Don Diablo


Don Pepijn Schipper, better known by his stage name Don Diablo, is a Dutch DJ, record producer, musician and songwriter of electronic dance music from Coevorden. He is known for his electronic style of production and vocalizing in most of his songs. He is one of the pioneers of the future house genre and was ranked sixth in the Top 100 DJs – 2019 list by DJ Mag. He was also ranked number one Producer of the Year by 1001Tracklists. In 2016, he was ranked the number one Future House Artist of the Year on Beatport.

Musical career

1997–2005: Early years

Diablo has played in Canada, the UK, the US, Australia, Japan, Brazil, and Israel. He has played at clubs and festivals including "Passion" club in London as resident DJ in 2002, Ministry of Sound, Gatecrasher, Dancevalley, Godskitchen, Impulz, Mysteryland, Creamfields, Haoman 17, Turnmills, Chasing Summer, Innercity, Northern Lights, Extrema Outdoorn, ElectroNation and Razzmatazz and Space in Ibiza. He has produced for a diverse range of artists including Kelis, Alex Clare, Diplo, Example, Dragonette, Noisia, Rox, Sidney Samson, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool and remixed for Bastille, Birdy, Tinie Tempah, Mika, The Chemical Brothers, Cassius, Gorillaz, Public Enemy, Iggy Pop, Plump DJs. According to North American music blog aggregator The Hype Machine, he was named "Most Blogged Artist" in the world several times.
In 2004, he launched his separate music project called Divided. The project had two hits "The Music, the People" credited to Divided featuring Diablo in 2004, followed by "Easy Lover" in 2005, credited to Diablo presents Divided, a dance remake of the joint hit of Philip Bailey and Phil Collins in 1985, Divided remake coming after twenty years of the release of the original.

2006–2009: ''Life Is a Festival''

In 2006, Diablo was licensed to the UK top 3 chart hit "Exceeder" by Mason. The record was originally signed to Middle of the Road, a record label set up by Diablo and Amsterdam-based club promoter Roy Avni. In 2008, Diablo released his debut album “Life Is a Festival.
In 2009, Diablo released "Hooligans", a collaboration with English singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer Example.

2010–2013

In 2010, a collaboration with Dragonette resulted in the hit single "Animale" that charted in the Dutch Singles Chart as well as the Belgian Ultratip chart.
In 2013 Diablo released new songs on Axwell's Axtone label, Nicky Romero's Protocol Recordings, Steve Angello's Size X imprint and Spinnin' Records label. He created the theme song for the 2013 video game .
His song "Starlight ", made with UK DJ/producer Matt Nash, was debuted during the last Swedish House Mafia concert, after Axwell signed it to his label. The song became a Beatport Top 5 hit, and later several of his other releases reaching the Beatport Top 10. The music video, directed by Kyle Padilla, was published on 7 February 2014, around seven months after the song's release.
During 2013 Pete Tong debuted six of Don's releases on his BBC Radio 1 show. He had a residency at Las Vegas' night club "Light", played the Departures Ibiza closing party alongside Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso, and toured the UK with Nicky Romero. He had a sold out solo tour in Asia and the USA.

2014–2016

In 2014, Diablo premiered his new visual concept "The Hexagon" with Los Angeles-based visual company "VSquared Labs".
In October 2014, Diablo made his debut on DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs list at No. 82. In October 2015, Diablo was awarded with DJ Magazine's "highest climber of the year" prize, jumping 52 places to No. 30 on the Top 100 DJs list for 2015.
Diablo launched his Hexagon record label. The first release, a remix of Alex Adair's "You Make Me Feel Better" held the no. 1 position on Beatport for almost two weeks and the label was awarded "best new label of the year".
In 2015 his HEXAGON radio show was aired in over 35 countries and holds a top 10 position in the iTunes podcast section every week.
Diablo has directed all of his own music videos. In 2013 Warner Brothers asked Don to create the worldwide theme song for the much acclaimed game.
In 2015 Diablo collaborated with fellow Dutch DJ Tiësto on the track "Chemicals" featuring vocals from Danish singer and producer Thomas Troelsen.
Throughout 2016 and 2017, Diablo went on Tour Across Europe, this sold out across multiple venues including his first headline show in London.

2017: ''Past.Present.Future''

In 2017, Don Diablo released Past.Present.Future, a compilation of previously released tracks, including hits "On My Mind," "Cutting Shapes," and his collaboration with Tiësto "Chemicals" featuring Thomas Troelsen.
Diablo won DJ Mag's 2017 Highest Future House award and was ranked #11 overall in the DJ Mag Top 100 Poll.
A packed global tour schedule saw him play the mainstages of Tomorrowland, EDC, Creamfields, Mysteryland, Lollapalooza, and Ultra Music Festival whilst selling out his Headline Artist shows in the UK, US & European markets.
On March 17, 2017, Don Diablo premiered a new collaboration with MARNIK and Galantis' unaccredited No Money singer Reece Bullimore, titled "Children of a Miracle".
On September 6, 2017, Don Diablo released a single with Nashville-based singer / songwriter Holly Winter, titled "Don't Let Go".
In November 2017, Diablo released “Take Her Place” with electronic trio Arizona.
On December 15, 2017, he released his sixth single, entitled "You Can't Change Me". The music video stars BONETICS, a dancer that competed on Britain's Got Talent.

2018–present: ''Future'' and ''Forever''

On January 19, Don Diablo released the seventh single from Future, "People Say", with actor/songwriter, Paije Richardson.
On February 8, he embarked on his sold out Future North American Tour, making stops at Los Angeles' Fonda Theatre and New York's Terminal 5, among others.
His second studio album, Future, was released via his label Hexagon on 9 February 2018.
On March 13, he released the eighth single to Future entitled "Head Up" with singer James Newman. On March 23, he released the ninth single to FUTURE entitled "Believe", available on the deluxe edition with actor/singer-songwriter Ansel Elgort. On April 25, he released the tenth single to FUTURE entitled "Give Me Love" with singer Calum Scott.
On May 11, his remix of Kygo and The Night Game's song "Kids In Love" was released. On July 12, he released his single "No Good", in partnership with artist Zonderling. On August 3, he released his new single, Heaven to Me, featuring Alex Clare.
On September the 9th, he released a single called "Survive" featuring Emeli Sandé and Gucci Mane.
On October 15, 2018, he ranked #1 as the world's most DJ-supported producer according to 1001Tracklists, a website logging DJ support from festival recordings, radio shows, and DJ mixes.
Diablo is reportedly set to release his third studio album Forever in 2020, and also embark on a world tour in support of the release.

Philanthropy

Diablo was the first ambassador for Dance4Life, an international UN-supported action campaign to fight back against HIV and AIDS. Diablo travelled to South Africa to visit several Dance4Life affiliated projects in Johannesburg and Cape Town. MTV Networks shot an "intense" documentary of Don's visit to these projects.
All ticket proceeds from Diablo's 2018 tour were donated to the Dutch Cancer Society.

Discography

DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs

1001Tracklists Top 101 Producers