Tiësto
born Tijs Michiel Verwest on January 17, 1969 is a Dutch DJ and record producer of electronic dance music. Although he has used many aliases in the past, he is best known for his work as DJ Tiësto. On his latest productions, however, he has dropped the “DJ” label and is now known simply as “Tiësto”, an alias which is an Italian twist of his childhood nickname.

In 1997 he founded the label Black Hole Recordings with Arny Bink, where he released the famous Magik and In Search of Sunrise CD series. In 1999 and 2000 he collaborated with Ferry Corsten to create Gouryella. In 2001 he released his first solo album In My Memory which gave him several major hits that launched his career as well as his remix of Delerium’s “Silence” featuring Sarah McLachlan which exposed him to more mainstream audiences. As his popularity rose in the early 2000s he became the first DJ to perform to a large crowd without any other DJs or opening acts. He was crowned the “World’s No.1 DJ” 3 consecutive times by DJ Magazine from 2002 through 2004.

Just after releasing his second studio album Just Be in 2004, at the Summer Olympics he performed live at the opening ceremony in Athens, Greece becoming the first DJ to play live on stage at an Olympics Games. Tracks he made especially for the Olympics were mixed together and released as the mix compilation Parade of the Athletes later that year. He was appointed Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 2004 by Queen Beatrix. He was chosen as the official ambassador for the Dance4Life foundation in May 2006, and released the song “Dance4Life” with Maxi Jazz to help spread the awareness of HIV/AIDS. In April 2007 Tiësto launched both his radio show Tiësto’s Club Life on Radio 538 in the Netherlands and released his third studio album titled Elements of Life. The album reached number one on the Dutch album chart as well on “Billboard Top Electronic Albums” in the U.S. and received a nomination for a Grammy Award in 2008. Tiësto is set to release his fourth studio album called Kaleidoscope in October 2009.