Corsten made and released his first official record in 1989, when he was 16 years old. One year later he turned professional and began making a living out of it, and by 1995 he’d won his home country’s prestigious De Grote Prijs van Nederland.
He began his career making underground Gabber tracks and diversified into club-house and trance soon afterwards. His first charting single was also one of his first self-penned tracks, called “Don’t Be Afraid”, with the success of that single he set up a label called Tsunami with producing partner Robert Smit and released his first album as System F “Out Of The Blue”, two years later.
This release made him a big name in dance scenes all over the world, and properly broke him in the United Kingdom, as well as. Two of the singles, the title track and its follow up “Cry” went into the top 20 singles chart and he was given the award for Producer of the Year at the Ericsson Muzik Award in London.
The man had successfully popularised Trance music, solidified by a compilation album that Ministry Of Sound released of the genre going platinum with ease. He hasn’t quite established himself with the commercial clout that some of his peers today have, but names like Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk and Corsten’s old apprentice Tiësto play his tracks to clubs the world over.
However, his newer group New World Punx sold out Madison Square Garden in one hour for their VERY FIRST SHOW. So clearly Corsten’s name is as respected and revered as it ever was. This is an artist at the top of his game, and if you can get a ticket, he should be seen as soon as possible.
It almost seems a little quaint, in this day and age, to think that a figure in the music industry might be best known for their work in radio, but that’s the case for Markus Schulz, even if it is an internet-based show - Global DJ Broadcast goes out once a week through various online stations. He uses his show as a platform through which to display his lengthy trance mixes, which have marked him out as one of the genre’s finest and most exciting talents. He’s also released six mixes in standalone form, and carved out a reputation as one of the world’s top trance producers, too.
In terms of mainstream crossover, Schulz can offer up a mightily impressive list of artists for whom he’s remixed tracks in the past; Depeche Mode, Madonna, Fatboy Slim, Everything But the Girl and Jewel would all be counted amongst them. In recent years, he’s veered towards live performance in a bigger way than before, playing at some of the world’s top clubs - he’s graced the stage at the likes of Ministry of Sound, Avalon, Club Space and Green Valley - he’s also a regular at a slew of the top dance festivals in Europe, including Love Parade in his native Germany.
Ferry Corsten- the Dutch Duke himself! Perhaps not known by many music lovers but most certainly a high profile DJ currently in the game, and I have had the privalege of witnessing him live.
Ferry opened with a crowd pleasing remix of FatBoy Slim's 'Praise You' before blasting through the high tempoed 'Fire' and 'Beautiful'- taken from his successful debut album 'L.E.F' which put him on the DJ-ing map for years to come.
This guy has conquered the Ibiza scene for years now. He is very much part of this modern day love for house music and live DJ sets. He is right up there in the top 5 DJ's to see live at the moment, especially as new material is being released. 'Festival Crash' and 'Hyper Love'- if these dancefloor fireworks dont light up your night then nothing will. He may have hit the midde-aged barrier but this Dutch DJ is still young at heart and currently lighting up stages around the globe.
Markus Schulz has been a part of the electronic dance music starting in the early 90s, and has since become a ridiculously successful producer. However, he still very much is a performer and continues to tour the world to spin his sets. The German born yet now residing in the United States, has worked with other artists like Armin Van Burren, Depeche Mode, Madonna and even Jewel and has performed at every major electronic music festival around the world.
What is interesting about his live sets are the starts of the set. He has a track recorded similar to that of a big show announcement, with a big booming voice and lights shining out. Then the music starts and immediately the background behind Markus is his superhero emblem. He draws a packed house, all of which are immediately dancing and trancing as soon as he starts his set. His sets are a full on light show, and each song takes on its own personality via the lights. With the fast paced music, you are bound to have danced off tons of calories because the whole atmosphere is full of energy you can feed off of when you do start to feel tired.