A trance producer in the early-late 1990s, Paul quickly achieved popularity with his remix of Love Stimulation by Humate under record label MFS in 1993, and his hit single, “For an Angel”, but in recent times he no longer likes to describe his music as trance, but rather simply as electronic dance music. PvD is credited as one of the hardest working artists in electronic music, with sold-out tours that cross each continent, headline spots at every major festival, and a hugely successful recording caree
History
Early life and musical beginning
Paul van Dyk grew up in East Berlin in a single parent household;his father left him and his mother when he was four years old.While living there, he worked as a broadcast technician and began training to become a carpenter.Paul van Dyk claims his musical education came from radio. Because where he grew up there were no record stores at which to buy music, he kept in touch with the world beyond the Berlin Wall by secretly listening to the popular but forbidden Western radio stations RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) and SFB and mixtapes occasionally smuggled into the country and copied among school friends.
Shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, van Dyk and his mother were given permission to leave East Germany and moved to Hamburg to live with his aunt. In 1990, van Dyk moved back to Berlin. His first appearance as a DJ was in the Tresor in March 1991. After several more dates, he was given the chance to perform at Juergen Kramer’s Dubmission parties in the Turbine club, together with the young resident DJ Kid Paul. The shows were called Paul vs. Paul. His mixing style drew the attention of Cosmic Baby and the two collaborated as The Visions of Shiva. Their single “Perfect Day” was released by the renowned Berlin independent label MFS (Masterminded For Success) Records, run by English ex-patriat producer Mark Reeder and manager Torsten Jurk.
In February 1993, van Dyk and Kid Paul hosted an installment of the weekly three-hour “HR3 Clubnight” radio show perform for a nationwide audience on German radio. The second and final Visions of Shiva single “How Much Can You Take?” was released, and van Dyk and Cosmic went their separate musical ways. By late summer, Paul released his first DJ-mix compilation “X-Mix-1 – the MFS Trip” and remixed Humate’s trance hymn “Love Stimulation”.
The growing popularity of the Dubmission parties forced venue changes, first to Cafe Moskau and then into the larger E-Werk where van Dyk began hosting regular MFS nights. 1994–2007
In 1994, Paul released The Green Valley EP, Pump This Party and Emergency 911. Meanwhile, MFS acquired many remixes for Paul. MFS label owner Mark Reeder’s close friendship with artists such as New Order gave Paul the opportunity to mix the track “Spooky” from the Republic album. Persuaded by Reeder, he finally recorded his debut LP 45 RPM with Johnny Klimek and VOOV. Reeder also compiled the album’s running order and design, and chose the album’s title as a reflection of the 45 rpm speed typical for dance vinyl.
Mark Reeder compiled Seven Ways, which established Paul van Dyk as a trance pioneer and was Paul van Dyk’s first real success in Britain. Reeder had successfully convinced his old friend Rob Deacon (formerly of Volume) to license the album for the UK and his new Deviant label. Seven Ways was voted the #1 album by readers of DJ Magazine.
In early 1997, Paul van Dyk began collaborating with U.S. music producer, BT. Together, they produced tracks such as Flaming June, Forbidden Fruit and Namistai (1999). The singles “Forbidden Fruit” and “Beautiful Place” did not cause a great impact at first, but with the release of Seven Ways and “Words” appearing at the height of the British superclub phenomenon, van Dyk’s own material began to attract attention. “By the time they realised I was a German, it was too late!” van Dyk said. Van Dyk also remixed a well known early-90s track, Age of Love in 1997.
In 1998, 45 RPM was re-released in the UK and in the US. To mark the event, and in homage to the defunct E-Werk, Paul released a remix of “For An Angel”. Van Dyk took up a residency at Sheffield’s Gatecrasher and declared himself anti-drugs, which led to home-made “No E, Pure PvD” T-shirts, also a sly note to journalists that his surname contained no “E”. In 1998, Paul remixed British trance duo, Binary Finary’s famous “1998″ single, which was a successful version that took Binary Finary to the top of the German Dance charts.
In mid-1998, Van Dyk left MFS Records and took a controlling share in the new label Vandit Records. In 2000, Paul flexed his skills with his melodic, dancefloor-friendly Out There And Back, which included the hit single “Tell Me Why (The Riddle)”, a collaboration with Saint Etienne. It also included the European hit We Are Alive, a remixed version of the Jennifer Brown song Alive. His first mix album The Politics of Dancing (2001) was followed by a world tour and a DVD release Global (2003) and the Mexican film “Zurdo”, for which van Dyk composed the soundtrack and won a oscar for his work.
Reflections (2003) derived from van Dyk’s trips to India, was a more melancholy affair, and includes the single “Nothing But You”, a collaboration with Hemmstock & Jennings. It was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Electronic Album. The mix album The Politics of Dancing 2 (2005) was preceded by a single “The Other Side,” featuring Wayne Jackson; a song dedicated to the victims, and their families, of the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that struck Thailand on 26 December 2004. His original productions from Reflections have been synced into major motion pictures such as Into the Blue, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, television’s Entertainment Tonight and MTV’s Cribs, and international ad campaigns for Motorola, HBO, Land Rover, Ski Vail and most recently for Jeep.
