Ferry Corsten

Ferry Corsten stands out as a Dutch DJ and producer whose career stretches back to the early 1990s and who ranks among the most prolific and commercially successful artists in trance. His major releases helped define the euphoric, melody-driven trance style that dominated dancefloors in the late 1990s and early 2000s, while his musical direction later incorporated elements of electro, pop, and hip-hop. Across solo work and joint ventures he has issued tracks under dozens of aliases, though System F and Gouryella—originally a partnership with fellow Dutch trance figure Tiësto—achieved the widest recognition; from the mid-2000s onward, however, the bulk of his material has appeared under his own name. Dozens of DJ mix collections bear his imprint, among them multiple editions of the Trance Nation and Once Upon a Night series, issued through labels including Ultra, Ministry of Sound, and Moonshine. A frequent presence at events such as Electric Daisy Carnival and Tomorrowland, he has traveled extensively, performing on nearly every continent. Numerous DJ and producer awards have come his way or placed him among the nominees, and he regularly features in DJ Magazine’s yearly Top 100 DJs poll. He runs the Flashover Recordings imprint and presents the long-running Corsten’s Countdown radio program.

Born in Rotterdam in 1973, Corsten immersed himself in dance music while still young and began DJing and producing as a teenager. Together with friends John Matze, René de Ruyter, and Robert Smit he put out a techno EP in 1991 credited to Spirit of Adventure. That project developed into the Tellurians, whose sound grew harder and darker in line with the hardcore techno movement then rising in Rotterdam. Throughout the rest of the decade he continued issuing techno, acid, house, and hardcore tracks under guises such as Free Inside and A Jolly Good Fellow. In 1995, at age 21, he claimed the dance prize at De Grote Prijs van Nederland, a respected honor for up-and-coming Dutch musicians. The following year he released his first full-length album, Looking Forward, under the alias Ferr; Nutrition issued the eclectic collection, which moved from Detroit-tinged techno through drum’n’bass to downtempo material. He also issued a lighthearted Christmas record, Santa’s X-Mas Dance Party, as DJ Sno-White. His first charting single arrived the same year when “Don’t Be Afraid,” released as Moonman, entered the U.K. singles chart. Maintaining a brisk release schedule, he scored another substantial hit in 1997 with the uplifting trance cut “I’m in Love,” created with longtime associate Smit under the Starparty name. The pair also founded the Tsunami label, operating under Dutch dance company Purple Eye Entertainment.

In 1998 Corsten’s “Air,” credited to Albion, appeared on the prominent trance label Platipus. The gentle, summery track became a fixture for DJs including John Digweed and Paul Oakenfold and received several remixes. His profile surged in 1999 amid trance’s dominance of both clubs and pop charts. The anthem “Out of the Blue,” his debut single as System F, surfaced in February and reached the U.K. Top 20. Additional successes followed through pairings with Tiësto (as Vimana and Gouryella) and Vincent de Moor (as Veracocha), while he supplied remixes for trance acts such as Art of Trance, Matt Darey, and Cygnus X, as well as broader artists including Faithless, Moby, and William Orbit’s interpretation of Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.” He also began issuing mix CDs, among them the first installments of Trance Nation and Artist Profile Series 1: Solar Serenades for Tiësto’s Black Hole Recordings. Muzik Magazine named him Producer of the Year, and he received the Zilveren Harp, another Dutch music accolade. The second System F single, “Cry,” emerged in 2000 and likewise proved a major success. The project’s debut album, Out of the Blue, arrived in 2001, featuring the prior two hits plus “Soul on Soul,” a collaboration with Soft Cell’s Marc Almond, and “Exhale,” produced with Armin van Buuren. Late that year Tiësto announced his departure from Gouryella, yet Corsten kept the name alive and released “Ligaya,” co-produced with John Ewbank, in 2002. That same year he issued “Punk,” an electroclash-oriented single under his own name that also charted.

The second System F album, Together, came out on Japan’s Avex Trax early in 2003. Later the same year Right of Way, Corsten’s first artist album released under his given name, appeared and included both “Punk” and the larger hit “Rock Your Body Rock,” reaching the U.K. album chart’s Top Ten. Further mix and compilation projects followed, such as Infinite Euphoria on Ministry of Sound in 2004 and a double-CD set marking the tenth anniversary of the Dance Valley festival. In 2005 Corsten departed Tsunami and launched Flashover Recordings. His first album on the imprint, 2006’s L.E.F. (“Loud Electronic Ferocious”), showcased a wide stylistic range with guest contributions from Gang Starr’s Guru, Howard Jones, and Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon; the stylistic breadth prompted one outlet to dub him the “King of Crossover.” He inaugurated the Corsten’s Countdown radio show in 2007 and staged the inaugural Full on Ferry concert at Rotterdam’s Ahoy Stadium, while also delivering a remix of Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise” that underscored his crossover reach.

Twice in a Blue Moon, issued in 2008, marked a more introspective turn, shaped by his marriage and the arrival of his daughter. A remix collection followed in 2009 alongside the global Twice in a Blue Moon: The Experience tour. In 2010 he supplied a set for BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix, released Champions—a System F remix album—and introduced the Once Upon a Night mix-CD series. After further extensive touring he delivered the full-length WKND in 2012, featuring appearances by Aruna, Betsie Larkin, and van Buuren. He also began the monthly Ferry’s Fix mix show while continuing the weekly Corsten’s Countdown. In 2013 Corsten and Markus Schulz formed New World Punx, debuting with the single “Romper.” He issued a sequence of Hello World EPs in 2015 that were later compiled into an album; the same year he returned with the Gouryella single “Anahera,” widely regarded as the year’s standout trance track, and embarked on a worldwide Gouryella tour. “Neba” and the album From the Heavens, containing refreshed versions of earlier Gouryella material, appeared in 2016. A Gouryella documentary also titled From the Heavens premiered in Melbourne early in 2017, and several months later the Gouryella single “Venera (Vee’s Theme)” marked the first release from Corsten’s Blueprint album, which followed in May.