Armand Van Helden

Biography:

Armand van Helden originally hails from Cambridge, MA, USA, just outside of Boston. His early days were spent following his military father to various countries but by the age of 1983, at the age of 13, he was living in Cambridge and, a hip-hop fan, had already gotten his first drum machine. Most sources agree that he first got turntables at the age of 18 and soon after finishing college he quit his job as a legal reviewer to take over promotions and work as one of the resident DJ’s at the now famous Loft.

According to interviews, he did not like house when he first heard it; later he was taken to a very underground house club night and, hearing the music in it’s proper environment, fell in love with it. His very first production jobs were uncredited remixes for a “For Professional DJ’s Only” label (that I do not name because I go there for top secret FIRE, sorry!) and a few under one of his many aliases, such as the Mole People, so named, likely, after the underground novel popularly describing people living under the streets of new york city.

His first big hit, credited to his name, was Witch Doktor, followed shortly there after by Funk Phenomena, both of which are still popular to this day; recall it was only a few years past that Todd Terry and then the Jungle Brothers added the hip hop polyrhtyms to house, making it what we know today and van Helden added a “ninja-like” mid-high secondary rhythm and melody (or even a canticle!) making a richer, fuller, hip-house sound that House Music is known for today. While it is arguably not his best remix (or perhaps isn’t a remix but actually an original song with a lot of sampling) van Helden became a global phenomena in 1995 with Professional Widow (originally by Tori Amos and for which he was paid only about $10,000); this song is generally accepted to have started the garage/speed garage genres so popular in the 2nd half of the 90’s.

van Helden is still a very popular DJ, playing what he calls “Armand van Helden Concerts” which are sets featuring some of his favorites that you hear on many of his mixes over the years and many of his own biggest hits. He reports that he plays 5-12 gigs a year (depending on what interview you listen to) while most Djs of his caliber are playing over 200 a year.