In Spain, he's a "flower pot," in Russia his name means "dough," in Peru one might say he is "beyond belief" and in Colombia, he's just plain "out of his mind." But in his hometown in Southern Holland, Tiësto is just your average Joe ... who also happens to be the No. 2 DJ in the world. And just as he ushered in 2005 at Ice Metaclub's Day One party on January 1, so too will he see it out with a massive Godskitchen New Year's Eve performance at the Orleans Arena.
Thirty-two years ago, Tijs (pronounced Tice) Verwest was born in Breda, a small town near Amsterdam, the youngest of three children. His father, a part-time jazz pianist, passed his love for music onto his young son. Verwest also used music as a way to set himself apart from his older siblings. As a teenager, he made a name for himself—literally—by combining common Italian slang with his childhood nickname of Tiche, and DJ Tiësto was born.
As a budding local DJ at the age of 16, Tiësto made the rounds, playing house parties, student parties and even a drive-in. "After that, I got my first residency at a local club called Spock, where I played for several years. This residency ended up in bookings at several clubs in the Netherlands and my first foreign bookings in Israel and Norway." In 1997, Tiësto attended a Moby concert in Belgium and first laid ears on the inspirational music of DJ Sven Vath. Tiësto regards 1999 as his breakthrough year, having scored a prime-time slot at Innercity, a massive indoor festival in Amsterdam. That same year, he and friend Arny Bink formed Black Hole Recordings, and Tiësto added the role of producer to his résumé.
That was the year Tiësto became a household name—depending on what sort of home you live in—when his house remix of "Silence" by Delirium, featuring Sarah McLachlan, was the first of its kind to be broadcast on daytime radio in North America; the track also ended up in the movie Brokedown Palace.
Despite his success, Tiësto didn't even show up on DJ Magazine's Top 100 DJ poll in 1999. But in subsequent years, he would rise up from No. 24 in 2000 to No. 6 in 2001, and No. 1 from 2002 through 2004, the first DJ to hold the top spot for three years in a row. It was Tiësto's friend Paul Van Dyk who knocked him from first place in 2005.
Though he doesn't take the polls too seriously, Tiësto does say it feels great to have still come in as second, especially to Van Dyk. "It's a popularity poll, and people are free to vote for whoever they want. Although I apparently became No. 2," he jokes, "my popularity hasn't gone down in any way. Actually, I have the feeling that it's growing more and more. But at the end of the day, it's just a magazine and there are so many polls."
Tiësto's feet remain firmly on the ground and planted right in front of his rig or in his studio. As for his relationship with the world's now-reigning No. 1 DJ, "We go along pretty well," he says, "not that we have much contact, but he does his thing and I do mine.
"My sound is the sound of Tiësto. It is full of emotion, warmth and melody." His first artist album, In My Memory, emerged in 2001 and has since led to three more, as well as the highly successful seven-disc Magik series and the four-disc In Search Of Sunrise series. Inspired by his exhaustive travels, Tiësto pulls ideas from whatever surroundings he finds himself in, crossing musical boundaries to create tracks that are sometimes softer and more sensitive than some of his heart-pounding tracks. The most recent of these, In Search Of Sunrise IV, was inspired by Tiësto's Latin American tour. "It was a beautiful journey," he says.
Tiësto also finds inspiration with other DJs, including Carl Cox, Sasha and Paul Oakenfold. Most recently, Tiësto's MP3 player has featured Madonna's dancey new album, Confessions On A Dance Floor.
"Madonna has very cleverly implemented the EDM (electronic dance music) in her own songs, and in that way, she reaches also the EDM audience," he says. "By working with quality EDM producers, I think she has again (made) a great album—much more electronic than I expected it to be. I personally like it and I think it is a good thing that such a big artist dares to take the step forward."
December 31 will be Tiësto's fourth Vegas performance. After the New Year's gig, he'll head to South America for a week of shows. He hopes to take off the first three months of 2006 from touring to concentrate on studio work. Currently, Tiësto is working on new tracks but not an album, as well as some remixes for an action movie he declined to name coming out in 2006. With his life seeming to change direction every three of four months, what's next? "It's hard to say," he answers brightly. "You never know!"