Martin Garrix

Early life

Garrix learned to play guitar at age 8. In 2004, he expressed interest in becoming a DJ after seeing Tiësto perform at the Olympic games in Athens. He took particular inspiration from the track "Traffic", prompting him to download specialist software, FL Studio, and enabling him to start composing. In 2013, he graduated from the Herman Brood Academy, a production school in Utrecht. Garrix ghost writes tracks for other artists, and despite this, only one in fifty of his tracks have made it out to the public. In an interview when asked about his social class, Garrix said middle-class. He also said his 'dream mentor' was Calvin Harris.

Releases on Spinnin' Records

Garrix was discovered by Tiësto, whom he described as inspirational, humble and legendary. He had his beginnings with the songs "BFAM" (with Julian Jordan) and "Just Some Loops", a collaboration with TV Noise that appeared on the compilation album Loop Masters Essential, Volume 2. He signed to Spinnin' Records in 2012, releasing "Error 404" through the label.

In 2013 Garrix co-released "Torrent" with Sidney Samson on Tiësto's Musical Freedom label. He gained fame through his own solo release "Animals" released on 16 June 2013 on Dutch record label Spinnin' Records, becoming a hit in a great number of charts in Europe, and became the youngest person to reach the No. 1 spot on Beatport. The track appears on Hardwell's album Hardwell presents 'Revealed Volume 4'. On 30 September 2013, Garrix released a remix of "Project T" by Sander Van Doorn and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike which quickly hit No. 1 on the Beatport charts. He appeared on DJ Magazine's top 100 DJs list in 2013 as a new entry at number 40. In 2014, he appeared on DJ Magazine's top 100 DJs list at number 4.

Deal with Scooter Braun Projects

In November 2013 Garrix signed a deal with Scooter Braun's Scooter Braun Projects (later School Boy Records). In December 2013, he released "Wizard" with Jay Hardway, the song has peaked to number 6 in Belgium and number 17 in the Netherlands. His collaboration with Firebeatz, "Helicopter", placed No. 1 on the Beatport Top 100 charts for 2 weeks. He performed at Ultra Music Festival 2014, where he debuted several new and unreleased tracks, including collaborations with Dillon Francis, Hardwell and Afrojack.

In 2014 Garrix released "Proxy" as a free download. He released a song with MOTi with the title "Virus (How About Now)" which was later in the year as well as his collaboration with Afrojack releasing "Turn Up the Speakers" which Afrojack and Garrix both premiered at Ultra Music Festival.

"Forbidden Voices", "Don't Look Down" and collaborations

In 2015 Garrix experimented with progressive house and started producing progressive style apart from his signature big room sound. On 6 February 2015, he released the track "Forbidden Voices" as a gift for 10 million likes on his Facebook page. In February 2015, he released the single "Don't Look Down" featuring Usher. He also released two video versions for it on Vevo, "Towel Boy" and "Towel Girl." The track was written by Garrix, James 'JHart' Abrahart and Busbee. It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs.

In an interview with DigitalSpy in early 2015, Garrix noted that Usher is a "humble" artist and a great collaborator to whom he can direct input. He also worked with multi-Grammy winner Ed Sheeran on a track called "Rewind Repeat It" which he played at Ultra Music Festival in Miami in March 2015. On 4 May 2015, he released a track with Tiësto, called "The Only Way Is Up". On 22 May 2015, Avicii released a lyric video of the song "Waiting for Love" co-produced by Garrix. On 6 July 2015, Garrix released the Break Through The Silence EP with Russian DJs Matisse and Sadko. Later, on 31 October 2015, he released a track titled "Poison" as a promotional single.

Termination of agreements with Spinnin' Records

On 26 August 2015, Garrix announced that he had left Spinnin' Records and MusicAllStars Management, due to a conflict over the ownership of his music. A point of contention was the release of "Animals," which appeared when Garrix was 17 years old. He also announced that he had filed a lawsuit against his then-manager Eelko van Kooten. In November 2015, Garrix announced that he would create his own record label.

On 2 December 2015, Garrix has reportedly settled with Spinnin' Records in their ongoing legal dispute over the ownership rights of his music, he released a statement confirming that he had withdrawn the summary proceedings after his former record label transferred him the ownership rights to his music in exchange that exclusive licence of all his tracks released before August 2015 are retained by Spinnin' for an undisclosed period. However, Garrix also stated that their other outstanding disagreements will likely be the subject of further legal proceedings.

On 31 December 2015, Garrix released "Bouncybob", his final track of the year, for free, which he had co-produced with Justin Mylo and Mesto.

STMPD RCRDS and Ultra Music Festival

Garrix launched his own record label called STMPD RCRDS in the first quarter of 2016. On 11 March 2016, he released his first single via STMPD RCRDS titled "Now That I've Found You", featuring the vocals of John Martin and Michel Zitron. Speaking about the label, he said that he wanted it to be a 'platform' for artists of various genres.

On 20 February 2016, Garrix announced that his debut album was arriving later that year via Twitter after the social media platform asked some of its content curators to use its new video platform to announce their plans for 2016. However, he never released the album that year despite releasing an extended play. On 18 March 2016, he made use of his one-hour set to premiere ten new unreleased tracks at Ultra Music Festival, including collaborations with Jay Hardway, Julian Jordan, Ed Sheeran, Bebe Rexha, Third Party and Linkin Park along with AREA21, a Garrix's duo with Maejor. On 27 May 2016, he released his second single "Lions in the Wild" with British DJ duo Third Party.

Deal with Sony Music

On 13 June 2016, Garrix released a promotional single titled "Oops" which became the E3 2016 anthem. On 26 July 2016, it was announced that Garrix signed a 'worldwide' contract with Sony Music International. He explained that, "their forward thinking approach to streaming and incredible roster of talented artists combined with their passion and understanding for my vision of the future of my music made this a no brainer." On 29 July 2016, he released the track "In the Name of Love" with Bebe Rexha.

On 22 August 2016, Garrix made his first-ever live performance of his own music, with Rexha on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, accompanied by The Tonight Show house band, The Roots.

On 14 October 2016, Garrix announced on social media that he was releasing seven songs for seven days. Several of the released songs have been premiered during his performances at Ultra Music Festival Miami and Tomorrowland Belgium. The songs were uploaded onto his YouTube channel as music videos with seven visual artists who live-painted their interpretations of each song.

DJ Magazine number one DJ

On 19 October 2016, Garrix was named the world's top DJ in DJ Mag's annual Top 100 DJs poll and, at the age of 20, he became the youngest ever recipient of the award. Speaking to the press, he said "It feels unreal to have won. I 100 percent did not expect it at all. I've had an amazing year, with awesome shows and amazing fans -- I'm so thankful for their support. I didn't even do a campaign, and it just shows how dope the fanbase is." He was presented with his No.1 trophy by his mentor and four-time winner of the award Tiësto at the Top 100 DJs Poll Awards Party in Amsterdam's famous Heineken Music Hall, the opening party in this year's Amsterdam Music Festival, the largest festival of the Amsterdam Dance Event.

Documentary and awards won at European Music Awards

It was announced that Garrix will co-star, alongside Carl Cox in an upcoming EDM-themed documentary titled "What We Started" which shows thirty years of EDM history by focusing mainly on the diverging careers of Cox, one of the scene's founders who just announced his retirement from iconic Ibiza venue, Space, and Martin Garrix, currently ranked the number one DJ in the world. The documentary is co-written, produced and directed by Bert Marcus alongside executive producer and music supervisor Pete Tong. The documentary is set to be premiered on 15 June 2017 at the LA Film Festival.

On 6 November 2016, Garrix won "Best Electronic Act" and "Best World Stage Performance" awards at the MTV European Music Awards 2016. He was presented his award by American rapper G-Eazy. During the awards ceremony, Garrix performed "In the Name of Love" on stage with Bebe Rexha.

Collaborations and Hï Ibiza residency

Garrix announced that he would be supporting Canadian singer Justin Bieber on his Purpose World Tour in Australia which begins in March and at the 'Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park' show on 2 July 2017. Speaking to NME about a collaboration with Bieber, Garrix said "We've been in the studio and we have some rough ideas, but we have no actual song yet where we're both like, 'OK, this is what we're gonna release'". On 27 January 2017, he released "Scared to Be Lonely" a collaboration with British singer Dua Lipa as a single. He performed the song with Lipa on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in March before releasing two volumes of extended plays featuring twelve remixes.

Garrix was announced as a resident for the 2017 season at Hï Ibiza, previously known as Space Ibiza, a popular dance-music club owned by Ushuaïa Entertainment. He previously had a DJ residency at HÏ Ibiza's sister venue, Ushuaïa in 2016. On 7 April 2017, "Byte" a collaboration with Brooks was released as a single. The song was previously debuted by Garrix on his 2017 Ultra Music Festival set in Miami.

On 14 April 2017, Garrix debuted a collaboration with Troye Sivan, who later joined him on stage for their performance at the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival of Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. The song title was "There For You", as announced by Sivan on Twitter. Sivan indicated on his Twitter account that the song will be released officially, by saying "I love you guys and can't wait for you to have this song in ur phones". The song was officially released on 26 May 2017.

Tomorrowland and Ed Sheeran collaboration

Garrix appeared as the face of Armani Exchange in their Fall 2017 campaign, becoming one of the first few internationally-recognized DJs to enter modelling. Armani Exchange announced it on social media, stating "...the face of the new Armani Exchange Fall Winter 2017/2018 campaign: Martin Garrix..." At the Tomorrowland 2017 festival, Garrix debuted his YTRAM alias, which spells "Marty" backwards. He also premiered a collaboration with David Guetta who joined him on stage to perform the song, which features the vocals of singer Ellie Goulding, as well as his first solo track in over a year, "Pizza", which received an official release on 25 August 2017. Garrix was listed in Forbes' World's Highest-Paid DJs 2017 ranking with earnings of $19.5 million for 12 months prior to June 2017.

Details of Garrix's collaborative unreleased song with Ed Sheeran, titled "Replay Rewind" or alternately, "Rewind, Repeat It", was published on ASCAP with Sony and BDI listed as the publishers of the song. Garrix was dissatisfied with Sheeran's label, who postponed the release of the song due to their prioritization of Sheeran's other song releases, causing him to cease further talks. In a radio interview, Garrix explained "It was going to be an official track, so we postponed all my other singles, but the label delayed the track because they wanted to release other tracks from Ed first. At one point, it was two years ago, I didn't release a radio single for five, six months. So, then you get annoyed. So, I don't think we're ever going to release the track." The song, premiered at the 2015 Ultra Music Festival in Miami and regularly played by Garrix at music festivals, had its release halted as what Garrix described as "label issues and a lot of headaches".

Two-year lawsuit victory

On 20 September 2017, a Dutch judge ruled in favor of Garrix who regained the rights to his music that were previously signed to Spinnin' Records and MusicAllStars, to have his contract permanently terminated. Garrix, who demanded €3.7 million from Spinnin' and €650,000 from MusicAllStars, said "All of (their) claims have been rejected by the court. The only remaining question is the amount to be repaid (to Garrix)."

2016: Fuck Cancer and Magic Bus

In May 2016, Garrix headlined an event in Los Angeles with all proceeds going to the non-profit organization Fuck Cancer, dedicated to early detection, prevention and providing support to those affected by cancer.

In November 2016, Garrix started his India tour with a special charity show in Mumbai with over 40,000 in attendance. Hosted at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse, the charity event's purpose was to educate Indian children with the proceeds from the show being donated to Magic Bus, who will be supporting the education of 10,000 children across the country.

2017: SOS Children's Village

On 24 February 2017, Garrix was announced as an "international friend" for SOS Children's Village in South Africa, a non-profit organization that "builds families for orphaned, abandoned, and other vulnerable children around the world". Speaking to Billboard, he said "it is awful that so many children around the world don't have the support of a caring family".