A composer, producer, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist from the Netherlands who has reached international charts through both his electronic productions and his film scores, Tom Holkenborg performs under the alias Junkie XL. He first entered the music scene in the late '80s and early '90s as a member of bands including Weekend at Waikiki and Nerve before establishing his reputation in big beat during the closing years of the decade under the Junkie XL name. His 2002 reinterpretation of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation," issued as "Elvis vs. JXL," ascended to the top position across more than a dozen territories. Parallel to those activities he took on occasional scoring assignments for video games and films, an activity that expanded considerably by the close of the 2000s. During the mid-2010s he supplied scores for major releases such as Mad Max: Fury Road, Deadpool, and, alongside his frequent collaborator Hans Zimmer, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Holkenborg began performing at fourteen, initially appearing in local funk and reggae groups before shifting toward alternative rock. Employed at a music retailer, he started exploring synthesizers and studio technology, and in 1996 earned the Grand Prix of the Netherlands award for best house music producer. Following the release of Junkie XL's 1997 debut album Saturday Teenage Kick, which merged electronica with rock, he recruited rapper Rudeboy, formerly of Urban Dance Squad, along with DJ Frankie D., drummer Baz Mattie, and guitarist Renee van der Zee, thereby converting the solo studio endeavor into a live ensemble.
Around the same period he contributed music to several video games and made his first foray into feature-film scoring with the 1998 Dutch production Siberia, credited as Junkie XL. Returning to dance music, the 1999 album Big Sounds of the Drags became the initial release featuring the expanded group. More than two years afterward he created the first authorized remix of an Elvis Presley recording, "A Little Less Conversation," which accompanied a Nike advertisement timed with the 2002 World Cup; issued as a single, it reached number one in Britain by June and entered the Top Ten in more than two dozen countries. The track appeared on his 2003 album Radio JXL: A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin, which incorporated vocals by Chuck D, Robert Smith, and Gary Numan. His 2008 release Booming Back at You included vocalist Lauren Rocket on a version of Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Cities in Dust" as well as a guest spot from producer Steve Aoki. The 2012 album Synthesized featured input from Datarock, Tommie Sunshine, and Curt Smith of Tears for Fears.
Entering the 2010s he accepted an increasing number of film-scoring commissions, frequently working in tandem with Hans Zimmer. In 2014 he was listed with Pharrell Williams, Johnny Marr, Mike Einziger, Andrew Kawczynski, and Steve Mazzaro as part of Zimmer's the Magnificent Six on the soundtrack to The Amazing Spider-Man 2. That year he also received sole credit for Divergent, which climbed into the Top 20 of the Billboard Soundtracks chart. He soon scored further international successes including 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, 2016's Deadpool, and, again with Zimmer, 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He concluded the decade with contributions to projects such as the 2017 video game FIFA 18 and the 2018 film Tomb Raider.
