Tij Verwest, more popularly known by his screen name Tiësto, is a Grammy-nominated Dutch trance DJ and record producer.  Tiësto is considered one of the world's top DJs in trance and electronic dance music scenes.  He was even crowned as "The World's No. 1 DJ" for three consecutive years from 2002 to 2004 by DJ magazine.

Early career

Verwest has an interest for music since childhood, and at age 20 he decided to focus into DJing professionally.  After doing the rounds of school parties, he became a resident DJ at several clubs in his home country Netherlands from 1985 to 1994, using alias like "Da Joker" or "DJ Limited." 

During the early part of his career, his mostly played new beat, acid house music, and most notably many of Madonna's songs.  It was only during the mid-1990s that he started to produce trance music and released eight mixed compilations called "Magik series" between 1995 and 2001.

In 1999, Tiësto joined forces with DJ and fellow Netherlands native Ferry Corsten to create the trance-based duo of Gouryella, wherein they released 20 different CD released of their four tracks from 9 labels.  As a solo artist, he also released his first of "In Search of Sunrise" series.  It was during that year where he played his longest-lasting concert in Amsterdam, clocking in at 12 hours.

Rise to fame

A year later, Tiësto decided to concentrate on his personal work and left Gouryella.  He released the "In Trance We Trust" series of compilations, which introduced Corsten, Armin van Buuren, and Johan Gielen into the mainstream. 

Tiësto also released his first DJ mix album in the United States with "Summerbreeze," which also featured a remix of Delerium's "Silence" featuring Sarah McLachlan.  "Silence" launched Tiësto to a more mainstream audience, as it spent four weeks in the United Kingdom's Top Ten chart, and reached number three in the Billboard Dance chart.

He released his first solo album "In My Memory" in 2001, which gave him several major club hits including "Lethal Industry," "Flight 643," and the title track that received high radio airplay in the United States.  In 2002, Tiësto received a Zilveren Harp award, as well as a Lucky Strike Dance Aware for Best Trance/ Progressive DJ. 

Tiësto's fame continued to rise in early 2000s as he became of the first DJs to play alone to a large crowd, without other DJs or opening acts.  On May 2003, he performed for over 25,000 people in a soccer stadium in Arnhem, Netherlands.  This concert was later called "Tiësto in Concert" and has been repeated in several venues.

Worldwide popularity

After releasing his second studio album "Just Be," in 2004, he performed live for 90 minutes at the parade of athletes during the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, becoming the first DJ to play live on stage at an Olympic Games. 

His performance consisted of tracks based on his opening tune "Adagio for String" and included some of his well-known tracks like "Traffic" as well as new tracks that were created to complement the spirit and theme of the ceremony.  A condensed studio-recorded album of the songs played on the Olympics was later released.

In 2006, he was chosen as the official ambassador for the Dance4Life foundation and released the song "Dance4Life" featuring Maxi Jazz to help spread the awareness on HIV/ AIDS. 

He released his fourth studio album "Elements of Life," which reached number 1 in the Dutch album charts as well as on the Billboard Top Electronic Albums in the United States.  "Elements of Life" also received a Grammy Award nomination in 2008.

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