. Seven hours is long to play and after such a performance I am exhausted, because when I play I have to translate my feelings into music. That needs a very hard concentration. Fifteen minutes before I begin I am so in myself that I don't hear anyone talking to me. Playing music is more than put some vinyl on my equipment. timing is the most important thing in house music. You can play the same tracks at two nights but at one night the public get's bored, the other night the people are partying there heads of! Beeing a DJ and perform is like a topsport."


THE BREAKTHROUGH

Well there's one set everybody knows about and that's the one DJ Tiësto played at the first Innercity. It was the breakthrough for him and his music. "Innercity was one of the best party's for me that year, not only because it was my breakthrough. at that time I didn't even realised that but the party was very big and very good. The first Innercity was for me the first big night to DJ and I think that set was one of my best ever! it was a perfect set for a perfect public!" After Innercity DJ Tiësto's DJ agenda was soon be filled with festivals like the Love Parade, Natur One, Gatecrasher summer 1999 and Hyperstate. He travelled also to party island Ibiza." The people who are coming to Ibiza just want one thing and that's good music and party! They are very open minded, I've been there three times this summer, a week and two times for four days. That's long enough! because you don't get any sleep. The party at Ibiza is 24 hours a day. When you're going to Ibiza a week is enough, than it's still fun." Tiësto also performes monthly at Gatecrasher in England. "Gatecrasher is amazing! When your standing there you see an ocean of people. It's a can full of people. Gatecrasher isn't very big, but there can party 2.500 people in it.The public is very faithfull to you. When you're in a little depression during your set the public pulls you through. They love breaks, when the beat faint they're starting to shout and scream, clapping there hands like the English footballteam has scored a penalty!it gives you the feeling you're giving a concert. The interaction with the Gatecrasher public is very special." Unless the amazing succes of his work Tijs Verwest is still the same guy as before. He wanted to do something back for the people who already where his friends before the breakthrough. In authum 1999 he started a recordshop called 'Magik the recordshop' in the hart of is home city Breda in West-Brabant. Together with Arny, Tiësto's bussinesspartner, he started there also the Blackholelabel. The serie Forbidden Paradise and the Guardian Angel label was the idea of Arny before.

1999-2003

His remix of Delerium Featuring Sarh McLachlan - The Silence was the first house track ever broadcasted on daytime radio in northe america and was four weeks in the U.K. top 10 chart. In 2001. The first releases were the 2001 anthems Flight 643 and his long awaited artist album In My Memory, and lately massive anthems from Umerk, Mark Norman and Mr Sam vs. Fred Baker. Summer 2002 Black Hole Recordings UK is born, a sister company set up to service the english market. After winning almost every dance related award in 2002 a crown was put on his career by being voted the number 1 DJ in the world in DJ Magazine's top 100.

The year 2003 has been a year filled with highlights. Tiësto is now officially the first DJ in the world ever to sell out a stadium event with a solo performance for over 25.000 people. Like Nyana, the Tiësto In Concert DVD has reached the gold status, same for the hitsingle Traffic which is the first instrumental track to reach the number 1 chart position in 23 years. In 2003 Tiësto has won 3 TMF awards (Holland & Belgium), 2 Dutch DJ awards, one MTV holland award, and was again number 1 in DJ Magzine's top 100, first time a DJ got this spot twice in a row!

Until now this is the success and life story of this fabulous DJ, this year you can expect many, many more of DJ Tiësto.


2004

Spring, 2004 Tiesto & BT released a single called 'Love Comes Again', wich almost instantly topped all the charts throughout the globe. Heineken got him to be the face of the THIRST World Tour. After touring in Europe, he visited Asia, Australia, South- then North-America. In May, 2004. he released his second artist album, 'Just Be' including the hit-single 'Love Comes Again'.

Autumn brought the rewards for the hard work: he won almost every imaginable award, including Ibiza DJ Award &8211; Best International Dj (2nd time in a row), Belgian TMF Award: Best DJ of the Year (2nd time in a row).

He topped the DJMAG TOP100 list THRID TIME IN-A-ROW! At the night of the award show, he held Tiesto &8211; In Concert II. This event &8211; in Arnhem, Gelredome &8211; was sold out &8211; 25000 tickets - only in 2 hours! Three In Concerts in 2 weeks! Several First place & awards, 2 albums released and a small tour in the States at the end of the year.


Tiësto to perform at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece

Tiësto, twice voted the 1 DJ in the world by DJ Magazine,made Olympic history on Friday, August 13, when he became the first DJ ever to perform in an Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. Some four billion people were watching the planet's premier sport event, when the 28th Olympiad of the modern era opens in Greece, the land where the Olympics were born, and the City where they were revived 108 years ago. No DJ has ever performed at the Olympic Games. The President of the ATHENS 2004 Organizing Committee, Mrs. Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, heralded the announcement of Tiësto&8217;s participation, saying: "Our Ceremonies will include unique Greek artistic elements along with modern and international perspectives. While it is path-breaking, it is also natural, that a modern artist like Tiësto will contribute to the celebration we're planning on our opening night. We welcome him to Athens." In October 2003, Tiësto was approached by the Athens Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (ATHOC) for a DJ-performance of 90 minutes during the parade of the athletes, a part of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. During this parade, all participating nations introduce their athletes, over 10,000 in total. ATHOC has shown it values art and innovation by asking the most popular DJ on Earth to produce the music for the parade. Tiësto performed his DJ-set live in the Olympic Stadium in Athens. This included new tracks produced especially for the Opening Ceremony and songs that have been tailored to compliment the spirit of the Ceremony. In connection with this announcement, Tiësto said, "I am honored to be to be part of the biggest sports event in the world. The fact that the Games are returned to their birthplace and to the city where they were revived makes Athens 2004 very special. The opportunity to perform my music for billions of people around the globe was one of the greatest highlight of my life."


2005

This year he decided to slow down a little bit, and he chose to visit countries he never been to, get some real clubbin&8217;. It seems, that He is not appearing on any of the big events this year.

Released his new mix-album, In Search of Sunrise 4 (Latin America) and went on a Central European, then an American tour.