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Armand Van Helden is a house music artist and music remixer whose biggest commercial successes came from his remixes of the 1996 Tori Amos song "Professional Widow", which reached the top of the UK singles chart, and his own track "You Don't Know Me" which was Number 1 in the UK in January 1999.

Biography

Van Helden was born in Boston in 1970 to a Dutch-Indonesian father and a French-Lebanese mother, but travelled around the world as a child spending time in the Netherlands, Turkey and Italy, as his father was a member of the US Air Force. At the age of thirteen, he bought a drum machine and started DJing two years later.

He returned to Boston in 1988 but also moonlighted as a DJ in Boston clubs. He attended Boston University. He quit his legal review job in 1991 to work as a remixer and take up an occupancy at 'The Loft', Boston's leading nightclub. 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. His first track to make the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart was "Witch Doktor" which made the top 5 in 1994.

The success of "Witch Doktor" 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 mix as he presented it uncommissioned, and thus was not entitled to compensation. However, it led to work remixing The Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and Puff Daddy as well as Daft Punk and the Sneaker Pimps, and adding to his reputation as one of the world's top house musicians.

"Cha Cha" was another top ten dance hit from his first album Old School Junkies 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.

Van Helden released the Killing Puritans album in 2000 which contained the dance hit "Koochy". His single "Why Can't You Spend Some Time" made the number 34 in the UK in 2001. His New York: A Mix Odyssey album released in 2004 produced two hits:

  • "Hear my Name" reached number 7 on the Billboard dance chart, was top 30 on world and internet charts, made number 34 in the UK, and reached the top 40 in Australia; and
  • "My My My" 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.

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.

Other facts

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

Discography

Albums

Hit singles

1970 births | Living people | House musicians | Rhythmic Top 40 acts | Remixers | Club DJs

Armand van Helden | Armand van Helden | Armand van Helden | Armand van Helden | Armand van Helden | Armand van Helden

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Armand van Helden".

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