Don Diablo

Don Diablo
Don Diablo performing at Creamfields Steel Yard in London, May 2017
Background information
Also known as
  • Origin Unknown
  • 2 Faced
  • Big Pineapple
Born (1980-02-27) 27 February 1980
Origin Coevorden, Netherlands
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • DJ
  • record producer
  • musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
Years active 1997–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website www.dondiablo.com

Don Pepijn Schipper (born 27 February 1980), better known by his stage name Don Diablo, is a Dutch DJ, record producer, musician and singer-songwriter of electronic dance music from Coevorden. He is known for his electronic style of production and vocalizing in most of his songs. He was ranked 11th in the Top 100 DJs – 2017 list by DJ Mag.[1] He was also ranked the number one Future House Artist of the Year on Beatport in 2016.[2]

Early life

Schipper was born in Coevorden, Netherlands on 27 February 1980. He started early with music, signing his first record deal at age fifteen. At the end of 2005 Diablo founded his own record label and event brand, Sellout Sessions, raising his profile in his native country, the Netherlands. Success followed soon after with underground hits like "Blow", "Who's Your Daddy", "Pain Is Temporary, Pride Is Forever", "Hooligans" and "Animale". "Blow" was the first single to create a big buzz on international club scenes getting licensed to over ten countries. He also completed his studies obtaining a bachelor's degree in journalism.

Career

1997–2005: Early years

Diablo has played in Canada, the UK, the US, Australia, Japan, Brazil, and Israel. He has played at clubs and festivals including "Passion" club in London as resident DJ in 2002, Ministry of Sound, Gatecrasher, Dancevalley, Godskitchen, Impulz, Mysteryland, Creamfields, Haoman 17, Turnmills, Chasing Summer, Innercity, Northern Lights, Extrema Outdoorn, ElectroNation and Razzmatazz and Space in Ibiza. He has produced for a diverse range of artists including Kelis, Alex Clare, Diplo, Example, Dragonette, Noisia, Rox, Sidney Samson, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool and remixed for Bastille, Birdy, Tinie Tempah, Mika, The Chemical Brothers, Cassius, Gorillaz, Public Enemy, Iggy Pop, Plump DJs. According to North American music blog aggregator The Hype Machine, he was named "Most Blogged Artist" in the world several times.[3]

In 2004, he launched his separate music project called Divided. The project had two hits "The Music, the People" credited to Divided featuring Diablo in 2004, followed by "Easy Lover" in 2005, credited to Diablo presents Divided, a dance remake of the joint hit of Philip Bailey and Phil Collins in 1985, Divided remake coming after twenty years of the release of the original.

2006–2009: Life Is a Festival

In 2006, Diablo was licensed to the UK top 3 chart hit "Exceeder" by Mason. The record was originally signed to Middle of the Road, a record label set up by Diablo and Amsterdam-based club promoter Roy Avni (Electro Nation). In 2008, Diablo released his debut album “Life Is a Festival. In 2009, "Hooligans", a collaboration with English singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer Example, reached number 15 on the UK Dance Chart.

2010–2013

In 2010, a collaboration with Dragonette resulted in the hit single "Animale" that charted in the Dutch Singles Chart as well as the Belgian Ultratip chart.

In 2013 Diablo released new songs on Axwell's Axtone label, Nicky Romero's Protocol Recordings, Steve Angello's Size X imprint and Spinnin' Records label. He created the theme song for the 2013 video game Batman: Arkham Origins.

His song "Starlight (Could You Be Mine)", made with UK DJ/producer Matt Nash, was debuted during the last Swedish House Mafia concert, after Axwell signed it to his label.[4] The song became a Beatport Top 5 hit, and later several of his other releases reaching the Beatport Top 10.[5] The music video, directed by Kyle Padilla, was published on 7 February 2014, around seven months after the song's release.

During 2013 Pete Tong debuted six of Don's releases on his BBC Radio 1 show. He had a residency at Las Vegas' night club "Light", played the Departures Ibiza closing party alongside Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso, and toured the UK with Nicky Romero. He had a sold out solo tour in Asia and the USA.

2014–2016

In 2014, Diablo premiered his new visual concept "The Hexagon" with Los Angeles-based visual company "VSquared Labs".

In October 2014, Diablo made his debut on DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs list at No. 82.[6] In October 2015, Diablo was awarded with DJ Magazine's "highest climber of the year" prize, jumping 52 places to No. 30 on the Top 100 DJs list for 2015.[7]

Diablo launched his Hexagon record label. The first release, a remix of Alex Adair's "You Make Me Feel Better" held the no. 1 position on Beatport for almost two weeks and the label was awarded "best new label of the year".[8]

In 2015 his HEXAGON radio show was aired in over 35 countries and holds a top 10 position in the iTunes podcast section every week.

Diablo has directed all of his own music videos. In 2013 Warner Brothers asked Don to create the worldwide theme song for the much acclaimed Batman: Arkham Origins game. The track and accompanying video became a viral hit; it was viewed millions of times on YouTube.

In 2015 Diablo collaborated with fellow Dutch DJ Tiësto on the track "Chemicals" featuring vocals from Danish singer and producer Thomas Troelsen.

Throughout 2016 and 2017, Diablo went on Tour Across Europe, this sold out across multiple venues including his first headline show in London.

2017: Past.Present.Future

In 2017, Don Diablo released Past.Present.Future, a compilation of previously released tracks, including hits "On My Mind," "Cutting Shapes," and his collaboration with Tiësto "Chemicals" featuring Thomas Troelsen.[9]

Diablo won DJ Mag's 2017 Highest Future House award and was ranked #11 overall in the DJ Mag Top 100 Poll.[10]

A packed global tour schedule saw him play the mainstages of Tomorrowland, EDC, Creamfields, Mysteryland, Lollapalooza, and Ultra Music Festival whilst selling out his Headline Artist shows in the UK, US & European markets.

On March 17, 2017, Don Diablo premiered a new collaboration with MARNIK and Galantis' unaccredited No Money singer, Reece Bullimore entitled, Children of a Miracle.[11]

On September 6, 2017, Don Diablo released a single with Nashville-based singer / songwriter Holly Winter, titled "Don't Let Go".[12]

On November 2017, Diablo released “Take Her Place” with electronic trio A R I Z O N A. He announced through Instagram that he will be releasing his first album in 10 years, entitled “FUTURE”, accompanied by a world tour set to kick off during the first half of 2018.

On December 15, 2017, he released his sixth single, entitled "You Can't Change Me". The music video stars BONETICS, a dancer that competed on Britain's Got Talent.[13]

2018: Future

On January 19, Don Diablo released the seventh single from Future, "People Say", with actor/songwriter, Paije Richardson.

On February 8, he embarked on his sold out Future North American Tour, making stops at Los Angeles' Fonda Theatre and New York's Terminal 5, among others.[14]

His second studio album, Future, was released via his label Hexagon on 9 February 2018.[15][16]

On March 13, he released the eighth single to FUTURE entitled "Head Up" with singer James Newman. On March 23, he released the ninth single to FUTURE entitled "Believe", available on the deluxe edition (released same day) with actor/singer-songwriter Ansel Elgort.[17] On April 25, he released the tenth single to FUTURE entitled "Give Me Love" with singer Calum Scott.[18]

On May 11, his remix of Kygo and The Night Game's song "Kids In Love" was released.[19] On July 12, he released his single "No Good", in partnership with artist Zonderling. On August 3rd, he released his new single, Heaven to Me, featuring Alex Clare.

Philanthropy

Diablo was the first ambassador for Dance4Life, an international UN-supported action campaign to fight back against HIV and AIDS. Diablo travelled to South Africa to visit several Dance4Life affiliated projects in Johannesburg and Cape Town. MTV Networks shot an intense documentary of Don's visit to these projects.[20]

Furthermore, in 2018 Don Diablo's tour has a major charitable aspect, as all ticket proceeds are set to be donated to the Dutch Cancer Society.[21]

Discography

Awards and nominations

Year Event Award Recipient Result
2007 TMF Awards[22] Best Music Video "Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever" Nominated
2011 Best Music Video "Animale" Nominated
3FM Awards Best Artist Dance Don Diablo Nominated
2012 Nominated
2016 EMPO Awards Producer of the Year Won
Best Future House DJ Won
2017 WDM Radio Awards Best Electro House DJ Don Diablo Nominated
Best Remix "Keeping Your Head Up" Nominated
2018 Best Electro House DJ Don Diablo Won
Best Remix "Something Just like This" Won

References

  1. "Top 100 DJs 2016". DJMag.com. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  2. "Say Hello To The Newly Announced #1 Future House DJ In The World". 29 December 2016.
  3. "Hype Machine - Don Diablo Most Favorites". HypeMachine. 21 March 2017.
  4. Berecz, Aaron. "Don Diablo & Matt Nash - Starlight (Could You Be Mine)". DJ Mag Canada. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  5. "Beatport Top Tracks August 6th 2013". Beatport. 6 August 2013.
  6. "DJ Mag Top 100 DJs 2014 - Don Diablo". DJ Mag. 13 October 2014.
  7. "DJ Mag Top 100 DJs 2015 - Don Diablo". DJ Mag. 9 October 2015.
  8. "Beatport Breakthrough Labels of 2015: EDM". Beatport. 2 December 2015.
  9. "Past.Present.Future". Spotify. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  10. "Don Diablo Wins DJ Mag Top 100 DJs 2017 Highest Future House". DJ Mag. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  11. "Don Diablo partners with Marnik for new single, 'Children Of A Miracle'". Vaunter. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  12. "Don Diablo Ft Holly Winter, 'Don't Let Go'". Youtube. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
  13. "Don Diablo - You Can't Change Me Official Music Video". YouTube. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  14. "Don Diablo Announces 2018 North American Tour". DJ Mag. 2017-11-10. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  15. "Don Diablo Reveals His New Album At Last". Your EDM. 2018-01-20. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
  16. Diablo, Don (30 January 2018). "FUTURE: 09.02.2018". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
  17. "Don Diablo Drops FUTURE Deluxe Edition Feat. Ansel Elgort on Believe: Listen". Billboard. 2018-03-23. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  18. "Don Diablo - Give Me Love (feat. Calum Scott)". We Rave You. 2018-04-25. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  19. "Kids in Love (Don Diablo Remix) - Single". Apple Music. 2018-05-11. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  20. "Home — dance4life". Dance4life.com. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  21. "Don Diablo announces European tour in aid of Dutch Cancer Society". 16 February 2018.
  22. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 July 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
  • Official website
  • Don Diablo discography at Discogs
  • "Don Diablo To Aspiring DJs: Be A Musician, Not A Technician" - Popspoken interview with Diablo
  • Spinnin' Records
  • "Don Diablo & Matt Nash - Starlight (Could You Be Mine) Official Video". Axtone. 7 February 2014. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015.
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