Armand van Helden

Early life

Van Helden was born to an Indo (Dutch and Indonesian descent) father and a mother of French and Lebanese ancestry. He moved around the world as a child, spending time in the Netherlands, Latvia, Turkey, and Italy because his father was a member of the U.S. Air Force. At the age of 13, he got his first DJ gig at a Valentine's Day dance and around the same time, he bought a drum machine.

Career

From circa 1986–1988, Van Helden was in a rap group named "Define" because they considered themselves "de finest around" and accordingly "defined" rap music. His name was DJ AVH, along with fellow crew members: Sir Beat, and Lopoka. They performed across Europe and helped hone his DJ skills.

Van Helden returned to Boston in 1988, moonlighting as a DJ in Boston clubs. He attended college in Boston. He quit his legal-review job in 1991 to work as a remixer under the management of Neil Petricone and X-Mix. He took up a DJ residency at the Loft, a top Boston nightclub at the time. He released his first official single, a mix of Deep Creed's "Stay On My Mind" through Nervous Records.

Van Helden released "Move It To the Left" (credited to Sultans of Swing) in 1992 on the Strictly Rhythm label, which became a moderate club hit and led to a string of singles released under several monikers for that label. His first track to make the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart was "Witch Doktor", which made the top 5 in 1994, and led to opportunities to remix New Order, Deep Forest, Jimmy Somerville, Deee-Lite, and Faithless.

However, it was the "Professional Widow" remix that established Van Helden and became a dance hit around the world and as a number-one hit in the United Kingdom. Van Helden stated of his compensation for the remix: "it was like $10,000, and that was a little below what I was making back then for a remix, but I had the time." However, it led to work remixing the Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Puff Daddy, Daft Punk and Sneaker Pimps, adding to his reputation as one of the world's top house-music musicians.

In 1996, Van Helden collaborated with Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk and Junior Sanchez as Da Mongoloids, releasing "Spark da Meth" on the Strictly Rhythm label. A year later Van Helden's track "Ten Minutes of Funk" was featured on the Daft Punk live album Alive 1997.

"Cha Cha" was another top-ten dance hit from Van Helden's first album, Old School Junkies: The Album, which was released in 1996, along with "The Funk Phenomena". A greatest hits album appeared the next year, followed by a breakbeat album later in 1997. "You Don't Know Me" was a number two hit on the Billboard dance chart, a number one hit in the United Kingdom, and a top 20 single on the pop charts in Australia and Canada. The song was the breakout track from his 2Future4U album, which was released stateside on Armand's own label, Armed Records.

Van Helden released the Killing Puritans album in 2000 (also on Armed Records), which contained the hit "Koochy". The track was based around Gary Numan's five times UK chart hit, "Cars".{{cite book

In 2005, Van Helden released the album Nympho, featuring the singles "Into Your Eyes", "My My My", "Hear My Name", and "When the Lights Go Down". The album reached the top 30 in Australia, and number 48 in the UK. "When The Lights Go Down" reached No. 52 on the ARIA Charts in Australia, and was a dance and club hit.

Van Helden was the featured DJ in the Southern Fried tent at Get Loaded in the Park at Clapham Common on the August Bank Holiday in 2005.

In 2006, Van Helden re-released "My My My" featuring the British singer Tara McDonald, which reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK dance charts. Remixes included the Funktuary radio edit and Stonebridge remix. In 2007, Van Helden released his new album, Ghettoblaster, from which he released the singles "NYC Beat," which reached number 22 on the UK chart, and "I Want Your Soul," which reached number 19. In 2008, Van Helden gained more commercial success by remixing "INSPIRE", a No. 1 hit by the Japanese pop star Ayumi Hamasaki. This remix was released on the album Ayu-mi-x 6: Gold. Also in 2008, Van Helden released two albums, You Don't Know Me: The Best of Armand Van Helden and a mix album titled New York: a Mix Odyssey 2. When discussing this mix in a 2009 interview with 5mag.net, Armand said, "I just went back to hip-hop. I put my head where I used to be when I was 19. It was a blast making it. Hip-house was just so great."

In May 2009, Van Helden collaborated with British rapper Dizzee Rascal on his single "Bonkers". It peaked at number one in the United Kingdom, where it stayed for two weeks and became Van Helden's third chart-topper in Britain. Later in 2009, Van Helden worked with A-Trak to create "aNYway" which was released in October under the name Duck Sauce. The duo later gained chart success with the song "Barbra Streisand", which peaked at number three in the United Kingdom and within the top ten of the charts in other European markets.

Van Helden teamed up with American DJ/producer Steve Aoki in 2011 to produce the song "Brrrat!", which featured on Godskitchen's album. In early 2011, Van Helden stated that he had planned an album for 2014.

Van Helden teamed up with fellow DJ/producer A-Trak in 2011 to form Duck Sauce. The duo scored hits with "Barbra Streisand" and "The Big Bad Wolf". In 2013, Duck Sauce released the song "It's You", a hit on the dancefloor throughout the world, and has been nominated for the MTV Video Awards. In October of the same year, they presented two new songs, "Stereo Radio" with Duck Sauce and "I Know A Place" (featuring Spank Rock). In 2014, Van Helden collaborated with Cheap Thrills label boss and DJ Hervé to release their recent song "Power of Bass" Duck Sauce, released their debut album, Quack, released on April 15 through Fool's Gold Records. The album features the duo's long chain of singles. The new Duck Sauce video for "NRG" is filmed as an infomercial.

In August 2014, Sam Smith's "I'm Not the Only One" featured a remix by Van Helden. In September 2014, Van Helden remixed for Jungle 70 and Majestic with Creeping In The Dark.

In April 2015, London-based Snakehips released Forever Pt. II EP, which spurred a series of well-received remixes, including a Duck Sauce remix of their song "Forever".

Van Helden returned in March 2020 with a new song, "Give Me Your Loving" with Lorne.

Personal life

Van Helden married Brittney Landstrom (aka Brittles) in May 2024.

Discography

Main article: Armand Van Helden discography

Studio albums

• Old School Junkies: The Album (1996)
• Sampleslaya: Enter the Meatmarket (1997)
• 2 Future 4 U (1998)
• Killing Puritans (2000)
• Gandhi Khan (2002)
• Nympho (2005)
• Ghettoblaster (2007)
• Extra Dimensional (2016)

Awards and nominations

International Dance Music Awards

|- ||1998 |Armand Van Helden |Best Remixer | |- ||2005 |My My My |Best House/Garage Track | |- ||2011 |Brrrat! w/Steve Aoki |Best Underground House Track | |- ||2011 |Brrrat! w/Steve Aoki |Best Electro Tech/House Track | |- | Best Break-Through Artist | |- | Best Best House/Garage Track | |- | |- | |- | Best Music Video | |- | Best Artist - Group | |- ||2015 |NRG |Best Dubstep/Drum & Bass Track | |}

Grammy Awards

|- |1998 |Armand Van Helden |Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical | |- |2012 |"Barbra Streisand" |Best Dance Recording | |}

MTV Video Music Awards

|- | Best Electronic Dance Music Video | |- | Best Direction | |- | 2013 | "It's You" | Best Visual Effects |

UK Music Video Awards

|- | 2011 | "Barbra Streisand" | |- | |- | Best Art Direction | |- | Best VFX |

''[[DJ Magazine]]'' Top 100 DJs

References

References

1. "Artist Biography: Armand Van Helden".
2. "Biography Armand Van Helden".
3. (19 February 2016). "The 15 Greatest Remixes of All Time".
4. (2000). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Virgin Books]].
5. Roberts, Joe. (March 5, 2015). "The Rise of Armand Van Helden, As Told By Armand Van Helden".
6. "Interview: Armand Van Helden". The Red Bull Music Academy Daily.
7. "Armand Van Helden 04/04/2004".
8. "ARIA Report".
9. (March 2009). "Armand Van Helden 01/03/2009".
10. Rettig, James. (2014-08-07). "Sam Smith – “I’m Not The Only One (Armand Van Helden Remix)”".
11. (2020-03-03). "Premiere: Armand Van Helden ‘Give Me Your Loving feat. Lorne’".
12. Glenville, Tony. (November 6, 2024). "Armand Van Helden & Brittles - Music, hierbas and sunsets".
13. "Winter Music Conference 2017 - WMC 2017".
14. "Winter Music Conference 2017 - WMC 2017".
15. "IDMA's - 2010 IDMA Nominees and Winners FOR 2011 - Winter Music Conference 2017 - WMC 2017".
16. "31st Annual International Dance Music Awards - Winter Music Conference 2018 - WMC 2018".
17. "Top 100 (250) DJ MAG 1997 - 2018 | Top 100 DJ MAG DJS VK Music Музыка 2019 2020".