DJ’s with Degrees
School’s back in session. In honor of this, we at Glow took it upon ourselves to search for the DJ’s out there who once upon a time were regular university students, grinding away just like many of us today.
Henry Fong
This Florida native (who by the way will be celebrating 3 years of Echo with us and Bingo Players on the 19th) graduated from the University of Central Florida with a double major in Marketing and Criminal Justice.
Diplo
Prior to creating two of the most popular groups in dance music, along with producing for some of the biggest artists in the world, the Mad Decent head honcho received a degree in Film Studies from Temple University in 2003.
Steve Aoki
Perhaps known as one of the most iconic figures in our genre, Steve Aoki was quite the busy bee back at the University of California in Santa Barbara. He received 2 Bachelor’s of Arts at this institution, one in Feminist Studies, and another in Sociology.
Armin van Buuren
Before the countless anthems, the creation of ASOT, and the record 5 DJ Mag poll wins, AVB was a law student at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He took a brief hiatus from his studies as his musical career started to blossom, but returned to complete his degree in 2003. Respect. Armin will be making his 4th Echo appearance later this month on the 24th.
R3hab
Before he emerged as a leading figure in Dutch house, R3hab finished his studies with a degree in Economic Marketing before forging a career as an internationally-known DJ.
Kaskade
One of the most-loved producers in our genre, Kaskade got his bachelor’s in Communication from the University of Utah. He’ll also be back in town to play his sophomore Echo gig on October 16th.
DJ Shiftee
Quite possibly the most impressive graduate on this list, DJ Shiftee, the only American DJ to have ever won the DMC World DJ Finals, received his degree in mathematics from Harvard University shortly before winning the DMC Finals in 2009.
Gareth Emery
This trance titan got his degree from the University of Warwick in Coventry, England. Could we be seeing a Future Prime Minister Emery in the future?
Honorable Mention – Richie Hawtin
Techno legend Richie Hawtin studied film at University of Windsor, although he did end up dropping out to pursue his career in music, a move which led to him reaching the apex of underground dance music. His mastery of technology in music led to him receiving an honorary doctorate in Music Technology from the University of Huddersfield earlier this year.
There ya have it folks! Good luck to everyone during this semester and beyond. To see some of these college grads perform at Echo this fall, visit this link.
Words by: Daniel Chamorro