Steven Hiroyuki Aoki is an American DJ and record producer. In 2012, Pollstar designated Aoki as the highest-grossing electronic dance music artist in North America from tours. In 2024, Gold House recognized him as one of the Most Impactful Asians.
ultra records
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Artist Biography
Born • Nov 30, 1977
Steve Aoki was born on November 30, 1977 in Miami, Florida. He's an American electro house musician, record producer, D.J. & music executive. He's the 3rd child of Chizuru Kobayashi & Rocky Aoki. His father was a former wrestler who also founded the restaurant chain Benihana. He has 2 older siblings, sister Kana (who is sometimes called by her middle name Grace) & brother Kevin (owner of Doraku Sushi restaurant). His half-sister's model & actress Devon Aoki.
He grew up in Newport Beach, California & graduated from Newport Harbor High School in 1995, where he was a player on the varsity badminton team. He then attended UC Santa Barbara, graduating w/ 2 B.A. degrees, one in feminist studies & the other in sociology. In college, he produced do-it-yourself records & ran underground concerts out of his Biko room in the Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative. As a concert venue, the apartment became known as The Pickle Patch. He was also involved in student activism at UCSB, being the founder of a Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League chapter on campus. By his early 20s, he had built his own record label, which he named Dim Mak-a reference to his childhood hero Bruce Lee.
In March 2010, he released I'm in the House, a collaboration w/ the Zuper Blahq-alter-ego of The Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am. The song charted at No. 29 in the U.K. Singles Chart in its 1st week of release. It later entered the U.K. Dance Chart & the U.K. Indie Chart, peaking within the top 5 in both charts. The song was featured on an episode of MTV's Jersey Shore as well as in the feature film Piranha & the trailer for Think Like A Man. Producer-songwriter Lucas Secon confirmed in a May 2010 interview w/ HitQuarters that he & Rivers Cuomo had recently worked w/ Aoki on a single.
In 2012, Pollstar designated him as the highest grossing dance artist in North America from tours. He has collaborated w/ artists such as Iggy Azalea, Afrojack, LMFAO, Linkin Park, Will.i.am, Lil Jon, Blink-182...