Wessel van Diepen

Wessel van Diepen (born on November 12, 1966 in Delft, Netherlands)^[1] is a Dutch radio host, music producer, voice actor and former TV presenter. Under the pseudonym DJ Delmundo, he is part of Danski & Delmundo, the producer duo behind internationally famous acts like the Vengaboys and Alice Deejay. With a total of 10 UK top 10 hits including 2 UK number one hits, two Billboard Dance number one hits, a gold album in the USA and multi-platinum selling singles worldwide, he is one of the most successful dance-pop music producers in Dutch history. Van Diepen is the station-voice for Radio 538 and FOX Television NL and does movie trailer voiceover work.

Career

At age 15, van Diepen started a pirate radio station called "Radio Stad Delft". The station was taken down by the police numerous times. When he was 17 years old, during a holiday in Wichita, Kansas, United States, he met a DJ at KKRD who gave van Diepen the opportunity to fill in for him.

In 1986, van Diepen was noticed by 3FM DJ Rob Stenders in The Netherlands and became a DJ at the VARA, which also broadcasts via National radio 3FM.

As a fresh voice in Dutch radio, van Diepen was recruited by popular broadcasting organization Veronica for radio and TV programs. This included the Europe-wide broadcast pop music TV show Countdown, broadcast on Sky Channel and Super Channe, which brought him to international fame.

In the 1990s, television moguls Erik de Zwart and Lex Harding left Veronica and started Radio 538 and Van Diepen was asked to join them. The success of his daily drive-time show gave him the opportunity to create the radio show "Van Diepen's Dance Department". In this internationally awarded show, major DJs would spin their vinyl live in the studio. Guest DJs included Oakenfold to Digweed and from Paul van Dyk to Tiesto. Many successful Dutch DJs claim to have grown up listening to Dance Department. When Dutch music video channel TMF (The Music Factory) was launched in 199, van Diepen again gained TV fame as a VJ with a popular show called "Wessels Woelige Wereld" (translated: "Wessels Wild World"), which he hosted until 1999.

Van Diepen also started a successful run of producing dance music in the 1990s. Together with Peran van Dijk and later Dennis van Den Driesschen ('Danski'), he produced acts such as L.A. Style (James Brown Is Dead (with Van Diepen doing the trademark megaphone catchphrase)), Nakatomi, and eventually worldwide phenomenons Alice Deejay and Vengaboys. The Vengaboys alone sold over 15 million singles, 4.5 million albums. The group went platinum in 73 countries and performed in more than 130 different countries.

The Vengaboys split in 2000, but Van Diepen co-wrote and produced their comeback release Rocket To Uranus^[2] in 2010. In 2013, Protocol recordings released the EDM track WTF!? which was also co-written by van Diepen and produced by Nicky Romero and Peran van Dijk.

Van Diepen resigned as a radio presenter in 2006 to focus more on artist development and music production, but he returned to Radio 538 in 2013 with Global Dance Chart, a weekly beat-mixed chart-show with the 40 biggest dance hits worldwide. The show was officially opened by Martin Garrix smashing a bottle of champagne on Van Diepen's head. It has since become a "ratings monster" for Radio 538.

References