Steve Aoki

At a time when most EDM DJs were happy to hide behind their laptops, Steve Aoki became a wild, hyperactive party starter, known for leading festival and club crowds into boisterous pogoing masses, crowd-surfing in a raft and smothering his fans' faces with cake. The son of millionaire entrepreneur Rocky Aoki (who founded the restaurant chain Benihana), Steve Aoki was born on 30 November 1977 and grew up in Newport Beach, California but shunned his trust fund privilege and was determined to make it on his own. While studying at the University of California he grew from an awkward misfit into an outgoing, straight-edge, vegan punk rocker, and led his band this Machine Kills whilst putting on gigs for over 450 other acts and launching the DIY label Dim Mak Records. By 2003, he had moved from the hardcore punk community into the Los Angeles dance scene and built his reputation remixing indie groups such as the Gossip, Bloc Party and the Kills and playing over 250 shows a year. His breakthrough single "I'm in the House" made the top 30 in the UK in 2010 and albums Wonderland and Neon Future I came alongside residencies at the world's biggest clubs and a non-stop touring schedule. His showmanship, work rate and a boundless lust for life produced cross-genre collaborations with rapper Kid Ink, Fifth Harmony's Lauren Jauregui and nu-metal thrashers Linkin Park, and in 2016 he worked on Louis Tomlinson's debut single "Just Hold On," which reached number two in the UK charts. Also holding a keen interest in science, he interviewed futurist Ray Kurzweil and comic book creator Stan Lee for technology magazine Wired and worked with scientist Bill Nye before returning in 2017 with his fourth studio album Steve Aoki Presents Kolony featuring 2 Chainz, T-Pain and Gucci Man. He went on to release albums at a consistent rate over the years, taking in the third and fourth volume of Neon Future in 2018 and 2020, respectively. His seventh studio album Hiroquest: Genesis arrived in 2022 with the sequel, Hiroquest 2: Double Helix, following in 2023. Both Double Helix albums were conceptual in nature, telling the story of meta-human Hiro and his quest to save the world. He remained in the Hiroquest universe for ninth album Paragon, which packed in a stack of guest stars, including Ne-Yo on "Heavenly Hell" and Moonchild Sanelly on "Mad."