Afrojack
Artist Facts
Active: 2007 – present
Name: Nick Leonardus van de Wall AKA Afrojack
Genre: House, electro house, Dutch house, big room, progressive house
Birth date: September 9, 1987
Place of Birth: Spijkenisse, South Holland, Netherlands
Few producers have shaped the sound of mainstream dance music as quietly and completely as Afrojack. The towering Dutchman — at 2.04 metres, one of the tallest figures in the booth — spent the early 2010s with his fingerprints on an astonishing run of hits, many of them credited to other artists. He’s a Grammy winner, a long-time DJ Mag Top 10 fixture, a Las Vegas residency pioneer and the boss of a label that has launched a string of careers. So how did a kid from Spijkenisse making beats in his bedroom become one of the most in-demand sounds in pop? Here’s the story behind Afrojack.
Artist Background
Nick Leonardus van de Wall was born on September 9, 1987, in Spijkenisse, just outside Rotterdam, to a Dutch mother and a father of Surinamese descent. Music arrived early: he began playing piano at five and was producing his own tracks on Fruity Loops by eleven, reportedly spending hours a day at it. Raised in a single-parent household — his mother ran a local gym — he was a relentless self-starter, DJing in local pubs and clubs by fourteen while designing websites for other musicians to make money on the side.
He briefly studied graphic design at the Grafisch Lyceum in Rotterdam before committing fully to music, and a formative five-month DJ stint in Crete in 2006 helped sharpen his instincts. The decisive move came in 2007, when he founded his own label, Wall Recordings, as a home for club-focused electronic music and a platform to develop new talent — a role he still takes seriously as a label boss.
His early output was rooted in the underground, but it travelled fast. The 2008 track “Drop Down (Do My Dance)” with The Partysquad gave him his first Dutch chart hit, and his production skills quickly drew the attention of bigger names. Within a couple of years, Afrojack would go from respected club producer to one of the most sought-after sounds in the world.
Musical Career
Everything changed in 2010 with “Take Over Control,” featuring fellow Dutch vocalist Eva Simons. The single went platinum in the United States, topped charts across Europe, and announced Afrojack as a major force — that year he entered the DJ Mag Top 100 at number 19, the highest new entry of the list. But what set him apart wasn’t just his own singles; it was how indispensable he became to everyone else’s.
In 2011 alone, he co-produced Pitbull’s global number one “Give Me Everything,” contributed to Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls),” and won a Grammy for his remix of Madonna’s “Revolver” alongside David Guetta. That same period saw him co-write and produce Guetta’s “Titanium” featuring Sia — one of the defining dance-pop records of the decade — and produce Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now,” earning further Grammy nominations across remix, dance and rap categories. Remix requests poured in from Lady Gaga to Leona Lewis. Few producers have ever been so prolific across so many lanes at once.
His own catalog kept pace. After club smashes like “Can’t Stop Me” with Shermanology and the record-breaking Beatport chart-topper “Rock the House,” he released his debut album Forget the World in 2014, anchored by “The Spark” with Spree Wilson and the number-one dance hit “Ten Feet Tall.” In 2015 he co-produced and featured on David Guetta’s “Hey Mama” with Nicki Minaj and Bebe Rexha — a top-10 Billboard Hot 100 hit that has since racked up close to a billion Spotify streams.
Never content to stay in one place, Afrojack launched his NLW alias to explore rawer, big-room and underground sounds, kept collaborating with artists from Missy Elliott to the biggest names in dance, and continued running Wall Recordings as a launchpad for new producers. Today he splits his time between festival main stages, Las Vegas residencies and the studio, remaining one of EDM’s most reliable hitmakers.
Afrojack’s Collaborations
If there’s a through-line to Afrojack’s career, it’s collaboration. He has worked with well over fifty artists across pop, hip-hop and dance, often as the production engine behind someone else’s hit, and that versatility is a big part of why he’s stayed relevant for more than a decade.
Pop & crossover collaborations
Afrojack’s defining trait is his ability to translate club energy into mainstream hits, and his crossover résumé is genuinely staggering. He has produced for and collaborated with some of the biggest names in music, repeatedly turning dance production into chart gold.
That side of his catalog includes “Take Over Control” with Eva Simons, “Give Me Everything” with Pitbull and Ne-Yo, “Hey Mama” with David Guetta, Nicki Minaj and Bebe Rexha, the Grammy-winning Madonna “Revolver” remix, production for Beyoncé and Chris Brown, and “Trampoline” with hip-hop icon Missy Elliott — a body of work that bridges EDM with pop, hip-hop and R&B.
Festival & dance collaborations
For the main-stage crowd, Afrojack’s collaborations with fellow producers have produced some of the genre’s most reliable festival anthems. His closest creative ties run deep with David Guetta, but the list of dance peers he’s worked alongside is long.
Standouts include “Turn Up the Speakers” with Martin Garrix, a festival staple from 2014, along with studio and stage links to artists like Steve Aoki, Diplo, Laidback Luke and Steve Angello. These records, built for euphoric drops and big rooms, remain highlights of his explosive live sets.
Wall Recordings & label-family collaborations
Beyond the hits, Afrojack has used Wall Recordings to develop and elevate emerging producers, much as the dance scene has always relied on mentorship and shared studio time.
The label has been a home and stepping stone for artists including D.O.D, Apster, D-Wayne, KIIDA and Karim Mika, with Afrojack frequently collaborating with and championing his roster. It’s this role as a tastemaker and talent developer, as much as his own releases, that keeps him at the center of the genre rather than coasting on past success.
Artist Major Works and Achievements
Afrojack’s accolades reflect a career that straddles the club and the charts. He won a Grammy Award in 2011 for Best Remixed Recording for the Madonna “Revolver” remix and has collected multiple further nominations, while his co-production on “Titanium” contributed to another Grammy-winning record. He took the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Dutch Act, has been a near-permanent presence in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs — regularly ranking inside the top 10 — and was listed by Forbes among the highest-earning DJs in the world.
His commercial footprint is enormous, with platinum singles across multiple continents and production credits on some of the most-streamed dance-pop records of the 2010s. He was also one of the first DJs to establish a long-term Las Vegas residency, helping turn the city into the global capital of EDM performance, and continues to host his own stage at festivals like Tomorrowland. Through Wall Recordings and his role as CEO of LDH Europe, his influence now extends well beyond the booth into the business of dance music.
Upcoming Tours & Live Tours Scheduled For 2026
Afrojack has always been a live artist at his core — famous for high-octane sets packed with pyrotechnics, LED spectacle and a knack for building a crowd to fever pitch before dropping a classic like “Ten Feet Tall.” His shows blend his own hits with current festival weapons and unreleased IDs, often road-testing new material on stage long before release.
In 2026 his schedule leans heavily on the North American club and festival circuit, with dates spanning multiple countries and marquee venues — from beach and day-club residencies at spots like Atlantic City’s HQ2 and Florida’s DAER to his ongoing presence on the Las Vegas scene. As ever, he remains a fixture on the global festival calendar, headlining major EDM events across Europe and North America through the summer season.
As touring schedules evolve through the year, new dates are announced regularly across key regions. For the latest confirmed shows, venues and ticket information, fans should always check the official Afrojack tour schedule and his verified channels.
