Calvin Harris

Bedroom producer turned chart master of catchy disco pop, Dumfries-born Calvin Harris made his first bid for stardom releasing 12-inch club tracks under the name Scouffer in 2002. Minor success led to a move to London, but it wasn't until he was back home in Scotland posting songs on MySpace that he attracted the attention of EMI. The singles 'Acceptable in the 80s' and 'The Girls' became electro-clash summer anthems in 2007, paving the way for debut album 'I Created Disco'. His production skills and ear for a pop hook quickly became hot property, with artists like Jamiroquai, CSS, All Saints and Groove Armada queuing up for remixes, and Kylie Minogue even recruiting him to write and produce two tracks for her album 'X'.

'Dance Wiv Me', a typically infectious dance pop collaboration with Dizzee Rascal, held the top spot for four weeks in 2008 and second album 'Ready for the Weekend' spawned his first solo chart topper, 'I'm Not Alone', in April 2009. A further collaboration with Dizzee Rascal, producing his number one hit 'Holiday', cemented Harris's place in the industry, with endless possibilities at his feet. In 2011 he toured with Rihanna and collaborated with Kelis on her single 'Bounce' which charted at number two in the UK. A solo offering of 'Feel So Close' later that year became his first solo entry into the Billboard Hot 100 and he set his sights on conquering the States. He produced 'Where Have You Been' and 'We Found Love' for Rihanna, the latter topping the charts in 27 countries. He wrote and produced Cheryl Cole's number one single 'Call My Name', which was quickly compared to 'We Found Love'. He continued to rack up the high profile collaborations with Ne-Yo, Florence Welch and Example, with nominations in 2013 for Best British Male Solo Artist at the Brits and Best Dance/Electronica Album for '18 Months' at the Grammys.

Collaborations with Hurts, Rita Ora and The Killers led 2014 with tours and festival performances all around the world. After the release of 'Blame' with John Newman, Harris became the first British solo artist to reach a billion streams on the music platform Spotify. In 2016 he once again teamed up with Rihanna to record a brand new single 'This Is What You Came For', quickly followed by 'Hype' with Dizzee Rascal and 'Olé' with John Newman. His fifth studio album, 'Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1', was released in 2017 and featured songs with Pharrell Williams, John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry and Ariana Grande. After declaring in an interview that he felt his songs sounded better without him singing on them, 'Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1' became Harris's first album to not feature his own vocals.