Armin van Buuren (born December 25, 1976) is a trance music DJ and producer from Leiden, the Netherlands. He is currently ranked #2 worldwide according to The DJ List, the world’s largest DJ directory. However in 2006, he placed 2nd in DJ Mag’s annual Top 100
Biography
Armin van Buuren chose to pursue his career as a professional musician despite the promise of a legal career in his native country of the Netherlands, where his legal studies were completed in 2004. Van Buuren started working as a DJ in a local night club called Nexus, finished high school in 1995 and went on to university to study law. Meanwhile, he moved his studio equipment from his bedroom to a ‘real’ studio. The first tracks he produced in his new studio were, among others, tracks like “Touch Me” and “Communication”. Van Buuren has been quoted as saying, “Don’t be a prisoner of your own style.” He has described his musical style as “liberating, euphoric, uplifting, melodic and energetic.”
He hosts the trance show A State of Trance. The show has completed its 300th episode in May 2007, running for over 6 years.
In October 2002, Van Buuren was voted Number 5 in the DJ Magazine 100 top DJs. The following year, he jumped up to the #3 spot, and held it strong for 3 years straight. His work left him on the #2 spot, just below Paul van Dyk in the 2006 polls.
As a producer
Armin Van Buuren has always had his own studio and works alone the majority of the time. He has never employed an engineer, claiming he does not want the music to be altered by an engineer.
Since 1995, Van Buuren has released many tracks on different labels with increasing success. His first big success was “Blue Fear” on Cyber Records. This ‘Euro Trance blueprint’ made it into the UK Chart. “Communication” was released on the same label, and had a huge impact on Ibiza, Spain in the summer of 1999. After being signed to AM PM Records, this track entered the UK Chart at #18 in 2000
In the beginning of 1999, Van Buuren started his label Armind together with United Recordings. The first release, Gig – “One”, was well received. The second release “Touch Me”, under the name Rising Star was signed to Ministry Of Sound in the UK, before the record was released
By the time of his third release, Gimmick – “Free” was signed to R&S Records, Van Buuren had managed to make his label popular very quickly. Under the surname Gaia he released “4 Elements” on Captivating Sounds, a sub-label of Warner Brothers. Teaming up with DJ Tiësto, two new projects were born: Major League – “Wonder Where You Are?” was released on Blackhole and Alibi – “Eternity” was released on Armind. “Eternity” received club and chart success and was signed to Paul van Dyk’s imprint Vandit Records. Another major collaboration followed this. Together with Ferry Corsten, Van Buuren recorded a riff-classic titled “Exhale” for the System F. album. Released as a single, this track reached gold status in less than a month.
In 2000 Van Buuren started his own AVB compilation series. He managed to find a balance between progressive, techno and trance music styles. AVB001 – “A State of Trance” (not to be confused with his weekly ASOT radio shows) sold more than 10,000 copies and contains Van Buuren’s well known remix of Moogwai – “Viola.” AVB002 “Basic Instinct” featured a new track: Perpetuous Dreamer – “The Sound Of Goodbye”. This track entered the Dutch charts in June 2001 at number 26. Later in the year the track hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play
chart. AVB003 – “In Motion” was released August 6th 2001. This album contained the real trance sound and was very popular in the US. AVB004 – “Transparance” followed in 2002.
In March 2001 Van Buuren started his own radio show on ID&T Radio. In this weekly two-hour show, entitled ‘A State of Trance‘, he plays the latest popular trance music tracks. His show and the artists he features are popularized by publishing the artists and track titles on his website. This radio-show/website combination has proven popular internationally. When ID&T Radio changed genres in 2004, Van Buuren left and took A State of Trance with him. The show then moved to Fresh FM, a Dutch radio station. It is now a weekly feature on SLAM!FM, another Dutch radio station, DI.FM, an online radio station, and on XM Satellite Radio channel 82 in the United States and Canada. A complete list of stations that broadcast ASOT can be found at the ASOT section of Armins website. Also in 2004, Van Buuren remixed the 24 Theme into a trance hit. In June 2005, the 200th episode was celebrated in Amsterdam and subsequently aired on radio. The 250th (8 hour) anniversary episode was celebrated in Club Asta in The Hague, The Netherlands, featuring Van Buuren, Jonas Steur, M.I.K.E., John Askew, Rank 1 and Menno De Jong.
On May 17, 2007, Van Buuren began broadcasting the first of a two part series of what would become his 300th espisode of A State of Trance.
He has also worked on remix projects involving tracks by Japanese superstar Ayumi Hamasaki.
Aliases: Amsterdance, Armania, Darkstar, E=mc², Electrix, El Guitaro, Gaia, Gimmick, Hyperdrive Inc., Major League, Misteri A, Perpetuous Dreamer, Problem Boy, Rising Star, The Shoeshine Factory.
As a performer
NYC, October 9, 2006
Van Buuren began his DJ career at club Nexus in Leiden, where he learned to play long DJ sets, which were regularly six to seven hours per set. During school holidays he played more than four times a week. In 1999, he met Dave Lewis who introduced him as a DJ in England and the United States. His DJ career accelerated, entering the DJ magazine Top-100 in November of 2001 at Number 27. He has played in more than 25 different countries and can often be found on the main stage at big summer festivals. Van Buuren has played a record-breaking nine-hour set for Dancetheater in The Hague (Holland). In the United Kingdom one can see him perform regularly at Passion (resident 2002), Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Slinky, Peach and Golden.
In 2002 he had a residency at Glow in Washington D.C., and he has played in Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, New York City, Los Angeles, and St. Louis. He has also regularly appeared at Amnesia on the island of Ibiza.
According to Van Buuren, “The fans and the public are the most important thing for a DJ.”
On April 12th of 2006, Van Buuren began a Canadian tour with a performance in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This was his first appearance in the centrally located Canadian city. Despite a Wednesday booking, the venue was filled to capacity with fans eager to see Van Buuren perform. Throughout his set Van Buuren could be seen signing autographs for his eager fans.
On November 11, 2006 he had a live performance called Armin Only in Ahoy Rotterdam for the second time (after Nov 12, 2005) with a 9 hour solo set, where he performed to over 11 000 fans.
Discography
Compilations
- 1999 “Boundaries of Imagination“
- 2000 “001 A State of Trance”
- 2001 “002 Basic Instinct”
- 2001 “003 In Motion”
- 2002 “004 Transparance”
- 2003 “Universal Religion Chapter One”
- 2004 “A State of Trance 2004“
- 2004 “Big Room Trance”
- 2004 “Universal Religion 2004, Live From Armada At Ibiza”
- 2005 “A State of Trance 2005“
- 2005 “A State of Trance 2005 Year Mix”
- 2006 “A State of Trance 2006“
- 2006 “A State of Trance 2006 Year Mix” (Released December 15, 2006 in the Netherlands)
- 2007 “A State of Trance 2007” (Release May 18, 2007)
Singles
- 1997 Blue Fear
- 1999 Communication
- 1999 Future Fun-land (As Perpetuous Dreamer)
- 2000 Touch Me (As Rising Star)
- 2000 Eternity (With Tiësto as Alibi)
- 2000 Wonder Where you are (With Tiësto as Major League)
- 2001 4 Elements (As Gaia)
- 2001 The Sound of Goodbye (As Perpetuous Dreamer)
- 2001 Exhale (With Ferry Corsten as System F)
- 2002 Clear Blue Moon/Star Theme (As Rising Star)
- 2002 Sunspot (As Rising Star vs. Airwave)
- 2002 Dust.wav (As Perpetuous Dreamer)
- 2003 Sunburn
- 2003 Yet Another Day (With Ray Wilson)
- 2004 Burned With Desire (With Justine Suissa)
- 2004 Blue Fear 2004
- 2004 Communication Part 3
- 2004 Intruder (with M.I.K.E.)
- 2004 Pound (with M.I.K.E.)
- 2005 Shivers (With Susana)
- 2005 Serenity (With Jan Vayne)
- 2005 Zocalo (With Gabriel & Dresden)
- 2006 Who Is Watching (With Nadia Ali)
- 2006 Sail
- 2006 Control Freak
- 2006 Love You More (With Raccoon)
- 2006 Saturday Night (Trance remake of the 1978 Herman Brood classic)
- 2007 This World is Watching Me (vs Rank 1 feat. Kush)
- 2007 Miserere
- 2007 Rush Hour
Albums
Video
- 2006 Armin Only – The Next Level (DVD)
- 2007 Armin Only – Ahoy (DVD)
