

Armin van Buuren (born December 25, 1976) is a trance producer and DJ. He was born in Leiden, Netherlands, but grew up in Koudekerk aan den Rijn. In 2007 and 2008, he was voted number one DJ in DJ Mag's annual Top 100 vote.
Armin van Buuren pursued his career as a professional musician despite the promise of a career in law in his native country, where he completed his law degree in 2004. Armin started working as a DJ in a local night club called Nexus, finished high school in 1995 and went on to university to study law.[2] Meanwhile, he moved his studio equipment from his bedroom to a 'real' studio.[2] The first tracks he produced in his new studio were, among others, tracks like "Touch Me" and "Communication".[2] Armin van Buuren has been quoted as saying, "Don't be a prisoner of your own style."[2] He has described his musical style as "liberating, euphoric, uplifting, melodic and energetic."
He hosts a weekly radio show A State of Trance, which mostly consist of trance and other genres. The show completed its 350th episode in May 2008, running for over 7 years.
In October 2002, van Buuren was voted Number 5 in the DJ Magazine 100 top DJs. The following year, he jumped up to the #3 spot, and held 3rd place for the next 3 years. His work left him at the #2 spot, just below Paul van Dyk in the 2006 polls, and in 2007 Armin reached Number 1, heading the 2007 DJ Mag Top 100. He was voted number 1 again in 2008.
[edit]As a producer
Van Buuren has always had his own studio and works alone the majority of the time. He has never employed an engineer, claiming he does not want the music to be altered by one.[2]
Since 1995, van Buuren has released many tracks on different labels with increasing success. His first big success was "Blue Fear" on Cyber Records at the age of 19. This 'Euro Trance blueprint' made it into the UK Chart. "Communication" was released on the same label, and had a huge impact on Ibiza, Spain in the summer of 1999. After being signed to AM PM Records, this track entered the UK Chart at #18 in 2000. As of September 29, 2008, Armin has won the DJ Award for "Best Trance DJ" at Ibiza along with other nominees that of Tiesto, Ferry Corsten and Paul van Dyk.
In the beginning of 1999, van Buuren started his label Armind together with United Recordings. The first release, Gig - "One", was well received. The second release "Touch Me", under the name Rising Star was signed to Ministry Of Sound in the UK, before the record was released.
By the time of his third release, Gimmick - "Free" was signed to R&S Records, van Buuren had managed to make his label popular very quickly. Under the surname Gaia he released "4 Elements" on Captivating Sounds, a sub-label of Warner Brothers. Teaming up with DJ Tiësto, two new projects were born: Major League - "Wonder Where You Are?" was released onBlack Hole Recordings and Alibi - "Eternity" was released on Armind. "Eternity" received club and chart success and was signed to Paul van Dyk's imprint Vandit Records. Another major collaboration followed this. Together with Ferry Corsten, van Buuren recorded a riff-classic titled "Exhale" for the System F. album. Released as a single, this track reached gold status in less than a month.
In 2000 van Buuren started his own AVB compilation series. He managed to find a balance between progressive, techno and trance music styles. AVB001 - "A State of Trance" (not to be confused with his weekly ASOT radio shows) sold more than 10,000 copies and contains van Buuren's well known remix of Moogwai - "Viola." AVB002 "Basic Instinct" featured a new track: Perpetuous Dreamer - "The Sound Of Goodbye". This track entered the Dutch charts in June 2001 at number 26. Later in the year the track hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Playchart. AVB003 - "In Motion" was released August 6, 2001. This album contained the real trance sound and was very popular in the US. AVB004 - "Transparence" followed in 2002.
In March 2001 van Buuren started his own radio show on ID&T Radio. In this weekly two-hour show, entitled 'A State of Trance', he plays the latest popular trance music tracks. His show and the artists he features are popularized by publishing the artists and track titles on his website. This radio-show/website combination has proven popular internationally. When ID&T Radio changed genres in 2004, van Buuren left and took A State of Trance with him. The show then moved to Fresh FM, a Dutch radio station. It is now a weekly feature on SLAM!FM, another Dutch radio station, DI.FM, an online radio station, and on XM Satellite Radio channel 82 in the United States and Canada. A complete list of stations that broadcast ASOT can be found at the ASOT section of Armin's website. Also in 2004, van Buuren remixed the 24 Theme into a trance hit. In June 2005, the 200th episode was celebrated in Amsterdam and subsequently aired on radio. The 250th (8 hour) anniversary episode was celebrated in Club Asta in The Hague, The Netherlands, featuring van Buuren, Jonas Steur, M.I.K.E., John Askew,Rank 1 and Menno De Jong.
On May 17, 2007, van Buuren began broadcasting the first of a two part series of what would become his 300th episode of A State of Trance.
He has also worked on remix projects involving tracks by Japanese superstar Ayumi Hamasak.