Oliver Heldens
| Oliver Heldens | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Olivier Heldens |
| Also known as | HI-LO |
| Born |
February 1, 1995 Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Genres | Future house, Tech house, EDM |
| Occupation(s) | Producer, musician |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Labels | Spinnin', Heldeep, Musical Freedom, FFRR, Revealed |
| 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 |
| Website |
oliverheldens |
Olivier Heldens, (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 June 23, 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 produced three singles titled "Crank It Up", "Renegade Mastah" and "Wappy Flirt",[6] releasing the latter two on his label Heldeep Records.[7]
Career
2013–2014: Debut and Gecko breakthrough
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 the December 2, 2013.[1] The single "Gecko" was released in the same month on Tiesto's Musical Freedom record label.[8] The song peaked at number 1 on the DMC Magazine Buzz Chart and was named "Essential New Tune" by BBC's Pete Tong on January 31, 2014.[1]
In January 2014, Heldens launched his Heldeep Mixtape on his official SoundCloud page, creating extended mixes which incorporate different 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".
Oliver Heldens entered the DJ Mag Top 100 of 2014, making his debut at number 34. In December 2014, Heldens performed an Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 and received praise from British radio DJ Pete Tong, who named him "one of the breakthrough producers of the year".[9] "Koala" became the second-most popular searched dance recording from the 2014 Amsterdam Dance Event on music recognition app Shazam.[10] 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 objection of "deep house purists" to the mainstream influences in his music.[11] In 2016 it was announced that Heldens would play Glastonbury 2016, and have a residency at Ushuaïa Ibiza alongside Robin Schulz called 'Blue'.
On December 17, 2015, BBC Radio 1 announced that Heldens was to have a residency show starting on January 22, 2016. Since then, Heldens has played a 1-hour Radio 1 slot on the third Thursday of every month.[12]
2015–present: HI-LO and Heldeep Records
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 March 21, 2016 Featuring three tracks: "Get Busy" by Steff Da Campo, "Lethal" by NOVKA and "Mirrors feat. Stevyn by Tom Budin and Stevyn.[13]
"Waiting", an Oliver Heldens and Throttle collaboration, was released on Heldeep Records on January 7, 2016.[14]
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 April 25, 2016[15]
The label also released "Space Sheep," a collaboration between label owner Oliver Heldens and Chocolate Puma on May 2, 2016.
Singles
Oliver's songs "Gecko (Overdrive)", "Last All Night (Koala)" and his remix of Dr Kucho!'s "Can't Stop Playing" charted as top 5 singles in the UK, reaching 1st, 5th and 4th position respectively.
As lead artist
| Title | Year | Label | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Stinger" | 2013 | Oxygen | Non-album singles |
| "Juggernaut" | Cr2 | ||
| "Striker" | Flashover | ||
| "Thumper" (with Jacob van Hage) |
Sneakerz | ||
| "Triumph" (with Julian Calor) |
Wooha! | ||
| "Buzzer" | Cr2 | ||
| "Onyva" (featuring Alvar & Millas) |
Oxygen | ||
| "Javelin" (with Martin Mayne) |
Cr2 | ||
| "Panther" (with Robby East) |
Oxygen | ||
| "Gecko" | Musical Freedom | ||
| "Gecko (Overdrive)" (with Becky Hill) |
2014 | FFRR | |
| "Koala" | Spinnin' | ||
| "This" (with Sander van Doorn) |
Doorn Records | ||
| "Pikachu" (with Mr. Belt & Wezol) |
Spinnin' | ||
| "Last All Night (Koala)" (featuring KStewart) |
FFRR | ||
| "You Know" (with Zeds Dead) |
2015 | Spinnin' | |
| "Melody" | |||
| "Bunnydance" | |||
| "Shades of Grey" (with Shaun Frank featuring Delaney Jane) | |||
| "MHATLP" (HI-LO Edit) (with Da Hool) | |||
| "Wombass" (with Tiësto) |
Musical Freedom | ||
| "The Right Song" (with Tiësto featuring Natalie La Rose) |
2016 | Universal | |
| "Waiting" (with Throttle) |
Heldeep | ||
| "Ghost" (featuring Rumors) | |||
| "Space Sheep" (with Chocolate Puma) | |||
| "Flamingo" | |||
| "Good Life" (featuring Ida Corr) |
As HI-LO
| Title | Year | Label | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Crank It Up" | 2015 | Mad Decent | Non-album singles |
| "Renegade Mastah" | Heldeep | ||
| "Wappy Flirt" | Free | Free download | |
| "Ooh La La" | Heldeep | Non-album singles | |
| "Steam Train" | 2016 | ||
| "Wtf" |
Remixes
- 2014
- Martin Garrix - "Animals" (Oliver Heldens Remix)
- Robin Thicke - "Feel Good" (Oliver Heldens Remix)
- Disclosure featuring Sam Smith - "Latch" (Oliver Heldens Remix) (NOTE: Would later devolve into the remix of Lady B's cover of Return Of The Mack)
- Coldplay - "A Sky Full of Stars" (Oliver Heldens Remix)
- Lady Bee ft. Rochelle - "Return Of The Mack" (Oliver Heldens Remix)
- Dr. Kucho! and Gregor Salto - "Can't Stop Playing" (Oliver Heldens & Gregor Salto Remix)
- The Voyagers featuring Haris - "A Lot Like Love" (Oliver Heldens Edit)
- Tiësto featuring DBX - "Light Years Away" (Oliver Heldens Remix)
- 2015
- Calvin Harris featuring Ellie Goulding - "Outside" (Oliver Heldens Remix)
- Oliver Heldens & Da Hool - MHATLP (HI-LO Edit)
- 2016
- G-Eazy featuring Bebe Rexha - "Me, Myself & I" (Oliver Heldens Remix)
- Moby - Go (HI-LO Remix)
Awards and nominations
| Year | Organisation | Award | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | DJ Magazine | Top 100 DJs | Himself | 34th[16] |
| 2015 | 12th[17] | |||
| 2016 | Style Icon Asia | Iconic Global Producer of the Year | 1st[18] | |
| DJ Magazine | Top 100 DJs | Himself | 8th[19] |
References
Sources
- 1 2 3 Aneet Nijjar. "Oliver Heldens – Bibliography".
- ↑ "This Week's Fresh Music Top 20". May 30, 2014. 4Music. Missing or empty
|series=(help) - ↑ "Oliver Heldens X Becky Hill – 'Gecko (Overdrive)' (Official Video) Video". Capital Xtra. May 20, 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
- ↑ "2 Years of Heldeep Radio". Spinnin Records. May 28, 2016. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
- 1 2 "Oliver Heldens: Why I became HI-LO". UKF. July 29, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
- ↑ "HI-LO Free Listening On SoundCloud". Oliver Heldens on SoundCloud. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
- ↑ "Heldeep Records". Discogs. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
- ↑ "Oliver Heldens – Gecko". Tiësto Blog. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
- ↑ Pete Tong (December 6, 2014). "BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix "Oliver Heldens"" (Podcast). BBC. Event occurs at 04:00. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
- ↑ "These Were The Top 10 Shazam-ed Tracks During ADE". Beatport Buzz. October 22, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
- ↑ Matt Medved (October 6, 2014). "Oliver Heldens Talks Deep House & Defying Genres at TomorrowWorld". Billboard. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
- ↑ "Radio 1 Residency". BBC Radio 1. 17 December 201 5. Retrieved 9 June 2016. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ "Steff Da Campo, NOVKA, Tom Budin, Stevyn New Releases: HELDEEP Talent EP Part 2 on Beatport". pro.beatport.com. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
- ↑ https://soundcloud.com/heldeeprecords/oliver-heldens-throttle-waiting-preview
- ↑ "Heldeep Records". SoundCloud. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
- ↑ "The DJ Mag Top 100 2014 results are in!". Magnetic Magazine. 18 October 2014.
- ↑ "The DJ Mag Top 100 DJs of 2015". Ministry of Sound. 17 October 2015.
- ↑ "Oliver Heldens on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
- ↑ "Oliver Heldens in the DJ Mag Top 100 2016". DJ Magazine. 18 October 2016.