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Dance music fans across the
world have made their vote count and have chosen Paul van
Dyk as the World’s No.1 DJ in DJ magazine’s Top 100 DJs Poll
2005. Last year, van Dyk made history by nabbing a
Grammy nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album for his
original album, Reflections which featured his hit singles
“Time of Our Lives,” “Nothing But You” and “Crush.” He has
been hailed by BPM Magazine as “America’s Favorite DJ,”
“Best Music Maker” by DJ Magazine, has won 5 Dancestar
Awards in the past two years and won the Ariel Award (Mexico’s
version of the Oscar) for his soundtrack to the film Zurdo
last year.
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Born in Eisenhuettenstadt,
East Germany, Paul grew up in communist East Berlin. Prior
to Germany’s reunification, he had an early window to the
capitalist world via the cross-border airwaves. Because his
community did not have a true club culture, Paul listened to
the radio where he discovered the music of artists such as
The Smiths and New Order.
Then in 1989, after the wall finally came down, a broad club
culture sprung up throughout all of Berlin and although
Techno music emerged, Paul was looking for a different, more
unique sound. That search would never leave him. Stemming
from two crusty old turntables, the first remix tapes of his
musical ideas were created. And in March 1991, his unique
style of dance music was played for the very first time to
the public at the embryonic Berlin club "Tresor".
Around this same period, Paul also started writing his own
original compositions. His first production "Perfect Day",
produced together with Cosmic Baby as "Visions of Shiva",
was released in 1992. In 1993, Paul created the club hit of
the year with his remix of Humate’s "Love Stimulation". The
following year, his first album 45 RPM was recorded, while
he was also regularly spinning sets at the legendary Berlin
club "E–Werk".
Over the next few years Paul garnered further respect by
remixing tracks of many renowned artists such as Inspiral
Carpets, Sven Väth, Curve and New Order. This was of course
until the release of his second album, Seven Ways, which
firmly established him as one of the world’s truly great
electronic artists.
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In 1998 his first album 45
RPM was released in the UK, and the new remix of the single
"For an Angel" attacked dance floors worldwide. The album
buzzed for two weeks at number 1 in England and four weeks
at number 1 in the German dance charts, and also achieved
high positions in the American, Australian, Dutch, Belgian
and Scandinavian dance charts. Paul then became a resident
DJ at New York’s legendary dance club “Twilo” and also at
the acclaimed “Gatecrasher” in Sheffield.
In 1999 Paul, together with his team, created the new label
Vandit Records. This label presents both Paul’s releases, as
well as other new and innovative dance/DJ artists.
In England, Deviant Records took care of Paul’s creative
output, whose brainstorm was the 1998 Triple CD "Vorsprung
Dyk Technik". Combining 33 tracks, it is the most exhaustive
collection of Paul’s remixes to date, containing classics
like Humate’s "Love Stimulation" and Joe T. Vanelli ‘s "Playing
with the Voice in Germany" as well as Binary Finary’s
clubhit "1998" and Paul’s own chart single "For an Angel". A
year after its release in Nov 1999, "Vorsprung Dyk Technik"
was officially declared "Silver" with over 60,000 sales in
the UK, a very rare feat indeed for a Triple CD.
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By the time Paul released
Out There & Back in 2000, it became clear that the
Berlin-based musician had far more to offer than his
signature club sets and remixes that had already defined him
as one of the most influential German DJs and producers of
all time. His first compilation mix CD Politics of Dancing
was released in 2001, followed by Global in 2003 – an
original CD/DVD which illustrates his own experiences
traveling the world.
Paul’s 4th album Reflections illustrates little stories told
by life and was released last year. The magic of the album’s
thirteen tracks is based on each song’s potential to
extravagate and blow away clichés – and still be
unbelievably multi-faceted.
The first release from Reflections was the hit single
“Nothing But You” with its yearning Norwegian vocals and the
impassionate lyric line “I have nothing but I have got
everything when I have got you” and quickly made its way
onto mainstream radio stations worldwide.
Paul van Dyk´s new double CD album The Politics of Dancing 2
contain van Dyk’s new original single “The Other Side”. The
track features original lyrics written by van Dyk and vocals
by Wayne Jackson. Van Dyk wrote the song in response to the
devastating Tsunami which hit Southeast Asia in December
2004, which killed over 150,000 people. Van Dyk felt it was
important to recognize that so many people were instantly
affected by death that it almost didn't matter which way
each religion viewed death because everyone suffered a huge
loss simultaneously. "The Other Side" tries to express the
feeling of still having that person with you and near you
when you think of them.
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