Don Diablo

Don Diablo, a future house DJ and producer, has amassed a string of chart and club successes spanning multiple decades. His breakthrough arrived with the house- and hip-hop-infused Life Is a Festival in 2008, while Future reached the Billboard dance/electronic Top Ten in 2018. Beyond sold-out live performances, he maintained a consistent output of singles such as the 2019 track “Survive” alongside Emeli Sandé and Gucci Mane and the 2020 release “Kill Me Better” with Imanbek and Trevor Daniel, both paving the way for his third album, Forever, which appeared in 2021. Additional singles, remixes, covers, and joint projects have followed, among them the 2024 song “Next to Me” featuring MK and Gaby Gerlis.

Born Don Pepijn Schipper in Coevorden, Netherlands, in 1980, he entered the music industry at age 15 by securing his initial record contract. Early work centered on gabber and hardcore before he shifted toward hard house and trance near the turn of the millennium. The 2003 single “Useless” brought Dutch pop-chart success, after which he issued the CD/DVD 2 Faced in 2004 and steered his sound toward greater pop influence. Two mid-2000s hits emerged from his Divided side project, one of them a house rendition of the Phil Collins and Philip Bailey track “Easy Lover,” the first in a series of pop-hit remakes. He founded the Sellout Sessions label and delivered three similarly titled mix CDs before releasing his official debut album, Life Is a Festival, in 2008. Guest appearances by Shystie, Bizzey, J-Rock, Rhymefest, and others helped the set reach the Dutch Top 40. The Example collaboration “Hooligans” topped the U.K. dance chart in 2009, and 2010 brought further traction with “Animale,” which featured Canadian electronic outfit Dragonette.

Having achieved mainstream visibility, Diablo supplied remixes for Madonna, Rihanna, Bastille, and Ed Sheeran while creating original material with Tiësto, Tinie Tempah, and Kelis. In 2013, house-music figure Pete Tong aired six of his tracks on BBC Radio 1; that same year he accepted a short-term residency at the Las Vegas venue Light and completed sold-out solo tours across the United States and Asia. He launched the Hexagon label in 2015, which scored immediate results with a collaborative remix of British tropical house DJ Alex Adair’s “Make Me Feel Better.” Subsequent Hexagon releases continued to occupy prominent chart positions, especially in the United States and United Kingdom, earning the label the Beatport Breakthrough EDM Label of 2015 designation. The label’s radio show reached listeners in more than 35 countries and expanded his audience further.

That year also yielded the Tiësto collaboration “Chemicals,” which included vocals from Danish singer-songwriter Thomas Troelsen. Additional sold-out tours and shows followed in 2016, during which Don Diablo placed fifteenth on DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs list and was ranked number-one Future House Artist of the Year by Beatport. He also ventured into other media by composing the theme for the Batman: Arkham Origins video game, a track that quickly accumulated millions of online streams. In 2017 he continued touring and issued the compilation Past.Present.Future on Hexagon; his second full-length album, Future, arrived in early 2018. Contributions from Nina Nesbitt, Calum Scott, Betty Who, and additional artists propelled the record to a number-nine debut on the Billboard dance/electronic chart. The non-album single “Survive,” again featuring Emeli Sandé and Gucci Mane, appeared the same year. Further singles arrived, including 2020’s “Kill Me Better” with Imanbek and Trevor Daniel and 2021’s “Into the Unknown,” both of which appeared on the third album, Forever, released in September 2021.

Several singles and remixes surfaced in 2022, among them “Face to Face” with WATTS, “Day & Nite,” and “No Piensa” featuring PnB Rock and Boaz van de Beatz. The 2023 output comprised “Beyond the Fire,” the Olive rework “Not Alone” with Azteck, and a cover of Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night” alongside Gabry Ponte. In 2024 he partnered with Major Lazer on “Jiggy Woogie,” Felix Jaehn on “Monster,” K-pop group Ateez on “Work, Pt. 2,” and MK on “Next to Me” with Gaby Gerlis.