Don Diablo

Don Pepijn Schipper (born February 27, 1980), better known as Don Diablo, is a Dutch DJ and producer of electronic dance music. He is known for his eclectic style of production and vocalizing in most of his songs. He was ranked No. 15 in the 2016 Top 100 DJs list by DJ Magazine.^[1]

Biography

Diablo was born Don Pepijn Schipper in Coevorden, Netherlands on February 27, He started early with music signing his first record deal at age fifteen. At the end of 2005, Diablo founded his own record label and event brand, Sellout Sessions, raising his profile in his native country, the Netherlands. Success followed soon after with underground hits like "Blow", "Who's Your Daddy", "Pain Is Temporary, Pride Is Forever", "Hooligans" and "Animale". "Blow" was the first single to create a big buzz on international club scenes getting licensed to over ten countries. He also completed his studies obtaining a bachelor's degree in journalism.

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.

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 (Electro Nation). In 2009, "Hooligans", a collaboration with English singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer Example, reached number 15 on the UK Dance Chart.

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 official theme song for the 2013 video game Batman: Arkham Origins.^[2]

His song "Starlight (Could You Be Mine)", made with UK DJ/producer Matt Nash, was debuted during the last Swedish House Mafia concert, after Axwell signed it to his label.^[3] The song became a Beatport Top 5 hit after gaining support from various major artists, such as Tiësto, Avicii, Martin Solveig and Tommy Trash. This led to 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.^[4]

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.

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 solid top 10 position in the iTunes podcast section every week.

He created the theme song for the video game Batman: Arkham Origins.

In 2015 Diablo collaborated with fellow Dutch DJ Tiësto on the track "Chemicals" featuring vocals from Danish singer and producer Thomas Troelsen.

Charity

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.^[5]

In July 2014, Don partnered with EDM lifestyle brand Electric Family to produce a collaboration bracelet for which 100% of the proceeds are donated to Fuck Cancer.

Discography

Albums

Compilation albums

• Sellout Sessions 01 (2005)
• Sellout Sessions 02 (2008)
• Sellout Sessions 03 (2009)

Mixes

• M8 Worldwide Volume Nine - Storming (mix album with British publication M8 magazine) (2002)
• The Face of a New Generation (2007)
• Drive by Disco (Mixed by Don Diablo) (mix album with British publication DJ Mag) (2009)

EPs

• First DJ on the Moon (1997)
• Floating into Hyperspace (1997)
• Entering the Twilight Zone (1998)
• Light Out EP (2012)

Charting singles

Featured as Divided

(a Don Diablo project)