Driven by persistence and an uncontrolled passion for music, singer, songwriter, producer and Day After Festival talent Calvin Harris, continues to wow audiences with his intriguing and surprising sounds. Performing at some of the most high-end nightspots and festivals around the globe, Calvin Harris is hands down, one of the world’s most in-demand DJs.
Known to his postmaster as Adam Richard Wiles, Calvin Harris was born in the southern city of Dumfries, Scotland. He became first drawn to electronic music around 1999 in his teen years as he began to record demos at home. A few years later, after moving to London, Harris recorded his first two songs “Da Bongos” and “Brighter Days” under the moniker Stouffer. Though his follow up track “Let Me Know,” with vocalist Ayah had relative success, Harris decided it was time to go back to the drawing board. He dedicated his time by branding himself and posting solo recordings through on MySpace. And as fate would have it, deeply rooted dance music veteran Tommy Sunshine came across Harris’ beats and released some of his earlier recordings on his Xylophone Jones Recordings imprint before Harris was eventually signed to EMI later on.
Calvin Harris’ debut album I Created Disco, released in 2007, debuted at #8 on the UK Albums Chart and by the following year, it was certified gold. Audiences instantly loved tracks like “Acceptable in the 80s” and “The Girls” for their catchy lyrics and universal melodies – a quality that Harris has come to master, “You need three or four really catchy hooks. It doesn’t matter what they are, whether they’re musical hooks or lyrical hooks. You need some kind of sound in there that someone hasn’t heard before. Or sometimes you can take a sound or an idea that happened 30 years ago that nobody’s really thought about for a while, and you can update it and incorporate it into a modern setting.”
With his career ever on the rise, other industry greats began to take notice. Harris’ talents grabbed the attention of Australian artist Kylie Minogue, Kelis, Ellie Goulding, and his efforts on Rihanna’s “We Found Love” earned him many awards from Billboard, the IDMAs and the coveted Grammy’s. In 2011, his escalating success went into overdrive after releasing “Feel So Close.” “It’s an emotional, almost an emo vocal. I can’t remember the last time guitars were in dance music like that. Also, it’s all real instruments. Nothing’s fake there: it’s real music, real melody and actual emotion. A lot of dance music now, it’s about being in the club and popping bottles over this cheap-sounding synth that people can make so easily and get somebody else to mix. I’m not about that.”
Currently, Calvin Harris is celebrating his collaboration with Alesso on the track “Under Control.” One thing’s for sure, Harris will definitely have Figali Plaza under control as he makes his way to Panamà City, Panamà for The Day After Festival on January 10-12th. Tickets are already on sale, buy your tickets now!
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