Nick Leonardus van de Wall[a] (Dutch:[ˈnɪkleːjoːˈnɑrdʏsfɑndəˈʋɑl];[b] born 9 September 1987), known professionally as Afrojack (stylized in all caps),[1] is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album Forget the World was released in 2014. Afrojack regularly features as one of the ten best artists in the Top 100 DJs published by DJ Mag.[2] He is also the CEO of LDH Europe.[3]
Early life
Nick Leonardus Van de Wall was born in Spijkenisse, South Holland to a Dutch mother and a Surinamese father.[4] He developed an interest in music at an early age and learned to play the piano at the age of five.[5] From a single-parent household, his mother Debbie owned a local gym. After leaving school, Van de Wall studied graphic design at the Grafisch Lyceum in Rotterdam for a year before embarking on a career as a DJ/producer.[5] At the age of 11, he started producing his own tracks from home for "five hours a day," and it took him a good seven years to produce his first release, "In Your Face."[6]
Musical career
Afrojack in 2011
At the age of 14, Van de Wall started DJing at local pubs and clubs and earning additional income by designing websites for fellow musicians.[5] In 2007, he released "In Your Face", the first recording under the Afrojack name. He received international success with the song "Take Over Control" featuring Eva Simons, which charted in 10 countries.[7] He took part in Episode 2 of 'Behind The Speedo', which is a comedy series by Redfoo.
His 2010 entry into the poll at number 19 was the highest new entry of that year's list.[8] Afrojack was listed as number 7 on the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs of 2011.[9] He ranked at number 9 on DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs of 2012.[10] In 2013, he ranked at number 9 again.[2]
In July 2010, Afrojack created an Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1.[11] He released the Lost & Found EP on 22 December 2010. In 2011, he was featured on Pitbull's number 1 hit single "Give Me Everything" along with Ne-Yo and Nayer. He also contributed to the single "Run the World (Girls)" by Beyoncé.[12] In January 2012 Afrojack received a European Border Breakers Award.[13] Afrojack's newest single "The Spark" featuring Spree Wilson has so far hit number 3 in Australia and New Zealand, and top 10 in over 7 more countries. In 2013, Afrojack was the 7th highest-earning DJ in the world, according to Forbes magazine.[14]
His debut album, Forget the World, was released on 19 May 2014 to mixed reviews.[16]
On 17 March 2015, Afrojack was featured in David Guetta's single "Hey Mama" in which he co-produced with Guetta. The song featured him along with Nicki Minaj and Bebe Rexha.[17] On 27 July 2017, he released the NLW EP[18] under the alias NLW.[19] This marked the launch of his new alias NLW under which he would go on to produce more underground style tracks.
On 28 April 2017, he released a new single "Another Life" collaborating with fellow DJ David Guetta featuring Ester Dean. On 7 September 2017, he released the single "No Tomorrow" featuring Belly, O.T. Genasis, and Ricky Breaker.[21]
On 14 February 2018, he released his track "Bed of Roses" featuring Stanaj, which was played as an ID during his set at Ultra Music Festival 2017 in Miami. In July 2018, at Tomorrowland in Boom, Belgium, he debuted many of his new tracks such as "Bassride", "Step Back", which are all included in his Press Play EP, releasing on 31 August 2018.
In September 2022, Afrojack announced "Jack to the Future" US tour.[24] The tour includes fifteen cities.[25]
Wall Recordings
Since 2007, Afrojack runs his own label, Wall Recordings, which represents producers including KIIDA, Apster, D-Wayne, D.O.D, Karim Mika, and others.[26] The label used to operate as a sub-label to Spinnin' Records until late January 2016. Tom & Jame's Burn Down marked the last release of Wall Recordings as a sub-label. After going independent for a while, it became a sub-label to Armada Music in 2017, until it became independent again in 2019.
Personal life
In 2019, Afrojack and Italian heiress, singer, socialite Elettra Lamborghini made their engagement public.[27] The two were married on 26 September 2020 at Lake Como, Italy.[28]
