Armand van Helden (born February 16, 1970) is a Boston-based American DJ, record producer, remixer, and songwriter. During a three-decade career, he is regarded as one of house music’s most beloved personalities.
Van Helden’s most well-known tracks include “You Don’t Know Me,” “I Want Your Soul,” “My My My” with Tara McDonald, and “Bonkers” with Dizzee Rascal, all of which achieved number one on the UK Dance Chart and as high as number two on the Billboard Dance Chart.
Although much of his chart success has come from Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, van Helden has been closely associated with the New York electronic music scene since the early-mid 1990s, when he was regarded as one of the best remixers in the business and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording in 1998. Van Helden frequently remixes and samples funk, soul, R&B, and hip-hop. Filters and dub progressions are also used, as in NYC beat, dancehall, and reggae samples.
Van Helden is widely regarded as the pioneer of the speed garage genre, and he has continued to remix various artists with this musical style, including Katy Perry, Van Halen, Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, Britney Spears, Enrique Iglesias, David Guetta, Sam Smith, Bloc Party, Janet Jackson, Juliet Roberts, and KRS-One. Recent singles include “I Need a Painkiller” and “Wings,” which were released in 2018 and 2016, respectively.
