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Armin van Buuren
Aged just 31, Armin Van Buuren has been named number one in the prestigious DJ Top 100 poll – voted for by over 350,000 people across the world, and an indication of his prolific output over the 10 years he’s been DJing and producing. Being the official World’s Best DJ is just one of his many achievements, but the driving force behind his success is an overriding passion for dance music.
Even a basic list of recent successes reads like a lifetime of work: ‘Best Album’ for artist album “Shivers” at both the Dutch Release Dance Awards and the prestigious Edison Awards; ‘Best Compilation’ for “A State Of Trance.”
Born in Leiden, Holland (on December 25, 1976) to a musical family, Armin indulged his passion for music from a young age. He spent all the money he earned with his paper round on records. His mum won a computer when he was 10, “So as a little nerdy kid I was writing my own basic programmes, and learnt about the technology from there.” He progressed from making low-profile mix tapes for friends to higher profile mixes when he discovered experimenting with different sequences on his computer through his uncle. “I was so stunned by what I saw him doing on the computer, that I got addicted to creating music right there and then!”
In the early days, Armin thought it was wise to have something extra in case the DJ’ing didn’t work out. So he studied for a law degree. The final year of his course was inevitably stretched as he juggled his studies with his increasingly hectic schedule; his rise to fame included lots of productions and remixes, as well as playing out to packed clubs every weekend. It took him three years to graduate, but his determination made him succeed!
Armin is a dedicated trance lover, but isn’t imprisoned by a single genre, saying “What makes trance work so well is that it doesn’t stick to one style, and can incorporate electro, minimal, whatever it likes.” His desire to showcase more of the great music he hears, along with the number of people sending him tracks they wanted to release, led to the obvious step of starting his own label, Armada, in 2003.
"This is just what I really want," says Armin. "It’s not just love for music, it’s my passion. It goes beyond liking, and beyond a hobby, it’s about a way of living. Music is essential to my life”.
Text by Armin Van Buuren
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