Tiёsto

DJ Tiёsto is a very successful celebrity in the world of electronic music. He was born on 17 January 1969 with the name Tijs Michiel Verwest. The boy’s family lived in a small Dutch town, Breda. Tijs became interested in music rather early. At 12, parents helped the aspiring musician buy his first DJ set, and Tiesto started honing his skills.

When he was 14, Verwest performed at all school parties. In a couple of years, he began a professional career by performing in The Spock club in his native town. The DJ came up with a pseudonym Tiesto, which is how his first name sounds in Italian.

When Tiesto decided to become a DJ, he didn’t have any idols he could follow. He was learning new styles on his own, which made his music truly unique. Initially, the DJ enjoyed new beat and acid house. With time, he changed his preferences to gabber house and hardcore techno.

In the mid-1990s, a producer from Basic Recordings Beat studio noticed the talented artist. After several auditions, he offered Tiesto a contract. Soon, the DJ met another talented young musician, Arny Bink. Together they created their own label Black Hole Recordings and used it to record new songs. Arny and Tijs worked together until the latter moved to England at the end of the 1990s.

After moving, the DJ started playing in several famous clubs. Then he performed in the nightclub Gatecrasher in Sheffield. It was one of the most popular clubs attended by the younger generation.

In the new country, Tiesto met a talented DJ Ferry Corsten, who also came from the Netherlands. They formed a duo, Gouryella, and began performing all over the UK, the Netherlands, and Belgium. One time, they gave a 12-hour performance in Amsterdam.

In 2001, Tijs decided to form his own label, a branch of Black Hole Recordings. He needed it to release special tracks. The artist called the project, Magik Muzik. Later, Black Hole Recordings turned into a large independent dance music label. In 2009, Tiesto left the company to set up a label called Musical Freedom.

Tiesto’s popularity was growing. He earned numerous awards and prizes. One of the most important rewards was a title of the leading DJ on the planet, which was given to him by a British magazine, DJ Mag. At that time, many clubs wanted to book Tiesto for private events.

One of the most important achievements in Tiesto’s career is his performance at the opening of the 2004 Olympics in Greece. DJ arranged music for the parade, which went on for 1.5 hours. Tijs performed solely his own music in front of 75 000 viewers. On TV, several billion people watched the DJ’s performance. Tiesto became the first DJ to perform live at the Olympics.

In 2004, in the Netherlands, the DJ was appointed the Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau. The appointment was done by the queen of the Netherlands. Next year, the artist decided to take a break to get some rest and come back with new forces to conquer new heights.

The DJ stayed off the stage for a year. He came back with a highly successful remix of a soundtrack of the popular movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

In 2007, the DJ went to tour Latin America and arranged a free performance in Rio de Janeiro. More than 200,000 people came to listen to his music on the beach.

In 2012, Forbes called Tiesto a musician with the highest annual income on the planet. Many other magazines agreed. The annual income of the musician in 2016 was almost $40 million.

In 2012, the Rolling Stone magazine put Tiesto on top of its Top-25 DJ list.

Between 2001 and 2014, the artist released six LPs and six compilation albums. One of them, Kiss from the Past, was recorded using another pseudonym, Allure. The musician often performs using other pseudonyms, such as Handover Circuit, Da Joker, DJ Maikel, Flowerchild, and many others.

In 2018, Billboard Dance 100 put the DJ on the eighth spot of the top musicians of the year list.

Tiesto continues recording new music and performing live all over the world.