Jan Wayne

Biography

Jan Wayne, a German DJ and dance producer, managed to rise to success in a short time. Within less than a year of his first appearance, Jan Wayne had become one of the most successful dance producers and hottest DJs in Europe, as excellent CD sales and a large number of national and international chart successes will demonstrate. Initial successes included obtaining the i.a. Top 1 and his single "Because The Night" reaching gold status in the Netherlands. Appearances in well-known TV-Shows like...

Jan Wayne, a German DJ and dance producer, managed to rise to success in a short time. Within less than a year of his first appearance, Jan Wayne had become one of the most successful dance producers and hottest DJs in Europe, as excellent CD sales and a large number of national and international chart successes will demonstrate. Initial successes included obtaining the i.a. Top 1 and his single "Because The Night" reaching gold status in the Netherlands. Appearances in well-known TV-Shows like "The Dome", "Top Of The Pops", "Club Rotation" as well as bookings in countries like Austria, The Netherlands, Hungary, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Estonia, Belgium, Spain and of course Germany are "business as usual" today.

Born in January 1974, he already had a very strong interest in music during his childhood. Inspired by the record collection of his elder brother, he began to collect a quite considerable number of vinyls. Parties with his classmates provided the first opportunities for "performances". After finishing school and parallel to his apprenticeship as bank clerk, he tried to get into closer contact with nearby clubs. He was allowed to perform short sets during the breaks of resident DJs. First proper bookings followed very quickly.

In 1992 Jan joined a booking agency. Within a short time, his sphere of activity spread and covered lastly the complete Northern German area. The ability of playing the greatest Techno and Trance–tunes besides cool Vocal-House-sounds, hot R´n´B-music and the best classics of the 70s and 80s, helped him to become resident DJ in various clubs. Besides his work as DJ, he got a job as a promoter, which provides him an insight into the business of music industry.

In 2001 a long expected dream came true. Jan produced his first track: a cover version of "Total Eclipse Of The Heart". He re-arranged Bonnie Tyler’s classic hit (one of his personal favourites) with a hot beat and "hands-up" style that proved to be dynamite in the clubs.

Here the success story of DJ Jan Wayne begins: "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" didn’t just cause overcrowded dance floors, it also became Top 13 in German single charts. The sensational success was easily outshone by the follow-up single "Because The Night". The title earned a spot in the Top 4 during the first week and stayed in the Top 10 for nine weeks. Both titles are amongst the ten most successful German dance titles of the first half of 2002.

Jan Wayne was far from resting on his laurels. In the same year, he published another hit single ("Only You") as well as his debut album "Back Again!". The album started at position 16 in the German album charts. As an aside, he mixed the power-rave-CD "Jan Wayne Presents The Ultimate Rave", contributed a mix to the successful compilation "Kontor - Top Of The Clubs" and participated in the beneficiary project "Dance United", where the total revenue was given to the victims of flood disaster. "More Than A Feeling," released in the end of 2002, became another chart topper for Jan.

2003 started with the nomination for the German "Echo"-award in the category "Best National Dance Act" and was even crowned in the Netherlands with the treasured TMF-Award "Best Dance Act International" Besides two further Hit-Singles "Love Is A Soldier" and "1,2,3 (Keep The Spirit Alive)", his second album "Gonna Move Ya!" shot successfully into the German hit lists. He mixed one more compilation "Kontor - Top Of The Clubs" and created the dance-act "Belushi". The debut single "Put Your Hands In The Air (Uhh Ooh!)" earned a success d´estime in the sales charts and developed to a massive hit in the European Clubs and DJ-Charts.

In 2004 Jan published "Here I Am (Send Me An Angel)", a furthermore chart hit. Already the 7th in a row!! He also had some cooperation's with other famous producers of dance music, like Christophe Chantzis and Eric Vanspauwen (Ian van Dahl), Bart Wierzbicki (D.H.T.), DJ Gollum (Neo Cortex), Hayo Lewerentz (U96, Boytronic), Ingo Hauss (U96) and Helmut Hoinkis (U96, Chocolate, Raccoon).

Simultaneous he started planning on his first own music production studio, which was completed in 2005. The first fruit of his new "home" followed soon: "Mad World"! While the single developed to a dance floor-filler, too, Jan Wayne takes delight in the award of the "DJ Meeting 2005" for the best website. In the end of 2005 the follow-up single "Time 2 Fly" was published, which included itself to the good company of the other hit singles.

Nowadays, Jan works on his third album and is involved in many other new projects. Together with his new partners Helmut Hoinkis and Cuepoint Records owner Ralf Oliver Müller, he just founded his own record label "Deutsche Dance Records". The first release will be a remake of Level 42’s world hit "Lessons in Love" featured by Mark King - the lead singer from Level 42. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.