Oliver Heldens

Oliver Heldens on stage in St. Louis, Missouri during his U.S. and Canada bus tour

Heldens began his professional music career when he signed to Spinnin' Records in 2013. His first releases on the label included the songs "Stinger" and "Thumper", which features DJ Jacob van Hage. Heldens' 2013 song "Gecko" caught the attention of fellow Dutch DJ Tiësto, who signed the song to his label,[5] Musical Freedom, and later released a vocal version through Warner Music Group's FFRR with British singer Becky Hill on 23 June 2014 as "Gecko (Overdrive)".[6][7] The song peaked at number 1 on the UK Top 40 chart in June 2014, was named "Essential New Tune" by BBC's Pete Tong on 31 January 2014, and DJs including David Guetta, Martin Garrix, and Zedd began supporting it.[7]

In January 2014, Heldens launched his Heldeep Mixtape on his official SoundCloud page, creating extended mixes which incorporate various genres of electronic music including different types of deep house and tech house. The first mixtape included his remix of fellow Spinnin' Records signee Martin Garrix's "Animals". In March 2014, Heldens also released a remix of Robin Thicke's "Feel Good".

Heldens entered the DJ Mag Top 100 of 2014, making his debut at number 34. In December 2014, he performed an Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1, and British radio DJ Pete Tong named him "one of the breakthrough producers of the year".[8] Heldens released "Koala" on Spinnin' in August 2014, and on 6 October 2014 he released "This" with Sander van Doorn.[7] "Koala" became the second-most popular searched dance recording from the 2014 Amsterdam Dance Event on music recognition app Shazam.[9] He achieved 12th place in the DJ Mag Top 100 2015, making him the highest ranked house DJ on the list. In a Billboard interview at Tomorrowland, Heldens described his style as deep house while acknowledging the mainstream influences in his music.[7]

On 17 December 2015 BBC Radio 1 announced that Heldens was to have a residency show starting on 22 January 2016. Since then, Heldens has played a 1-hour Radio 1 slot on the third Thursday of every month.[10]

Heldens in 2015

In July 2015, the HI-LO song "Renegade Mastah" was the first track to be released on Heldens' new label Heldeep Records. In a later interview with the UKF blog, it was revealed that HI-LO was Heldens, who used the label to launch the HI-LO project.[2] HI-LO has been called a deeper underground sound than Heldens' work under his own name.[1] The title of the HI-LO project was chosen as a palindrome for Oli-H, to signify his name. The HI-LO tracks "Crank It Up", "Wappy Flirt" and "Ooh La La" followed, with the single "Scrub the Ground" by Chocolate Puma and Tommie Sunshine released on Heldeep Records in October 2015.

Heldens launched Heldeep Records in 2015 to create a platform to showcase the music of budding producers.[11] Heldeep would grow from a small imprint to a fully-fledged label, signing artists including Alok, Chocolate Puma, and Dada Life. The label has hosted stages at festivals including Tomorrowland, Mysteryland, SW4, Electric Forest, Spring Awakening, Sunrise Festival, Imagine Festival, Black Sheep Festival, and label nights during Miami Music Week and Amsterdam Dance Event.[12]

Heldeep Talent EP was released 23 November 2015 and included the songs "I Can't Stop" by Death Ray Shake, "Hookah" by Bojac, "Slip Away" by Niko The Kid and "Fall Under Skies" by Jonas Aden & Robby East. Since then Oliver released "Heldeep Talent EP Part 2" on 21 March 2016 Featuring three tracks: "Get Busy" by Steff Da Campo, "Lethal" by NOVKA and "Mirrors feat. Stevyn by Tom Budin and Stevyn.[13]

"Waiting", an Oliver Heldens and Throttle collaboration, was released on Heldeep Records on 7 January 2016. Heldeep released a track by Mr. Belt & Wezol and Shermanology called "Hide & Seek" as well as another track by Bougenvilla & Out Of Cookies called "Break It Down" on 25 April 2016. The label also released "Space Sheep," a collaboration between Heldens and Chocolate Puma on 2 May 2016.

In 2017, Heldens released the single "Ibiza 77".[1] In 2018, he signed to RCA Records.[14] His 2018 single "Fire in My Soul" features vocals from singer Shungduzo and was co-produced with Oak Felder.[14] It reached number 1 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart,[15] and number 18 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.[16] Also that year, he released a remix of Chic's "Le Freak" on Atlantic Records, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Atlantic Records' all-time best selling song.[17][18] In 2018, he partnered with the Plastic Soup Foundation as their new ambassador, to help eliminate ocean pollution.[4]

His 2019 single "Turn Me On" with DJ Riton and singer Vula peaked at number 10 on the Global Shazam Top 200 chart, number 12 on the UK Top 40 chart,[19] number 1 on the MediaBase Dance Radio chart, number 1 on the Billboard Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart,[20] and number 5 on the Dance Club Songs chart.[15] For the single, he and Riton sampled the 1982 song "Don't Go" by Yazoo.[21] Also in 2019, Heldens released "Lift Me Up", a collaboration with Firebeatz and producer Schella, with vocals from Carla Monroe,[22] collaborated with Nile Rodgers of Chic and Devin on "Summer Lover"[23] and released the single "Cucumba" with Moguai.[24]

As a remixer, Heldens has released remixes for artists including Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa's "One Kiss",[25] David Guetta and Anne-Marie's "Don't Leave Me Alone",[26] The Chainsmokers' "All We Know",[27] Katy Perry's "Chained to the Rhythm",[28] Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding's "Outside",[29] and Charlie Puth's "Attention".[30]

In 2019, Heldens commemorated the fifth anniversary of his label Heldeep and 250th episode of his weekly radio show Heldeep Radio, which is syndicated in 65 countries, broadcast on over 90 stations and reaches over 118 million people a week, with the Heldeep 5 World Tour, taking Heldens and friends across North America, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Europe, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea.[31][32]

In early 2020, he collaborated with South Korean girl group Itzy to produce a sidetrack titled "Ting Ting Ting." In June that year, Heldens released a remix of Katy Perry's hit song "Dasies."

Heldens is managed by Dave Frank, Alex Harrow and Lucas Keller at Milk & Honey, signed to RCA Records / Sony, and Heldeep Records. He's published by Universal Music Publishing for the world.