Steve Aoki

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Steve Aoki

Steve Aoki playing a set at the HiFi Nightclub in Calgary, Canada.
Background information
Birth name Steve Hiroyuki Aoki
Born November 30, 1977 (1977-11-30) (age 34)
Origin Newport Beach, California,
United States
Genres Electro house, Electronic
Labels Dim Mak Records, Ministry of Sound Australia

Steve Hiroyuki Aoki, (born November 30, 1977) is an American electro house musician, record producer and the founder of Dim Mak Records.[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Steve Hiroyuki Aoki was born in Miami and grew up in Newport Beach, California. He graduated from Newport Harbor High School in 1995; he was a star player on the varsity Badminton team. He is the third child of Rocky Aoki and Chizuru Kobayashi.[2] His father was a former Japanese Olympic wrestler who also founded the restaurant chain Benihana. He has two older siblings, sister Kana (who is now known as "Grace"), and brother Kevin (owner of Doraku Sushi restaurant). He also has three half-siblings, all of whom are younger: half-brother Kyle and half-sisters Echo, and Devon, the supermodel and actress. As a child, Steve lived with his grandfather[citation needed], his mother, and his two older siblings and one younger brother Jafet Aoki.

Aoki attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated with two B.A.s; one in Women's Studies and the other in Sociology. In college, he produced do-it-yourself records and ran underground concerts out of his Biko room in the Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative, which was located in Isla Vista, a section of residential land adjacent to UCSB. As a concert venue, the apartment became known as The Pickle Patch.[3][4] By his early 20s, Aoki had built his own record label, which he named Dim Mak after his childhood hero, Bruce Lee.[5] He has also been in numerous bands, including This Machine Kills, which released an album on Ebullition Records, Esperanza, and The Fire Next Time.

His father, Rocky, once said that he had 'three kids from three different women at exactly the same time'. He found out about the third child with the third woman when he was sued for paternity. In 2005, Rocky sued four of his children (Grace, Kevin, Kyle, and Echo) for an alleged attempt to take control of the companies he founded, which, at the time, had an estimated value between US $60 million and $100 million. Steve and his younger half-sister, Devon, were not named in the suit.[6]

[edit] Musical career

Aoki founded his own label, Dim Mak Records, in 1996. The label has released music by other electro house artists such as MSTRKRFT, The Bloody Beetroots, and Mustard Pimp, as well as by Klaxons, Scanners, Whitey, and Mystery Jets. Aoki is also a club promoter and DJ. He has also teamed up with Blake Miller of the LA-based band Moving Units to produce remixes. The duo of Miller and Aoki work under the moniker Weird Science.

Aoki's debut album, Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles was released in January 2008.[7] He also had an Essential Mix that aired on BBC Radio 1 on August 2, 2008.10

He has remixed many artists and bands, including Drake, Lenny Kravitz, Bloc Party, Snoop Dogg, Robin Thicke, S.P.A., Kid Cudi, Chester French and Peaches.

He remixed the track "When The Wind Blows" that features on the UK edition of The All-American Rejects' 2008 album When The World Comes Down.

On November 10, 2009 he released a remix for Drake's song "Forever". The song features Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem. The track made it to the top of Hype Machine's chart in December 2009.[8]

Through relentless touring he gained huge support from colleges. In Ann Arbor, MI he's played two sold-out shows to University of Michigan students at The Necto (nightclub), huge shows followed at campuses across the country.

In March 2010 Aoki released "I'm In The House", a collaboration with Zuper Blahq—alter-ego of The Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am. The song charted at #29 in the UK Singles Chart in its first week of release.

Producer-songwriter Lucas Secon confirmed in a May 2010 interview with HitQuarters that he and Rivers Cuomo had recently worked with Aoki on a single.[9]

In May 2006, Aoki became a board member for MC5 bassist Michael Davis' Music Is Revolution Foundation,[10] a non-profit organization that provides music education support within public schools.[11]

[edit] Business ventures

The Dim Mak Collection clothing line was launched in 2006.[12] A new fashion range designed by Steve and his sister Devon Aoki was released in 2009. They've partnered with the founders/owners of Ksubi, George Gorrow and Dan Single to release this range together. "We've been putting it together for two years, from the very early stages." Aoki told.[13] Also with Dan Single and George Gorrow, Ksubi will be partnering up and creating a Dim Mak sunglass line that will debut in 2009 as well.

Aoki and friend Greger, the owner of WeSC, came up with the idea together to do the "Aoki headphones." They used different shades of green, because that was Aoki's favorite color at the time.[14] Each season Aoki plans to design new headphones for WeSC. Aoki also is endorsed by KR3W Apparel and Supra Footwear, where he develops and designs an entire range of clothing and shoes for both companies under his name.

Aoki is a co-owner in a Korean BBQ restaurant Shin alongside Danny Masterson, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Ronson, Laura Prepon, Jerry Butler, among others. He also co-owned a management company called Deckstar with DJ AM along with their managers and Paul Rosenberg. Underneath the Deckstar Management division, Dim Mak management has been formed to manage some of the label's artists and other DJs.

In November 2009, Aoki created his own magazine titled "Aoki" through a celebrity magazine publishing company called MYMAG.[15]

[edit] Guest appearances

He was featured in the video games NBA 2K8 and NBA 2K9 as a special celebrity player, even though he admits to being terrible at basketball. He makes cameos in the videos for Cobra Starship's 2007 single "Send My Love to the Dancefloor, I'll See You in Hell (Hey Mister DJ)" and The Sounds' single "Tony The Beat".

On January 2012, Steve Aoki released new tracks on Turntable.fm in conjunction with SOL REPUBLIC Headphones[16] making him the first established artist to fully orchestrate a listening session using the platform. [17]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

Title Details
Wonderland

[edit] Mix albums

Title Details Peak chart positions
US
Dance
Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles 8

[edit] Singles

Single Year Peak chart positions Album
UK UK
Dance		 UK
Indie		 AUS CAN BEL (FLA) NL
"I'm in the House"
(feat. Zuper Blahq)		 2010 29 3 1 — — 43 40 #willpower
"Turbulence"
(with Laidback Luke feat. Lil Jon)		 2011 66 — — 37 — — — Wonderland
"No Beef"
(with Afrojack feat. Miss Palmer)		 25 6 39 — — — 23
"Livin' My Love"
(feat. LMFAO & NERVO)		 2012 — — — — 68 — —

[edit] As featured artist

Single Year Peak chart positions Album
NL
2011 "We're All No One"
(NERVO feat. Afrojack & Steve Aoki)		 89 N/A

[edit] Promotional Singles

Single Year Album
"Earthquakey People"
(feat. Rivers Cuomo)		 2011 Wonderland
"Tornado"
(with Tiësto)
"Ladi Dadi"
(feat. Wynter Gordon)

[edit] Remixes

[edit] Weird Science production

Steve Aoki and Blake Miller's production group

[edit] Featurings

[edit] Collaborations

[edit] Awards

 This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2011)
  • Best DJ of the Year – Paper Magazine (2007)
  • Best Set of the Season – Ibiza Awards (2007)
  • Best Party Rocker DJ – BPM Magazine (2007)
  • Best Mix Album of the Year – Billboard (2008)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kid Millionaire. Dim Mak. Retrieved on 2012-01-07.
  2. ^ Aoki family tree from NY mag Nymag.com. Retrieved on July 9, 2008
  3. ^ Pickle Patch Compilation |. Mostly.blueskiesabove.us (2008-01-13). Retrieved on 2012-01-07.
  4. ^ [1][dead link]
  5. ^ Steve Aoki profile. thelookrightnow.com
  6. ^ Rocky Aoki sues 4 of his 6 kids
  7. ^ Steve Aoki's debut mix album profile Retrieved on July 9, 2008
  8. ^ a b Twitter / Steve Aoki: Just finished my remix for. Twitter.com (2009-11-10). Retrieved on 2012-01-07.
  9. ^ "Interview With Lucas Secon". HitQuarters. May 17, 2010. http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview/opar/intrview_Lucas_Secon_Interview.html. Retrieved May 27, 2010. 
  10. ^ "Meet the Board". Music Is Revolution Foundation. http://www.musicisrevolution.com/board. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 
  11. ^ "The Manifesto". Music Is Revolution Foundation. http://www.musicisrevolution.com/. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 
  12. ^ Official Dim Mak Collection website
  13. ^ DJ Ron Slomowicz Steve Aoki Interview – Interview with Steve Aoki. p. 2. About.com
  14. ^ DJ Steve Aoki headphones
  15. ^ MYMAG
  16. ^ "Steve Aoki Drops Two New Tracks in SOL REPUBLIC's Turntable.fm Room...LIVE". SOL Republic. http://www.solrepublic.com/culture/blog/steve-aoki-drops-two-new-tracks-sol-republics-turntablefm-roomlive. Retrieved January 10, 2012. 
  17. ^ "Steve Aoki Unveils New Music Using Turntable.fm". hypebot. http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/01/steve-aoki-debuts-new-music-using-turntablefm.html. Retrieved January 11, 2012. 

[edit] External links

Steve Aoki
Studio albums
Wonderland (2012)
Mixtapes
Singles
Featured singles


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