Darude

Ville Virtanen (born July 17, 1975), better known by his stage name Darude is a tranceproducer and DJ from Eura, Hinnerjoki, Finland. Debuting in 1999, he released in 2000 the smash single "Sandstorm" and subsequent album Before the Storm. Darude is known worldwide for his progressive/uplifting style.

Beginnings

Virtanen started his career as an amateur musician while in high school, making music using his PC's tracker software. As his interest in music production rapidly grew (and his grades correspondingly dropped), 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) four times. This earned him the nickname "Rude Boy," which gradually morphed into "Da Rude", which in turn inspired the name "Darude."

Virtanen continued producing music while in technical school, occasionally releasing demos to radio stations beginning in 1997, and offering his music for download on MP3.com. In 1999, he gave a demo for "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.

Early career

"Sandstorm" was a smash hit in Finland, topping the Finnish Single Chart, selling platinum and holding the #1 spot on the Finnish Dance Chart for seventeen consecutive weeks. Word quickly spread about the track, which found global success. After becoming the #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 record in 2000.

Shortly thereafter, Darude released his debut album, Before the Storm, selling 800,000 copies worldwide, topping the Finnish album charts, and earning him three Finnish Grammy awards. Before the Storm was produced by JS16, and features two of his remixes.

Darude's second single, "Feel the Beat," closely followed the success of Sandstorm, reaching #5 on the UK Singles chart. Subsequent releases, "Out of Control," and "Out of Control (Back for More)" (a remix of the former, featuring vocals by Tammie Marie) failed to match the success of Darude's first two singles.

Darude began a successful 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. Since the release of Rush, Darude has remained on the road, particularly the United States and Eastern Europe.

In 2003, Darude released his second album, Rush, along with singles "Music" and "Next to You". All three had modest success, with Rush reaching #4 in weekly Finnish album sales and "Next to You" being commonly featured in DJ mixes.

Recent..

Darude is currently ranked #47 on the DJ List as of May 18, 2008 and #116 in the DJ Mag Top 100.

Darude posted his singles Tell Me and My Game from his upcoming new album Label This! on his official MySpace page. Tell Me was released in Finland on April 11, 2007 and My Game on September 19, 2007.

Discography

Albums:

• 2000: Ignition
• 2001: Before the Storm
• 2002: Before the Storm Special Edition
• 2003: Rush
• 2007: Label This!

Singles:

• 1999: "Sandstorm"
• 2000: "Feel the Beat"
• 2000: "Out of Control"
• 2001: "Out of Control (Back for More)"
• 2003: "Music"
• 2003: "Next to You"
• 2007: "Tell Me"
• 2007: "My Game"
• 2008: "In The Darkness"
• 2009: "Hard Trance"

External links

Darude official website
Darude on Myspace
Darude @ Discogs
Darude on lastfm
Darude on Djlist
Darude on Rapshody
Darude on ilike
Darude lyrics
Foxytunes

Free downloads

Eztracks
Artistdirect
3mp3
emp3.com
mp3.com
mog.com
beemp3

Torrent links

isohunt
torrentz
sumotorrents
piratebay