Oliver Heldens

Olivier "Oliver" J. L. Heldens (; born 1 February 1995) is a Dutch DJ and electronic music producer from Rotterdam. He is regarded as a pioneer of the future house genre, propelling it to international attention and scoring numerous chart successes, including "Gecko (Overdrive)", "Last All Night (Koala)", "The Right Song", "Fire in My Soul", and "Turn Me On". He also produces techno songs under the alias HI-LO, which comes from "Oli H" in reversed form, runs the label Heldeep Records and later runs the label HILOMATIK. with over a billion cumulative streams.

Career 2013–2014: debut and "Gecko" breakthrough Oliver Heldens on stage in St. Louis, Missouri during his U.S. and Canada bus tour Heldens began his professional music career when he signed to Spinnin' Records in 2013. His first releases on the label included the songs "Stinger" and "Thumper", which features DJ Jacob van Hage. Heldens' 2013 song "Gecko" caught the attention of fellow Dutch DJ Tiësto, who signed the song to his label, Musical Freedom, and later released a vocal version through Warner Music Group's FFRR with British singer Becky Hill on 23 June 2014 as "Gecko (Overdrive)". Heldens released "Koala" on Spinnin' in August 2014, and on 6 October 2014 he released "This" with Sander van Doorn. He achieved 12th place in the DJ Mag Top 100 2015, making him the highest-ranked house DJ on the list. In a Billboard interview at Tomorrowland, Heldens described his style as deep house while also acknowledging the mainstream influences in his music.

On 17 December 2015, BBC Radio 1 announced that Heldens was to have a residency show starting on 22 January 2016. Since then, Heldens has played a one-hour Radio 1 slot on the third Thursday of every month.

2015–2016: HI-LO and Heldeep Records

In July 2015, the HI-LO song "Renegade Mastah" was the first track to be released on Heldens' new label Heldeep Records. In a later interview with the UKF blog, it was revealed that HI-LO was Heldens, who used the label to launch the HI-LO project. Heldeep would grow from a small imprint to a fully-fledged label, signing artists including Alok, Chocolate Puma, and Dada Life. The label has hosted stages at festivals including Tomorrowland, Mysteryland, SW4, Electric Forest, Spring Awakening, Sunrise Festival, Imagine Festival, Black Sheep Festival, and label nights during Miami Music Week and Amsterdam Dance Event.

Heldeep Talent EP was released on 23 November 2015 and included the songs "I Can't Stop" by Death Ray Shake, "Hookah" by Bojac, "Slip Away" by Niko The Kid, and "Fall Under Skies" by Jonas Aden & Robby East. Since then Oliver released "Heldeep Talent EP Part 2" on 21 March 2016 Featuring three tracks: "Get Busy" by Steff Da Campo, "Lethal" by NOVKA, and "Mirrors feat. Stevyn by Tom Budin and Stevyn.

"Waiting", an Oliver Heldens and Throttle collaboration, was released on Heldeep Records on 7 January 2016. Heldeep released a track by Mr. Belt & Wezol and Shermanology called "Hide & Seek" as well as another track by Bougenvilla & Out Of Cookies called "Break It Down" on 25 April 2016. The label also released "Space Sheep," a collaboration between Heldens and Chocolate Puma on 2 May 2016.

2017–2020: "Turn Me On" and other singles In 2017, Heldens released the single "Ibiza 77". His 2018 single "Fire in My Soul" features vocals from singer Shungduzo and was co-produced with Oak Felder. and number 18 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. Also that year, he released a remix of Chic's "Le Freak" on Atlantic Records, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Atlantic Records' all-time best selling song. In 2018, he partnered with the Plastic Soup Foundation as their new ambassador, to help eliminate ocean pollution. number 1 on the MediaBase Dance Radio chart, number 1 on the Billboard Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, and number 5 on the Dance Club Songs chart. Also in 2019, Heldens released "Lift Me Up", a collaboration with Firebeatz and producer Schella, with vocals from Carla Monroe, collaborated with Nile Rodgers of Chic and Devin on "Summer Lover" "This Groove" with Lenno and released the single "Cucumba" with Moguai.

As a remixer, Heldens has released remixes for many high-profile artists, including Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa's "One Kiss", David Guetta and Anne-Marie's "Don't Leave Me Alone", The Chainsmokers' "All We Know", Katy Perry's "Chained to the Rhythm", Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding's "Outside", Charlie Puth's "Attention", and Jamiroquai's "Superfresh".

In 2019, Heldens commemorated the fifth anniversary of his label Heldeep and the 250th episode of his weekly radio show Heldeep Radio, which is syndicated in 65 countries, broadcast on over 90 stations and reaches over 118 million people a week, with the Heldeep 5 World Tour, taking Heldens and friends across North America, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Europe, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea.

In early 2020, he collaborated with South Korean girl group Itzy to produce a sidetrack titled "Ting Ting Ting." In June that year, Heldens released a remix of Katy Perry's hit song "Daisies." He also released singles of his own. These include "Take A Change", "The G.O.A.T.", and, in collaboration with Mesto, "Details" featuring Boy Matthews for the vocals. Others are "Rave Machine" with Rowetta, "Break This Habit", "Freedom For My People" with Shungudzo and the single "Set Me Free" together with MAX and Party Pupils. "Set Me Free" was the first song to be released on the new Label OH2 Records, which was founded by Oliver Heldens as his second record label. OH2 Records is intended to feature more vocal house songs.

2021–present: more focus on HI-LO tracks 2020 saw the rise of releases by HI-LO, the darker alias of Heldens. This started off with the singles "Kronos", "Zeus" and "Athena", all of which he produced himself. This continued into 2021, and he also started collaborating with new artists, in particular DJs from the techno scene. The most notable among these is Reinier Zonneveld, with whom HI-LO now collaborates a lot. This resulted in the singles "Saw of Olympus", "Existencia", "Balearic Mornings" and "String Theory". Two other singles are "Check" with Will Clarke and "HADES" with Italian DJ T78. All of these were released on the "Filth On Acid" label by Reinier Zonneveld.

HI-LO also remixed the song "Skyscrapers" by Nina Kraviz, which resulted in "Skyscrapers (Hi-Lo Remix)". Another novelty for him included the release of "Hypnos" and "Hera" on Drumcode Records. These two songs are solely produced by HI-LO and are the start of an association with Adam Beyer and his techno record label.

Heldens' singles from this year include "Never Look Back" feat. Syd Silvair, "Zapdos", and "Another Chance" with Roger Sanchez. He also remixed "By Your Side (feat. Tom Grennan)" by Calvin Harris, and OH2 Records saw its second big release by Heldens with the song "Deja Vu", which features the vocals of Anabel Englund.

In 2022, he first released a remix of the song "In the Dark" by Purple Disco Machine and Sophie and the Giants. HI-LO then released the track "Industria" with Eli Brown. In March 2022, he confirmed an upcoming single in collaboration with Tchami, again featuring vocals by Anabel Englund. He has also confirmed HI-LO collaborations with techno artists Space 92 and Layton Giordani.

Heldens is managed by Dave Frank, Alex Harrow, and Lucas Keller at Milk & Honey, and he is signed to RCA Records (Sony) and his own Heldeep Records. He is additionally published worldwide by Universal Music Publishing.

On 5 April 2023, "10 Out of 10", featuring Kylie Minogue, was released.

Performances Heldens has performed at festivals and venues including Coachella, Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Electric Daisy Carnival, Ultra, Tomorrowland, Amsterdam Dance Event, Electric Zoo, Creamfields, Veld Music Festival, Stereosonic, Djakarta Warehouse Project, Sensation, Brooklyn Mirage, Echostage, Fabric, Governors Island, LIV, Printworks, and Red Rocks. He has held residencies at clubs in Las Vegas and Ibiza including Hakkasan, Omnia, Wet Republic, Marquee, HÏ, Ushuaïa and Pacha.

Discography

Awards and nominations Year Organisation Award Work Result 2016 Style Icon Asia Iconic Global Producer of the Year Himself

DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs

Year Position 2014 34 2015 12 2016 8 2017 13 2018 9 2019 7 2020 8 2021 8 2022 10 2023 19 2024 29 2025 26