American DJ and record producer, Ryan Raddon who is popularly known as Kaskade was born on February 25th, 1971. Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, he was heavily influenced by new wave bands like The Cure, Echo and The Bunnymen, and The Smiths that ignited his love for melody and lyrics and at the same time was heavily impacted by the house music scene that had developed in Chicago.

Aged 19, Raddon served a two-year full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan. Following his mission, in 1992, he moved to Salt Lake City to attend the University of Utah and while attending the university he continued to hone his DJ skills in his dorm room. He also ran a record store in Salt Lake City called ‘Mechanized’.

In the year 1995, he began DJ-ing his first weekly Monday night party at a basement venue called Club Manhattan and used this additional income to purchase studio essentials. After a number of stints where he worked as a DJ throughout college and in A&R at OM Records, he began working on his own music.

He took his stage name from a nature book when he saw a picture of a waterfall and a co-worker agreed that “cascade” was a good choice, but he changed the spelling. However, amusingly enough, his wife had a feeling that it would remind people of a dish detergent. Concentrating on his DJ-ing skills, Kaskade started to experiment and develop his own sound.

Releasing his first single “What I Say” in 2001, Kaskade has ever since been in the trenches of the dance music scene as an original recording artist and in-demand DJ for more than a decade. He has released seven studio albums, including, It’s You, It’s Me (2003), In the Moment (2004), The Calm (2006), Here & Now (2006), Love Mysterious (2006), Strobelite Seduction (2008), Dynasty (2010), Dance.Love (2010) and Fire & Ice (2012).

Additionally Kaskade has secured nine Top 10 hits on Billboard’s Hot Dance Airplay Chart, created chart-topping remixes for everyone from Lady Gaga to Beyoncé, appeared at all the major summer festivals, and has performed between 150 and 200 headlining shows a year for the last 10 years, building a name for himself as an innovator of the scene as we know it today.

In doing so, it would be safe to say that he certainly has helped to lay the groundwork for a titanic musical and cultural shift, a post-rock EDM revolution that has captured the imagination of a new generation of music lovers across North America.

Kaskade’s belief in the transformative power of dance music to uplift thousands of people at once has had a significant effect on the U.S. scene. His ground-breaking double residency in Las Vegas at the Encore Beach Club (which had not even been built when he signed on) and Marquee has elevated the city’s status as a premiere club-going destination on par with London, Berlin, and Ibiza, is another testament to his influence.

He was also been named America’s No. 1 DJ by DJ Times and Pioneer DJ in 2011. 2012 saw him release groundbreaking tracks and remixes including “No One Knows Who We Are” with one of Russia’s finest, Swanky Tunes and his smash hit “Llove” which was given an incredible remix by Dada Life. Come 2013, he has released the breathtaking single, “Atmosphere” and announced an upcoming album of the same name.

Whether it’s the uplifting sounds, organic instrumentals, catchy vocals or the diversity of his sound, Kaskade’s music embodies life, love and happiness. “I’m an optimistic guy”, he has said in the past. “There’s a lot of love in house music and this is just what comes out”. He is equally as optimistic about the scene that has embraced him with such open arms. “Dance music is so fast moving and so forward thinking; it has morphed many times over. It will be interesting to see what the future holds”.

Here’s a peak into his additional projects & interesting facts:

• Kaskade is also an active member of Summer Of Space, Late Night Alumni and The Sellars.

• Kaskade is one of 9 artists who participated in thetruth.com’s Remix Project, where he remixed the Sunny Side song “Smaller Babies”.

• Kaskade’s song “I Remember” with deadmau5 is played on a certain level of Golden Eye for the Wii. “I Remember” and “Move For Me” were also featured in DJ Hero 2 and are credited as being performed by deadmau5 & Kaskade.

• He also produced Haley’s album All This Love released by Ultra Records.

Check out some of the finest and most popular works of this maverick which you shouldn’t miss;

#Kaskade feat. Mindy Gledhill – Eyes (Extended Mix)

# Kaskade – Atmosphere (Extended Mix)

#Deadmau5 & Kaskade – i Remember (Vocal Mix)

#Kaskade & Skrillex – Lick It (Original Mix)

#Kaskade – Llove feat. Haley (Original Mix)

Packed with tremendous talent, Kaskade is definitely one of dance music’s more eloquent ambassadors. Get ready to catch him live as Sunburn bring the superstar to your city this month, click here for details!

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