Paul van Dyk

Paul van Dyk — born Matthias Paul in 1971 — grew up in East Berlin behind the Wall, where Western radio broadcasts and bootleg cassettes were his only connection to the music that would come to define his life. After reunification, he became a fixture in the explosive early-90s Berlin club scene, with residencies at the legendary Tresor and E-Werk. His 1994 debut album 45 RPM helped define the long-form, narrative trance set, and the 1998 remix of Binary Finary's "1998" alongside his own "For an Angel" became cornerstones of the era. Out There and Back (2000) and Reflections (2003) cemented his status as one of the genre's leading album artists, and he was voted DJ Mag's #1 DJ in the world in both 2005 and 2006 — the first German artist to take the title. Founder of the Vandit Records imprint, Paul van Dyk has long been an outspoken advocate for trance as a serious art form. He uses his platform for political and humanitarian causes, performing for the Dalai Lama, advocating for democracy in his native Germany, and earning honours from the German government for his cultural work. In 2016 he survived a near-fatal fall from the stage at A State of Trance in Utrecht, suffering serious head and spinal injuries. His recovery and return to touring became one of the most moving stories in modern dance music. His 2017 comeback album From Then On addressed the experience directly, and his subsequent SHINE Ibiza residency reaffirmed his place at the heart of the trance community he helped build three decades earlier.