Background and career
Robbert van de Corput (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈrɔbərt fɑn də ˈkɔrpʏt]; born 7 January 1988), known professionally as Hardwell, is a Dutch DJ and record producer. He was voted the world's number one DJ by DJ Mag in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2022, he was ranked at number 43 in the top 100 DJs poll by DJ Mag. He is best known for his sets at music festivals, including Ultra Music Festival, Sunburn and Tomorrowland. He first gained recognition in 2009 for his bootleg of "Show Me Love vs. Be". He founded the record label Revealed Recordings in 2010 and a radio show and podcast Hardwell On Air in 2011. He has released 10 compilation albums through his label, as well as two documentary films. His debut studio album, United We Are, was released on 23 January 2015. On 7 September 2018, he had announced his indefinite hiatus from touring, stating that he wanted to focus more on his personal life. On 27 March 2022, he returned to touring by closing out Ultra Miami's mainstage with his second album Rebels Never Die.
The pseudonym comes from an idea of his father, who translated his surname from Latin and Dutch into English, "cor" meaning "heart" in Latin and "put" meaning "well" in Dutch. However, he changed the "heart" to "hard", to make it sound more appealing.
Robbert van de Corput was born in Breda, to Anneke and Cor van de Corput. At the age of six, he began taking piano lessons and attended a music school. At the age of twelve, he produced his first songs in the field of electro, while performing as a hip-hop DJ. Through his participation in various competitions, he became known in Breda's DJ scene. He was influenced by the DJ and producer Tiësto, who is also from Breda. As hip-hop became an underground scene, Hardwell changed his genre to commercial electronic dance music. He started producing remixes and uploaded them on several platforms on the Internet. At the age of 14 in 2002, he was offered a record deal with the Digidance record label by Dutch producer duo Klubbheads. Three weeks later he made a first official release with the two-disc-record "Bubbling Beats 1", whereupon he toured through the Netherlands and appeared in a number of dance clubs. His first official single, "Play It Around", was released in 2006, and was played in German clubs. The single featured a combination of popular musical genres, as well as his own style.
At the end of 2007 Hardwell released the song "Never Knew Love", which was produced as a collaboration with Greatski; the song placed on the official German single-charts. Remixes for Gregor Salto's and Chuckie's "Toys Are" together with Dutch DJ and producer R3hab as well as a mix of "You Do Not Love Me" by Sidney Samson and Skitzofrenix in 2008 remained at the top of the dance charts for weeks. Also in 2008, he produced a mash-up of the tracks "Be" by Steve Angello and Laidback Luke, and "Show Me Love" by Robin S. Hardwell's bootleg with the title "Show Me Love" was played by many DJs and was praised by Laidback Luke and Steve Angello. In December 2008 the two producers released the track as an official cover version of "Show Me Love". A new remix by Hardwell was contained on the single. In 2010 Hardwell founded his own record label, Revealed Recordings, or just Revealed, for the purpose of releasing electronic dance music by young talents. He contracted with EDM artists, including the duo W&W as well as his personal friends Dannic and Dyro. Each year, Revealed releases a compilation called "Hardwell Presents Revealed", containing tracks released by the label together with Hardwell's own new songs. On the fifth anniversary, a sampler was released containing the 100 most popular tracks, chosen by a vote through Revealed's website. The top three were "Spaceman" by Hardwell, "Burn" by KSHMR and DallasK, and "Left Behind" by Paris Blohm and Taylr Renee.
In 2011, he signed a record deal with the German record label Kontor Records, giving his releases wider distribution. In March 2011, Hardwell launched his own podcast, Hardwell On Air, a one-hour selection of songs by various artists. The podcast is broadcast by a number of radio stations, including Slam! in the Netherlands as well as SiriusXM in the United States. That same year, Hardwell collaborated with Tiësto to produce the track "Zero 76", named for the telephone prefix "076" of their hometown Breda. Hardwell's successor single "Cobra" appeared on the Dutch single charts. The track was used as a theme song for the Energy festival and reached position 1 of the Beatport charts. "Encoded" followed with a similar success and was used as the intro song for his podcast. In 2011, Hardwell was ranked in the Top 100 DJs category by DJ Mag for the first time and jumped on number 24 as the second-highest new entry behind Skrillex. At the International Dance Music Awards 2012, he won the Best Break-Through DJ award.
On 31 July 2012, the track "Spaceman" was released. It sold over half a million times in the US and was played extensively in clubs and festivals in 2012. It is said to be a song that further popularized the big room house genre. A vocal version with Mitch Crown would chart in the Dutch Single Top 100 and US Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. In the following years, several remixes of the song were published, as well as a mash-up with a hardstyle remix of Blasterjaxx and W&W's "Rocket" by Hardwell, which he often used for sets as an outro song. Hardwell appeared as a headliner at several festivals, including Creamfields, Electric Zoo Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival, Ultra Music Festival, and Nature One. He also performed at Tomorrowland 2012, and released a related video which received tens of millions of views. In the fall of 2012 Hardwell reached the sixth place in the ranking list DJ Mag Top 100.
