Mason (musician)

Mason (born 17 January 1980; Iason Chronis) is the stage name of Dutch music DJ & producer. He had a number one on the UK Dance Chart in 2007 with his track "Exceeder". Exceeder had originally been an instrumental and had received a vinyl only release in the UK in 2006. The new version of the track, "Perfect (Exceeder)", featured vocals from Princess Superstar and reached number 3 on the national British chart in January 2007. The track was a big hit in many countries worldwide. He also had pop chart success in the Netherlands and Belgium with his song "Runaway", which was a modern version of "Runaway" by Eruption, and with "Boadicea", featuring Róisín Murphy.

Mason has released music on numerous electronic music labels, such as Great Stuff Recordings and Fool's Gold Records, and remixed artists such as Moby, Jack Garrett, Steve Aoki, Hadouken, Don Diablo, Mat Zo, 2Unlimited, Mylo, Worthy, Tommy Trash, Martin Solveig, Robyn and Gabriella Cilmi.

Mason plays live shows as well as DJ sets and has performed at festivals such as Sensation White, Dance Valley, Tomorrowland, Nature One, Creamfields, Global Gathering and clubs such as Fabric, Ministry Of Sound, Green Valley, Space Ibiza, Zouk, Octagon, Air and many others in more than 50 countries around the world. Mason is the organiser behind several parties throughout the Netherlands, including the Animal Language Kafe Rave and Avondwinkel at Club Nyx in Amsterdam. He is also on the members board of Buma/Stemra.

Biography

Iason Chronis was born in Amsterdam to a Dutch actress Adrienne Kleiweg and Greek sculptor Jorgos Chronis. Both his sisters have been TV actresses too.

Chronis began learning the violin at age 6. In 1987, he sang in the eighth version of the Kinderen voor Kinderen choir and would continue to do so until the twelfth version in 1991.

In 1995, he started doing DJ performances, initially in and around Amsterdam but later abroad. In 1999, he took a four-year course in Music Composition and Performance, which he graduated with honours and for which he received an award from the Dutch Royal Family. He used his violin skills during his DJ sets between 1999 and 2005. During his world tour with Tiësto in 2004, he played the violin during a live performance of "Lethal Industry". In 2006, Coen Berrier (born 17 April 1979) joined Mason in the studio and during live shows, but left in 2014. Berrier had had earlier chart success with "Husan" by Bhangra Knights.

In 2008, Mason launched his own label Animal Language. In 2011, he released his debut album They Are Among Us, which featured collaborations with Róisín Murphy, DMC, Sam Sparro, Kurtis Blow and Aqualung. In 2014 the second Mason album ZOA was released, featuring Jocelyn Brown, Zoot Woman, Rouge Mary (Hercules & Love Affair) among other featured artists.

In 2015, his single "Papapapa" on Loulou Records reached the number 1 position on Beatport. In the same year, Mason released his Nite Rite series, a collection of numbered Nite Rites, released on each full moon. Nite Rite Ten featured Danielle Moore from the UK indie band Crazy P on vocals. He also collaborated on releases with German house acts Moonbootica and Sharam Jey and remixed fellow Dutch acts Kraak & Smaak, Janne Schra and Arling & Cameron this year.

In 2016, Mason signed to Island Records and began work on material with US hip hop artist Azealia Banks. However, after racial and homophobic comments by her on Twitter, he ceased the collaboration and started to work with UK grime artist Stefflon Don, which led to the "Fashion Killa" single release, which reached a number 4 position on the UK dance chart. This song was also used for television ads for Boohoo.com, Deezer and America's Next Top Model. The song was widely supported on BBC Radio 1 and other UK national radio stations. He also mixed and compiled the Toolroom Miami Poolside album this year, which was released on Toolroom Records.

In 2017, Mason got signed to house label Defected Records, which released his single "Rhino", which got chosen as "hottest record in the world" on BBC Radio 1. He also collaborated with UK tech house producer Betoko and has remixed Sting and James Hype.

This year (2018) Mason has already released 'Dance Shake Move' via Skint/BMG records, the home of Fat Boy Slim and Xpress2. He has also collaborated with Alex Clare, the UK/US top 10 vocalist and is about to release his second single for Island records featuring UK grime act The Manor.

Discography

References

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