| B i o g r a p h y |
Armin van Buuren,
OON (born in Leiden, Netherlands on 25 December 1976) is a Dutch trance
producer and DJ. In 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 he was voted number one
in DJ Magazine's annual top 100 list of the most popular DJs. Since
2001 van Buuren has hosted a weekly radio show called A State of Trance
and claims to have over 30 million weekly listeners in more than 40
countries, which would make it the most listened radio show in the
world. His 2008 studio album, Imagine, entered the Dutch album chart at
#1, a first for a dance artist in Dutch music history.
Armin van Buuren has always had his own studio and worked alone in
the beginning of his career. Since the release of his third studio
album Imagine from 2008 he has been working with Benno de Goeij and
DJ-RA of Rank 1 on all solo productions and remixes. He is well known
for his annual "Year Mix" which incorporates clips and custom mashups
from the year's most popular trance tracks. Each year-mix consists of
about 85 individual releases, edited into a 2 hour mix which is
released on double CD as well as aired on his weekly radio show at the
end of each year. According to van Buuren, each year-mix takes several
months to make, including thousands of digital audio edits and hundreds
of audio plugins.
Armin Van Buuren was born in Leiden, the Netherlands on 25 December
1976, but grew up in Koudekerk aan den Rijn. He finished high school at
the Stedelijk Gymnasium Leiden in 1995, and left for college to study
law at Leiden University. While studying law, van Buuren's interest for
making music blossomed, and he began working as a DJ in a local club
called Nexus. As his musical career began to take off, he put his law
degree on hold, although he did return to finish law school in 2003.
Armin Van Buuren started making music when he was 14 and he often
listened to music using the headphones that his father had given to
him. He was inspired by French electronic music composer, Jean Michel
Jarre, and wished to become a great electronic music composer like
Jarre; finally meeting Jarre when van Buuren was the number 1 DJ of the
world, along with DJ-RA (2009), in Amsterdam after Jarre's concert. On
18 September 2009 Armin married Erika van Thiel in Wassenaar,
Netherlands. They met during a vacation on Crete, and had been together
for 9 years prior to the marriage. On 12 January 2011, Armin announced
the pregnancy of his wife Erika on Twitter. He hoped the baby, due this
summer, will be his "best production ever." Their daughter, Fenna, was
born on 24 July 2011.