Hardwell

Built on Europe's love of euphoric, throbbing dance anthems, Dutch DJ-producer Hardwell has become a huge global brand who headlines the world's leading festivals and biggest nightclubs. Born in the southern city of Breda, Hardwell (real name Robbert van de Corupt) watched an MTV documentary about the birth of trance music when he was ten-years-old and set his heart on emulating local heroes such as Tiësto and Armin Van Buuren. Three years later he was playing old hip-hop and dancehall vinyl records in local parties and posting his own remixes and beats online for free and by the age of 14 he had landed his first record deal with the Digidance label run by production duo Klubbheads. Because he was under-age his parents had to accompany him to major nightclubs but his reputation soon grew with the 'Electric Beatz' mix albums which ran to ten volumes between 2006 and 2010 and Hardwell became one of the first DJs to to embrace social media and actively market himself. The viral popularity of his 'Show Me Be' bootleg, mash-up was another breakthrough moment, and after residencies in Ibiza and the collaborative track 'Zero 76' with Tiësto, he became the first DJ to upload live sets to YouTube and started working with a videographer to build his profile. It proved a huge success and after remixes for Rihanna, The Wanted and Coldplay, he was voted the number one DJ in the world by DJ Mag and rounded off a headlining tour of North America with a performance at Madison Square Garden. His popular documentary 'I Am Hardwell' chronicled his rise to fame and his single 'Dare You', featuring American singer-songwriter Matthew Korma, reached number 18 in the UK charts, before his first album of original material 'United We Are' was released in 2015 through his label Revealed Recordings featuring R&B star Jason Derulo, rapper Fat Man Scoop and US pop singer Bright Lights. Always at the forefront of new technology, Hardwell set the record for the world's biggest guest list with a performance in Mumbai, India organised by his charitable foundation to aid the education of underprivileged children, viewed live online by over 2.5 million people.

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