Darude

Toni-Ville Henrik Virtanen (born July 17, 1975), better known by his stage name Darude, is a Finnish DJ and record producer from Eura, Satakunta.

His music is characterised by its progressive/uplifting style.

Toni-Ville Henrik Virtanen was born on July 17, 1975, in the Finnish village of Hinnerjoki in Eura.

Virtanen started his career as a musician while studying at Turku Polytechnic, making music using his PC's tracker software.

As his interest in music production rapidly grew, he moved on to more serious production techniques.

While at a classmate's party, Virtanen played the song "Rude Boy" (written by Swedish artist Leila K) several times in a row.

This earned him the nickname "Rude Boy," which gradually morphed into "Da Rude" and then "Darude".

He started making music in 1995 and released the platinum-selling hit single "Sandstorm" in late 1999.

Active in the Finnish music trance and house scene since 1995, Virtanen continued producing music into the 1990s.

He began occasionally releasing demos to radio stations beginning in 1997, and offering his music for download on MP3.com, making him an early adopter of online file sharing for music promotion.

In 1999, he gave a demo for the track "Sandstorm" to his producer, JS16 (Jaakko Salovaara).

Virtanen signed on with JS16's 16 Inch Records label, and shortly thereafter, "Sandstorm" was released as a single.

"Sandstorm" was a hit internationally, selling platinum and holding the No. 1 spot on the Finnish Dance Chart for seventeen consecutive weeks.

His first live gig was on December 5, 1999, in Tampere, Finland.

Darude's debut studio album Before the Storm was produced by JS16 (Jaakko Salovaara), and features two of JS16's remixes.

The album includes several singles, including "Sandstorm."

The second single "Feel the Beat" had replicated the success of "Sandstorm", reaching No. 1 on the singles charts in Finland for 2 weeks and No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart.

His debut studio album, Before the Storm, was released on September 18, 2000, and sold 800,000 copies worldwide, earning Darude three Finnish Grammy Awards.

It peaked at number one on Finland's Official List and number 6 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart in the United States.

After becoming the No. 3 single in the United Kingdom (becoming the first record by a Finnish artist to do so), "Sandstorm" eventually sold 2 million units worldwide, and was the world's biggest selling 12-inch single in 2000.

The song went on to be widely featured in the media, particularly at sporting events and on soundtracks for video games and television shows.

Before the Storm was released on September 5, 2000, and sold 800,000 copies worldwide, earning Darude three Finnish Grammy awards.

It also peaked on a number of charts, including No. 1 on Finland's Official List for albums, No. 6 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart and No. 11 on the US Independent Albums chart.

It also charted at No. 9 in Sweden, No. 14 in Norway, and No. 18 in Canada, among other rankings.

Shortly after the album's release, Darude created a vocal edit of "Out of Control", and released it as a single; "Out of Control (Back for More)".

This single also charted in major countries and was re-released on several editions of the album.

Darude began a world tour in 2001, releasing Before the Storm: Australian Tour Edition in the process.

2002 saw the release of Before the Storm: Special Edition, featuring a collection of remixes of Darude's work.

Darude's second studio album, Rush, reached number 11 on the Billboard dance chart in 2003 and number 4 on weekly album chart in Finland.

After releasing the singles "Music" and "Next to You" in early 2003, in July of that year both tracks were included on Darude's second album, Rush.

The album reached No. 11 on the Billboard Top Electronic Albums chart and No. 4 on weekly album chart in Finland, while "Next to You" charted at No. 1 on the Finnish singles chart.

MacKenzie Wilson of Allmusic criticized the lack of variety between tracks but praised the release in general, writing that Darude "builds upon the dynamics of Before the Storm, raises the pressure, and fuels the flame for an electrifying dozen-track set. Darude's talent in keeping the energy at an elevated level without losing touch with the album's overall ambience is what makes him a star and an integral part of the new-millennium dance scene. His classy of[sic] mix of techno and trance is perfected into a fashionably slick spiral of synthesized heat."

After the release of Rush Darude maintained a heavy touring schedule, particularly the United States and Eastern Europe.

His third studio album, Label This! was released in 2007.

Though it did not chart as high as his previous albums, Gawker praised the album's single "In the Darkness" as "a floating, gossamer piece of trance music... it's tightly composed, easy to dance to, and has a soaring, undeniable hook."

His single "Tell Me" was released in Finland on April 11, 2007, and "My Game" on September 19, 2007.

Label This! is the third studio album from Darude.

Various videos and live streams of "Sandstorm" had gathered some 60 million hits by December 2014, and in October 2015, the track achieved platinum sales status in the UK as it surpassed 600,000 sales in the UK.

In 2011, he co-founded the record label EnMass Music, through which he has released a number of mix compilations related to his radio show Salmiakki Sessions. After performing at festivals such as the tenth anniversary of Tomorrowland in 2014 and Future Music Festival in 2015, he released his most recent studio album, Moments, on August 14, 2015, followed by a tour of the United States and Canada in September 2015.

He represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, alongside singer Sebastian Rejman, with the song "Look Away".