Armand Van Helden

Armand Van Helden
Armand Van Helden in 2004 at the Forum in Trier, Germany
Background information
Birth name	Armand Van Helden
Also known as	Deep Creed, Sultans of Swing, Banji Boys, Circle Children, Old School Junkies, Jungle Juice, Armand & The Banana Spliffs, Hardhead, Wizzards of Wax, The Mole People, Chupacabra, Duck Sauce
Born	February 16, 1970 (1970-02-16)
Origin	Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Genres	House, electro, hip hop, speed garage, drum and bass
Occupations	DJ, producer, remixer songwriter
Years active	1990–present
Labels	AV8 (1992–1996) Nervous Records (1992–1999) Strictly Rhythm (1993–1997) ZYX Music (1993–2002) Henry Street Music (1994–1996) FFRR (1994–2001) Armed Records (1999–2004) Southern Fried (2004–present)
Associated acts	Subspecies, Da Mongoloids, Klobber, Sahara DJ Sneak, Duane Harden, Roland Clark, Common, Roger Sanchez, Tekitha, Spalding Rockwell, Tara McDonald, Fat Joe, Nicole Roux, Christina Rich, Team Facelift, Dizzee Rascal, A-Trak, Duck Sauce
Website	Template:Web oficial

Armand van Helden (b. 1970) is a DJ and producer of electro house music from Boston, Massachusetts. He was one of the main proponents of the genre Speed ​​Garage, remixing various artists such as Janet Jackson, Juliet Roberts, KRS One, and Sneakers Pimps among others with this musical style. He closely linked to the electronic music scene of New York.

Van Helden often remixes and uses samples of funk, soul, rhythm, blues and rap. He also uses filters and dub progressions, as in NYC beat, dancehall and reggae samples.

His greatest successes have been the remix of the song "Professional Widow" by Tori Amos, "My My My" (containing a sample of "Comin Apart" by Gary Wright), as well as "You Do Not Know Me," which is van Helden's own work.

Biography

Early life and career

Van Helden was born to an Indo (Dutch-Indonesian) father and a French-Lebanese mother but traveled around the world as a child, spending time in the Netherlands, Latvia, Turkey, and Italy as his father was a member of the U.S. Air Force. At the age of 13, he bought a drum machine and started DJing two years later.

He returned to Boston in 1988, moonlighting as a DJ in Boston clubs. He attended Boston University. 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.

He 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 acts such as New Order, Deep Forest, Jimmy Somerville, Deee-Lite, and Faithless.

However, it was the "Professional Widow" remix that established him and became a dance hit around the world as well as a number-one hit in the UK. Unfortunately, Van Helden did not receive a penny for this remix because he presented it non-commissioned and, thus, was not entitled to compensation^{[citation needed]}. However, it led to work remixing the Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Puff Daddy, as well as Daft Punk and Sneaker Pimps, adding to his reputation as one of the world's top house-music musicians.

"Cha Cha" was another top-ten dance hit from his 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. "U Don't Know Me" was a number two hit on the Billboard dance chart, a number one in the UK, 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". His single "Why Can't You Free Some Time" made it to number 34 in the UK in 2001. His New York: A Mix Odyssey album released in 2004 produced two hits: "Hear My Name", a collaboration with Spalding Rockwell that reached number 7 on the Billboard dance chart, number 34 in the UK, and the top 40 in Australia; and "My My My", which reached number 4 on the world internet charts, number 5 in the Belgian and Dutch charts, number 6 in Australia, number 15 in the UK, and top 30 in the world dance charts.

2005

In 2005, he 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 #52 on the ARIA Chart 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. He treated concertgoers with an incredible mash-up set that is still spoken about today about being one of his best performances.^{[citation needed]}

2006

In 2006, he re-released "My My My" featuring extra vocals from Tara Mcdonald, which reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart.

2007

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.

2008

In 2008, Van Helden gained more commercial success by remixing "Inspire", a #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.

Two of his songs, "My My My" (featuring a sample from Gary Wright's "Comin' Apart") and the Dark Garage Mix of the Sneaker Pimps' "Spin Spin Sugar," are featured in Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME 2. He also edited music for Deee-Lite.

2009

In May 2009, Van Helden collaborated with UK rap artist Dizzee Rascal on a new single entitled "Bonkers". The single entered the UK Singles Chart at number 1, where it stayed for two weeks.

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 reached number 3 in the UK.

2010

In early 2010, Van Helden stated that he has an album planned for 2011.

Remixer for "Memories" by David Guetta and "California Gurls" by Katy Perry

2011

In another dance hit 2011 have submitted the song "Big Bad Wolf" is the name of the new duet song Duck Sauce. "Big Bad Wolf" was released on BBC radio, the tune used in the sound of wolves howling, similar to that shown in movies of suspense and terror. Duck Sauce, the band formed by American DJ Armand Van Helden and A-Trak and last year launched the hit "Barbra Streisand", debuted her new clip for "Big Bad Wolf". The controversial video shows two people who have a kind of deformity in his legs also made ​​howling over the issue. To discover is that they are the heads of the two DJ's, and have a life. During development of the clip are appearing more characters with the same "problem" to interact with other heads and even women. The video, which for some can be fun and other unpleasant, also has a high sexual content. The creators worked to surprise all the time but even more in the end, with a quite controversial.

Discography

Main article: Armand Van Helden discography

• Old School Junkies: The Album (1994)
• Sampleslaya: Enter the Meatmarket (1997)
• 2 Future 4 U (1999)
• Killing Puritans (2000)
• Gandhi Khan (2001)
• Nympho (2005)
• Ghettoblaster (2007)

Singles

• 1994 Witch Doctor
• 1997 Professional Widow
• 1997 The Funk Phenomena
• 1997 Ultrafunkula
• 1999 You Don't Know Me
• 1999 Flowerz
• 2000 Koochy
• 2001 Why Can't You Free Some Time
• 2001 You Can't Change Me
• 2004 Hear My Name
• 2004 My My My
• 2005 Into Your Eyes
• 2005 When The Lights Go Down
• 2006 Sugar
• 2006 Je suis music by Cerrone ( Armand Van Helden Remix )
• 2006 Touch Your Shoes
• 2007 NYC Beat
• 2007 I Want Your Soul
• 2008 Je T'aime
• 2009 Bonkers by Dizzie Rascal ( Produced Armand Van Helden )
• 2010 aNYway
• 2010 Memories by David Guetta ( Armand Van Helden Remix )
• 2010 Rythm is a dancer SNAP ( Armand Van Helden Remix )
• 2010 Califonia Gurls by Katty Perry ( Armand Van Helden Remix )
• 2010 Barbra Streisand
• 2010 You're Nasty
• 2011 Hot Mess
• 2011 Sunlight
• 2011 Big Bad Wolf

External links

• Interview with Armand Van Helden at musicOMH
• Armand Van Helden on Myspace
• Armand Van Helden on Facebook
• Armand Van Helden on Twitter