Steven Hiroyuki "Steve" Aoki (born November 30, 1977) is an American electro house

musician, record producer, and music executive.[2] Known for energetic live shows, in 2012
Pollstar designated Aoki as the highest grossing dance artist in North America from tours.[3]
[4] He has collaborated with producers and vocalists such as will.i.am, Afrojack, LMFAO, Iggy
Azalea, Lil Jon, and Laidback Luke, and is known for his remixes of artists such as Kid Cudi.
Aoki has released several Billboard-charting studio albums as well, notably Wonderland,
which was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album in 2013. He is
currently releasing his two-part album series Neon Future. The first part was released on
September 30, 2014.[5] He is the founder of the Steve Aoki Charitable Fund, which raises
money for global humanitarian relief organizations.[6]
Early life and education
Steven Hiroyuki Aoki was born in Miami, Florida, and grew up in Newport Beach, California.
He graduated from Newport Harbor High School in 1995, where he was a star player on the
varsity badminton team. He is the third child of Rocky Aoki and Chizuru Kobayashi.[7] His
father was a former Japanese wrestler who also founded the restaurant chain Benihana. He
has two older siblings, sister Kana (who is sometimes called by her middle name "Grace"),
and brother Kevin (owner of Doraku Sushi restaurant). He also has three half-siblings, all of
whom are younger: half-brother Kyle and half-sisters Echo, and Devon, a model and actress.
As a child, Steve lived with his grandfather and grandmother, his mother, and his two older
siblings.
Aoki attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated with 2 BAs; one in
Feminist Studies and the other in Sociology. In college, he produced do-it-yourself records
and ran underground concerts out of his Biko room in the Santa Barbara Student Housing
Cooperative,[8] which was located in Isla Vista, a section of residential land adjacent to
UCSB. As a concert venue, the apartment became known as The Pickle Patch.[9][10] By his
early 20s, Aoki had built his own record label, which he named Dim Mak - a reference to his
childhood hero, Bruce Lee.[11][12][13] [14]
Music career
1990s2000s: Dim Mak Records and early releases
See also: Dim Mak Records and Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles
Aoki founded his own label, Dim Mak Records, in 1996. The label has released music by
other electro house artists such as MSTRKRFT, The Bloody Beetroots, Felix Cartal and
Mustard Pimp, as well as Bloc Party, The Kills, Klaxons, Infected Mushroom, Scanners,
Whitey, and Mystery Jets.[15] Aoki teamed up with Blake Miller of the LA-based band Moving
Units to produce remixes. The duo of Miller and Aoki work under the moniker Weird Science.
He has also been in numerous bands, including This Machine Kills, which released an album
on Ebullition Records, Esperanza, and The Fire Next Time.
In May 2006, Aoki became a board member for MC5 bassist Michael Davis' Music Is
Revolution Foundation,[16] a non-profit organization that provides music education support

within public schools.[17] Aoki's debut mix album, Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles was
released in January 2008.[18] He had an Essential Mix that aired on BBC Radio 1 on August
2, 2008[19] and again on October 27, 2012.[20]
Aoki has collaborated with fellow producers and thus far[when?] has released singles with
The Bloody Beetroots, Armand Van Helden of Duck Sauce, Afrojack, Laidback Luke, Tai, Chris
Lake, Angger Dimas, Sidney Samson, Tiesto. In his interviews, Twitter feed or from his
YouTube channel he has shown teasers or has discussed doing future collaborations with
Diplo, Knife Party, Datsik, Chris Lake, and more.
He has remixed many artists and bands, including Jackson 5, Drake, Kanye West, Eminem,
Lil Wayne, Mike Posner, Girls Generation, All American Rejects, Refused, The Killers,
Bassnectar, Lenny Kravitz, Bloc Party, Snoop Dogg, Robin Thicke, S.P.A., Kid Cudi, Frnando
Oviedo, Chester French and Peaches. He remixed the track "When The Wind Blows" that
features on the UK edition of The All-American Rejects' 2008 album When The World Comes
Down.[citation needed] On November 10, 2009, Aoki released a remix for Drake's song
"Forever". The song features Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem. The track made it
to the top of Hype Machine's chart in December 2009.[21]
Aoki has won and been nominated for a number of industry awards, both in annual
competitions and in magazine rankings. In 2007, he was named Best Party Rocker DJ by
BPM Magazine, Best DJ of the Year by Paper Magazine, and Best Set of the Season at the
Ibiza Awards. Several years later, in 2012, he was named #15 in the Top 100 DJs in DJ
Magazine, and was named America's #2 Best DJ. Also in 2012, he won an EDM Effect
Woodie Award by MTVu, and the following year he was nominated for his first Grammy.
Aoki finished in 6th place in the 2013 America's Best DJ competition conducted by DJ Times
magazine,[31] and finished in 8th place in 2013 and 10th place in 2014 for DJ Mag's Top
100 DJs competition. In 2014, Aoki was awarded two Guinness World Records, one for the
"longest crowd cheer," and also for the "most amount of glow sticks for thirty seconds."[39]
He also earned the Guinness record for "most traveled musician in one year," with 161
shows in 41 countries in 2014.[40]
Since early in his career Aoki has been involved with various charities, and EDM.com named
him No. 1 on their list of the eleven most charitable EDM producers.[41] He is the founder of
the Steve Aoki Charitable Fund, which raises money for global humanitarian relief
organizations. Among the organization's fundraising methods are Aoki's touring events,
"memorabilia auctions," and collaborations with other artists.[6]

Year
2007
2008
2012
2013

Selected awards for Steve Aoki

Award
Nominated work
Category
Result
DJ Awards
Steve Aoki
Best Set of the Season
Won
Pillowface and His
Billboard Awards
Best Mix Album of the Year
Won
Airplane Chronicles
World Music Awards
Steve Aoki
World's Best EDM Artist
Nominated
Grammy Awards
Wonderland
Best Dance/Electronica Album Nominated

Discography
Studio albums
List of studio albums, with selected chart positions
Peak chart positions
Title

Album details

US
[42]

US US BEL BEL
AUT SWI
Dance Ind. (FL) (WA) [47]
[48]
[43]

[44]

[45]

[46]

199

68

96

64

71

Released:
January 10, 2012 (US)
[49]

Wonderland

Labels: Dim Mak, Ultra 59

Music

Formats: CD, digital

download

Released:
September 30, 2014
(US)[50]

Neon Future I

Labels: Ultra Music,

Dim Mak

Formats: CD, digital

download

32

Released:
May 12, 2015[51]
Neon Future II

Labels: Ultra Music,

Dim Mak

Formats: CD, digital

download

To be released

"" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.