Oliver Heldens

Oliver Heldens
Oliver Heldens at the Airbeat One Festival 2015
Background information
Birth name Olivier J. L. Heldens
Also known as HI-LO
Born (1995-02-01) 1 February 1995
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Genres Future house, tech house, EDM
Occupation(s) Producer, musician
Years active 2013–present
Labels Spinnin', Heldeep, Musical Freedom, FFRR
Associated acts Sander van Doorn, Tiësto, Hardwell, Robin Thicke, KStewart, Becky Hill, Zeds Dead, Don Diablo, Mr. Belt & Wezol, Throttle, Natalie La Rose, Chocolate Puma, Firebeatz
Website www.oliverheldens.com

Olivier J. L. Heldens (born 1 February 1995), better known by his stage name Oliver Heldens, is a Dutch DJ and electronic music producer from Rotterdam.[1] His 2013 song "Gecko" caught the attention of fellow Dutch DJ Tiësto, who signed him to his label,[2] Musical Freedom, and released the track with vocals from British singer Becky Hill on 23 June 2014.[3] Heldens also has a weekly podcast titled Heldeep Radio, which has been ongoing for over 2 years.[4]

In 2015, he began producing bass house songs under the alias HI-LO, which comes from 'Oli H' in reversed form.[5] Under his alias, Heldens has produced ten singles, including "Crank It Up", "Renegade Mastah" and "Wappy Flirt", releasing the later two on his label Heldeep Records. He is regarded as a pioneer of the future house genre alongside Tchami and Don Diablo.[6]

Career

2013–2014: debut and "Gecko" breakthrough

Oliver Heldens on stage in St. Louis, Missouri during his U.S. and Canada bus tour

Heldens began his professional music career when he signed to Spinnin' Records in 2013. His first releases on the label included the songs "Stinger" and "Thumper", which features DJ Jacob van Hage. Later collaborations included "Panther" with 'Robby East' which was released on the Oxygen label on 2 December 2013.[1] The single "Gecko" was released in the same month on Tiesto's Musical Freedom record label.[7] The song peaked at number 1 on the DMC Magazine Buzz Chart and was named "Essential New Tune" by BBC's Pete Tong on 31 January 2014.[1]

In January 2014, Heldens launched his Heldeep Mixtape on his official SoundCloud page, creating extended mixes which incorporate various genres of electronic music including different types of deep house and tech house. The first mixtape included his remix of fellow Spinnin' Records signee Martin Garrix's "Animals". In March 2014, Heldens also released a remix of Robin Thicke's "Feel Good".

Heldens entered the DJ Mag Top 100 of 2014, making his debut at number 34. In December 2014, he performed an Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1; from British radio DJ Pete Tong named him "one of the breakthrough producers of the year".[8] "Koala" became the second-most popular searched dance recording from the 2014 Amsterdam Dance Event on music recognition app Shazam.[9] He achieved 12th place in the DJ Mag Top 100 2015, making him the highest ranked house DJ on the list.

Throughout his career, Heldens has played many high-profile events such as EDC, Amnesia Ibiza, Tomorrowland, Creamfields, Electric Zoo, Veld Music Festival and Stereosonic. In a Billboard interview at Tomorrowland, Heldens described his style as deep house despite acknowledging the mainstream influences in his music.[10] In 2016 played Glastonbury 2016, and played regularly at Ushuaïa Ibiza alongside Robin Schulz.

On 17 December 2015 BBC Radio 1 announced that Heldens was to have a residency show starting on 22 January 2016. Since then, Heldens has played a 1-hour Radio 1 slot on the third Thursday of every month.[11]

2015–present: HI-LO and Heldeep Records

Heldens in 2015

At the end of July, the HI-LO song "Renegade Mastah" was the first track to be released on Oliver's label "Heldeep Records". However, it was revealed that HI-LO was Heldens in a later interview to the UKF blog, who used the label to launch the HI-LO project.[5] The title of the HI-LO project was chosen as a palindrome for Oli-H, to signify Oliver Heldens. The HI-LO tracks "Crank It Up", "Wappy Flirt" and "Ooh La La" have been released since then, with the single "Scrub the Ground" by Chocolate Puma and Tommie Sunshine additionally released on Heldeep Records in October.

A new EP titled "Heldeep Talent EP" was released 23 November 2015 including the songs: "I Can't Stop" by Death Ray Shake, "Hookah" by Bojac, "Slip Away" by Niko The Kid and "Fall Under Skies" by Jonas Aden & Robby East. Since then Oliver released "Heldeep Talent EP Part 2" on 21 March 2016 Featuring three tracks: "Get Busy" by Steff Da Campo, "Lethal" by NOVKA and "Mirrors feat. Stevyn by Tom Budin and Stevyn.[12]

"Waiting", an Oliver Heldens and Throttle collaboration, was released on Heldeep Records on 7 January 2016. Heldeep Records also released A track by Mr. Belt & Wezol and Shermanology called "Hide & Seek" as well as another track by Bougenvilla & Out Of Cookies called "Break It Down" on 25 April 2016. The label also released "Space Sheep," a collaboration between label owner Oliver Heldens and Chocolate Puma on 2 May 2016.

Discography

Awards and nominations

Year Organisation Award Work Result
2014 DJ Mag Top 100 DJs Himself 34th[13]
2015 12th[14]
2016 Style Icon Asia Iconic Global Producer of the Year 1st
DJ Mag Top 100 DJs Himself 8th[15]
2017 DJ Mag Top 100 DJs Himself 13th[16]

References

Sources

  1. 1 2 3 Aneet Nijjar. "Oliver Heldens – Bibliography".
  2. ↑ "This Week's Fresh Music Top 20". Internet. May 30, 2014. 4Music.
  3. ↑ "Oliver Heldens X Becky Hill – 'Gecko (Overdrive)' (Official Video) Video". Capital Xtra. May 20, 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  4. ↑ "2 Years of Heldeep Radio". Spinnin Records. May 28, 2016. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  5. 1 2 "Oliver Heldens: Why I became HI-LO". UKF. July 29, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Oliver Heldens' 20 Best Future House Songs Ever". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  7. ↑ "Oliver Heldens – Gecko". Tiësto Blog. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  8. ↑ Pete Tong (December 6, 2014). "BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix "Oliver Heldens"" (Podcast). BBC. Event occurs at 04:00. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  9. ↑ "These Were The Top 10 Shazam-ed Tracks During ADE". Beatport Buzz. October 22, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  10. ↑ Matt Medved (October 6, 2014). "Oliver Heldens Talks Deep House & Defying Genres at TomorrowWorld". Billboard. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Radio 1 Residency". BBC Radio 1. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  12. ↑ "Steff Da Campo, NOVKA, Tom Budin, Stevyn New Releases: HELDEEP Talent EP Part 2 on Beatport". pro.beatport.com. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
  13. ↑ "The DJ Mag Top 100 2014 results are in!". Magnetic Magazine. 18 October 2014.
  14. ↑ "The DJ Mag Top 100 DJs of 2015". Ministry of Sound. 17 October 2015.
  15. ↑ "Oliver Heldens in the DJ Mag Top 100 2016". DJ Mag. 18 October 2016.
  16. ↑ "Oliver Heldens in the DJ Mag Top 100 2017". DJ Mag. 17 October 2017.
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