FROM HOT HIP-HOP BEATS TO ELECTRIFYING ELECTRO HOUSE, THIS MULTI-FACETED DJ AND PRODUCER KEEPS SPINNING GOLD ACROSS GENRES
BY DAN SALAMONE
BORN: Robbert van de Corput was born on January 7, 1998 in Breda, North Brabant, Netherlands
SOUND: Hardwell has dabbled in an assortment of genres during his decade-plus career in the spotlight, including hip-hop, straight house, techno, progressive house, electro house, and esoteric electronica.
BIG BREAK: At the age of 12, Hardwell produced his first songs in the field of electro, while primarily performing as an underground hip-hop DJ. In 2002, at 14, he was offered a record deal in his new milieu of commercial dance music. At the end of 2007, he released a collaboration with Greatski, “Never New Love,” that hit both the German pop charts and the German dance charts. In 2010, he founded his own label, Revealed Recordings, which allowed him to showcase up-and-coming young talents via a yearly compilation called “Hardwell Presents Revealed.”
NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: After getting signed to a new label in 2010 that provided a lot more exposure, Hardwell immediately made a huge impact on the house scene via collabs with Tiësto, his idol and a fellow veteran of the Breta dance scene. In July 2012, he released his first major single in the U.S., “Spaceman,” which went on to sell half a million records. He has since headlined festivals like Creamfields, Electric Zoo, Electric Daisy Carnival, Ultra, Nature One, and Tomorrowland. DJ Mag ranked him as the best DJ in the world in both 2013 and 2014.
LATEST WORK: After taking a several year hiatus to focus on his personal life, in June 2024, he played a hardstyle DJ set to celebrate NAC Breda, the Netherlands football club he’s loved his entire life, including his own remix of the club’s official anthem, “Hé, Hé, Hé, Hé, Hup NAC.”
Hardwell