Steve Aoki Biography

The electro-house musician known as Steve Aoki was born Steven Hiroyuki in Miami, Florida, in 1977. Long before Aoki rose to prominence for his high-energy shows, he moved to Newport Beach, California as a child and grew up in a hard-working family; his father was the founder of the famous restaurant chain Benihana. Although Steve excelled academically and athletically at school, after graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara as a dual major, he chose to pursue a career in the music industry as a concert promoter and producer of do-it-yourself records.

In 1996, when he was still in his early twenties, Steve Aoki founded his own record label, Dim Mak Records. But it wasn’t until the later 2000’s that he began to work as a musician in his own right, releasing his debut mix album, Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles, in 2008. Since that time, he has released the EPs It’s the End of the World As We Know It (2012) and A Light That Never Comes (2014), and albums Wonderland (2012) and Neon Future I (2014.) Notable singles from Steve Aoki as a lead artist include: “I’m in the House” (with Zuper Blahq); “Turbulence” (with Lil Jon and Laidback Luke); “No Beef” (with Afrojack); “Livin’ My Love” (with LMFAO); “Beat Down” (with Iggy Azalea); “Boneless” (with Chris Lake); and “A Light That Never Comes” (with Linkin Park.) Aoki has also been featured on works with artists such as The Bloody Beetroots, Junkie XL, Sidney Samson, Travis Barker, Afrojack, Atari Teenage Riot, and Flux Pavillion.

Most recently Steve Aoki has earned significant praise for his recent albums, including a Grammy Award nomination for Wonderland, in the Best Dance/Electronica Album category. Pollstar also recently elected Steve Aoki as North America’s highest grossing dance artist, based on sales from his recent sell-out tours in the last few years, but particularly for 2012, which so far has been high most successful year to date. Aoki is scheduled to release his sequel to Neon Future I in the coming year; Neon Future II is expected to arrive in the winter of 2015.