Alan Olav Walker (born 24 August 1997) is a British-Norwegian DJ and record producer.[2] In 2015, Walker received international acclaim after releasing the single "Faded", which received platinum certifications in 14 countries. In 2019, he was ranked 27th on DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs list of 2019.[3] He released his debut studio album, Different World, in 2018.
In 2012, Walker was listening to a song by Italian DJ David Whistle (also known as DJ Ness) and reached out to him to find out how he produced his music. He was inspired by EDM producers K-391 and Ahrix, and by film composers like Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky.[8] He started producing his music on his laptop using FL Studio. In July 2012, with the help and feedback from his fans online, he began pursuing his music production career and slowly began posting his music to YouTube and SoundCloud. Starting as a bedroom producer, he was better known as DJ Walkzz before signing a record deal and releasing his debut single in 2014.
Walker released the track "Fade" on 17 August 2014.[9] The track gained attention after its re-release via the record label NoCopyrightSounds on 19 November 2014.[10] Walker stated that the creation of the track was inspired by K-391 and Ahrix, whose tracks were also picked up by the record label. The track has over 400 million views on YouTube,[11] 115 million plays on Spotify,[12] and 41 million streams on SoundCloud.[13] The tracks "Spectre" and "Force" followed in 2015.
Walker signed with MER Musikk under Sony Music Sweden and released his next single, "Faded", a remastered vocal version of "Fade". It was released on 8 December 2015 and featured uncredited Naustdal pop singer Iselin Solheim.[14] The single topped the year-end charts in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, iTunes charts in 33 countries, as well as entering top 10 in Spotify Global Chart. The music video on YouTube has over 2.6 billion views and 18 million likes,[15] placing it among the top 10 most liked YouTube videos. It has over 1.1 billion plays on Spotify,[16] and is also one of the Top 10 Most Shazamed tracks of 2016.[17] The single also received official remixes from Tiësto,[18] Dash Berlin, and Hardwell. He later released an acoustic "restrung" version of the song, with all the EDM elements taken out.[19]
Walker quit high school in January to pursue his music career.[20] On 27 February, Walker made his performance debut at the Winter X Games in Oslo, where he performed 15 tracks including the song "Faded" together with Iselin Solheim.[21][22] By March, Walker had produced 30 to 40 songs in total, but "Faded" marks his first single with Sony Music Sweden, and the first to achieve such global success.[17] On 7 April, Walker teamed up with Swedish singer Zara Larsson at the Echo Awards in Germany. Together they performed each other's songs "Faded" and "Never Forget You".[23] Four weeks previously, he achieved the first place on NRJ Euro Hot 30 for the first time, which only has been achieved by one other Norwegian artist, Kygo.[24]
The single "Sing Me to Sleep" was released on 3 June, featuring female vocalist Iselin Solheim, the same vocalist in "Faded". The song topped iTunes charts in 7 countries. Its music video on YouTube has over 570 million views,[25] and it also reached 250 million plays on Spotify.[26]
The single "Alone" was released on 2 December, featuring uncredited Swedish singer Noonie Bao.[27] The music video on YouTube has over 1 billion views,[28] the track also gained over 390 million plays on Spotify.[29] The song was described as "the final piece of a trilogy consisting of 'Faded', 'Sing Me To Sleep' and 'Alone'" by Gunnar Greeve, Walker's manager and co-writer for the single.
On 21 and 22 December, Walker held the concert "Alan Walker is Heading Home" in his hometown Bergen at USF Verftet, where he performed 16 songs and tracks together with Angelina Jordan, Marius Samuelsen, Alexandra Rotan, Yosef Wolde-Mariam, and Tove Styrke as singers.[31][32] The concert was officially live-streamed on YouTube.[33] He premiered several unreleased tracks, including a restrung version of "Sing Me to Sleep", as well as "Heading Home", the latter of which was first performed during his debut at Winter X Games. The song "The Spectre", a remastered version of his earlier track "Spectre", was also performed during the concert.
On 23 December, Walker released the video for the single "Routine", which premiered on his concert in Bergen two days earlier and on some concerts on the "Walker Tour". The track was made in collaboration with David Whistle. Its music video on YouTube has over 58 million views,[34] and 47 million plays on Spotify.[35]
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