- Dutch DJ and songwriter born Tijs Verwest in 1969 in Breda Netherlands.
- He took a liking to electronic music in the early 80s, and by the time he was 14 he was the DJ at school parties. Between 1985 and 1994 he was the resident DJ at several dance clubs in the Netherlands, developing his style and exploring the developing genres of electronic dance music. He also began to write his own techno music, and in 1994 and 1995 he released three singles on an independent label, using the moniker DJ Joker and DJ Limited. He began to produce DJ mix albums of EDM music from various techno artists, weaving the songs into continuous hour-plus long dance albums that could be used at rave parties. He released 17 DJ mix albums between 1995 and 1999.
- In 1998, Tiësto joined with Dutch DJ Ferry Corsten to form a project called Gouryella (an Aboriginal word which translates to “heaven”). The duo released several singles, with three of the charting on the UK Singles chart. He continued to increase his profile, performing at clubs, including a 12-hour show in 1999 in Amsterdam. In 2000, he collaborated with DJ Armin Van Buuren on two projects, and then decided to concentrate on solo work.
- His non-stop work led to global recognition. In 2000, his first DJ mix album to be released in the U.S., Summerbreeze, included Tiësto’s remix of the song Silence by Delirium, and the song peaked at #3 on the Billboard Dance chart. His debut solo album was released in 2001, titled In My Memory. Three tracks charted on the Dance chart, with the title track reaching #12. He continued to release DJ mix albums, releasing eight between 2000 and 2003.
- His performances as a DJ in the early 2000s made him infamous. The idea of a DJ playing alone to a stadium crowd was new at that time – in 2003, he was the first to do it, and some of his shows ran for six hours without a break. In 2002, he was voted the #1 DJ in the world by the readers of DJ Magazine, and he maintained the #1 spot for three years (he remained in the top five every year through 2017).
- In 2004, Tiësto released his second studio album, Just Be. It reached #3 on the Top Dance Albums chart and four singles charted on the Dance charts, three of which reached the top 5. In 2013, readers of Mixmag magazine, a UK magazine focused on EDM music, voted Adagio for Strings as the second greatest dance record of all time. Also in 2004, he was invited to perform at the Athens Olympics, and he wrote music that was performed during the parade of athletes during the opening ceremonies. That same year, he was appointed an officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
- He released two more studio albums between 2007 and 2009. Both Elements of Life and Kaleidoscope charted on the Billboard 200 album chart, and the former topped the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Three singles charted on the US Dance charts. A non-album single titled Feel It was his first to chart on the Hot 100 at #78, and it peaked at #4 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
- Three more studio albums were released between 2011 and 2020, along with seven DJ mix albums. His most successful singles during this time were Red Lights (#2 on the US Dance Club Songs chart), Wasted (#5 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart), Jackie Chan (#3 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart and #52 on the Hot 100) and God Is a Dancer (#1 on the Dance Club Songs chart).
- Much of Tiësto’s fame came with his remixes of other artist’s work. He released over 125 remixes since 1995. His remix of John Legend’s All of Me in 2014 won a Grammy award for Best Remixed Recording.
- Beginning with the Kaleidoscope album, Tiësto’s style evolved, with less of the high intensity of trance music to more of the bass-dominated house sounds, as well as catchy pop-oriented songs. This contributed to his heightened popularity in Europe, where house music was appreciated more by EDM fans, compared to the U.S. Don’t worry – Tiësto is doing just fine. In 2017, Forbes estimated that his annual income was $39 million, and he earned $250,000 per show performance. His YouTube channel has over 6 million subscribers. Here’s the video to one of those catchy dance-pop tracks, Red Lights. Put your hands in the air and dance!