Axwell

Early life

Axwell's interest in music appeared at an early age, having taught himself to play the drums by age nine. Four years later, the 13-year-old exchanged his drums for a computer so he could create each element of his music independently. Axwell released limited copies of a techno/hard trance EP on vinyl under the name OXL in 1995. During the mid-90s, he was also active in the tracking music scene under the moniker Quazar, releasing acid techno tracks made with FastTracker 2 and NoiseTracker.

2004

By late 2004, Axwell released "Feel the Vibe", which was re-released through Ministry of Sound in 2005 with new lead vocals from Tara McDonald who also wrote the song as "Feel the Vibe ('Til The Morning Comes)". McDonald's voice and writing helped secure the track as a radio winner and this track became one of the biggest cross over dance records of 2005. It was a breakthrough record for both Axwell & Tara McDonald. It peaked at #1 in UK Dance Singles Chart and #16 in the UK Singles Chart.

Also leading the way has been Mambana, his collaboration with Isabel Fructuoso (of Afro Medusa fame). Signed to Soulfuric Recordings, they have released three tracks since 2002. "No Reason" was their debut single, which hit the top spot in all the Hype/Buzz charts that Summer and was featured in the sets of all the top DJs including Little Louie Vega, Danny Rampling and Ben Watt. The follow ups were "Felicidad" and "Libre". "Libre" was released in 2003 and was arguably bigger than its predecessor. "Libre" was licensed to more than 12 different territories and featured on compilations that sold in excess of half a million copies.

Axwell has also been responsible for Jetlag's "So Right", which came out in September 2002 on Soulfuric, featuring the vocals of Noel McKoy and co-produced with Brian Tappert. In late 2002 Axwell went back to his roots and produced a track under his own name - "Lead Guitar" which was released by fellow Swede Stonebridge on his Stoney Boy imprint.

2003 saw Axwell recording for London-based label suSU (the UK home of Masters at Work) under the guise of Starbeach. The track was called "Get Naked" & featured the vocal talents of D'Empress (from Mutiny). This was followed up by his version of Evelyn Thomas' classic "High Energy". In the autumn of 2003 Axwell's "Wait a Minute", featuring the vocals of Nevada, was released on Soulfuric's sub-label Device. This song was a club smash that gained support from the likes of Pete Tong, Junior Jack, Kid Creme.

In between all this, Axwell has been producing remixes for other artists - recent mixes have included Usher's "Burn" (BMG), Room 5's "Make Luv" (Positiva), Clipse & Faith Evans "Ma, I Don’t Love Her" (RCA), Stonebridge's "Put 'em High" (Hed Kandi), N*E*R*D's single "Maybe" (Virgin), and more recently Hard-Fi's "Hard to Beat", Deep Dish's "Dreams", Pharrell's "Angel", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous" and Madonna's "Jump".

In addition to a re-release of "Feel the Vibe" on Ministry of Sound, he has produced several club remixes, as well as his own productions, including "Get Over Here" by Rasmus Faber, "2 Million Ways" by C-Mos, "Turn On the Music" by Roger Sanchez, as well as his collaboration with Sebastian Ingrosso on Ernesto vs Bastian's "Dark Side of the Moon". Alongside his original productions, he collaborated with the Swedish producer Ingrosso on "Together". Axwell's most successful release of 2005 was "Watch the Sunrise", with Steve Edwards on vocals (famous for Cassius' "The Sound of Violence"). The track reached #3 in UK Dance Singles Chart and BBC Radio 1 Dance Chart. In between Axwell's productions he also found time to create Axtone, his own record label.

2006

In the spring of 2006, Axwell and Steve Angello, under the Supermode alias, remixed Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy", producing "Tell Me Why". It was released under the Data label. Later, he teamed up with Eric Prydz and produced the tracks 123 and 321 releasing them under the alias Axer.

That same year, Axwell branched into a New York house sound with his mix of "Counting Down the Days", a song by Sunfreakz. Axwell ignored the vocals (sung by Andrea Britton) for his mix, which was a blend of cutting progressive-house sounds and ethereal keyboards. The Israeli DJ Offer Nissim featured the mix prominently during his set at the March 2007 closing party for Manhattan's Roxy.

2007

In August 2007, Axwell teamed up with performer Max'C to create the track "I Found U", which made it to #6 in the UK Singles Chart.

On 12 August 2007, Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso played the Main Room at Cream Amnesia under the alias The Swedish House Mafia as part of Radio 1's Essential Mix Ibiza. The live set received rave reviews.

2008

Axwell co-wrote and co-produced the song "Rain on Me" with Cyndi Lauper for her 2008 album Bring Ya to the Brink. In June 2008, he released a song which was originally produced as a remix for David Guetta's "Everytime We Touch". Somehow, Guetta rejected the remix so Axwell took the instrumental of the song, teamed up with Bob Sinclar who brought in vocalist Ron Carroll and together they created "What a Wonderful World". In August of the same year, Axwell collaborated with an Australian DJ and producer, Dirty South, and released "Open Your Heart". At the same time, he also remixed "Hometown Glory" by Adele. The remix was released in two versions, "Original mix" with more vocals and more club oriented "Remode".

2010

In 2010, Axwell and Dirty South's remix of the song "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap, received a nomination for the 53rd Grammy Awards in the category for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.

2011

In 2011, Axwell co-wrote and co-produced Wild Ones with Flo Rida, SoFly & Nius, and Sia Furler, which was released on 9 January 2012.

2012

On 24 April 2012, Axwell's remix of "In My Mind" by Ivan Gough and Feenixpawl featuring Georgi Kay was released on Beatport, and then was nominated for the 55th Grammy Awards in the category of Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.

Following the Swedish House Mafia's farewell, Axwell and former SHM member Sebastian Ingrosso announced their new club night in Ibiza, called "Departures" at Ushuaia, Ibiza.

2013

On 30 May 2013, Axwell's new single "Center of the Universe" (Remode) was released on Beatport. It reached number one on Beatport. His subsequent single, with Sick Individuals feat Taylr Renee, "I Am" was released on 16 September and also reached number 1. Remixes for "I Am" were released on 26 January 2014 through Axwell's own Axtone label. Remixing artists included Deorro, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Wolfpack, Boostedkids, Jacob Plant and Nu:Tone.

2014–present

In 2014, Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso officially formed the group Axwell Λ Ingrosso. They have since released six new singles together.

Remixes

Productions

Produced with Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso under the name Swedish House Mafia.

DJ Awards

The DJ Awards organizes the annual electronic music DJ awards event it is the only international ceremony for DJs and also the oldest, the awards are held once a year at Pacha club in Ibiza Spain it is one of the most important accolades an artist can win or be honoured by.

Axwell has won the Best House DJ Award 2 times and been nominated 4 times.