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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, Laidback Luke, BTS, Louis Tomlinson, Rise Against, Vini Vici & Fall Out Boy. He's known for remixes of artists such as Kid Cudi. He has released several Billboard-charting studio albums as well, notably Wonderland, which was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album in 2013.
His first solo album, Wonderland, was released January 2012 & features guest vocalists as well as musicians Lmfao, Kid Cudi, Kay, Travis Barker, will.i.am aka Zuper Blahq, Wynter Gordon, Rivers Cuomo, Lil Jon, Chiddy Bang, Lovefoxxx of CSS, Big John Duncan (former guitarist of the punk band The Exploited) among many others. A remix album was released shortly after. On December 11, he released his first EP It's the End of the World As We Know It, which included 3 songs. He was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album at the 2013 Grammys.
On October 11, 2013, he collaborated w/ Linkin Park on the song A Light That Never Comes that was included on the remix album Recharged. Several remixes of the song were added on the January 2014 digital download EP A Light That Never Comes (Remixes). A Light That Never Comes was used in films such as Expendables 3. He finished in 6th place in the 2013 America's Best D.J. competition-a vote & promotion to find out the country's most popular D.J .conducted by D.J. Times magazine & Pioneer D.J.
In May 2015, it was announced that Relativity Productions had acquired the rights to distribute the documentary I'll Sleep When I'm Dead in the United States. Filmed during the making of his Neon Future double album, the film's focused on him & delves into his family history, lifestyle, music & his business. It's co-produced by Matthew Weaver & David Gelb, who together had previously worked on the 2011 documentary Jiro Dreams Of Sushi.
In February 2018, he announced the release of his 5-track EP titled 5OKI, the follow up to his 2016 EP 4OKI. The EP would feature him collaborating w/ other producers to produce a cross-genre track collective. The tracks were released at a weekly interval over 5 weeks from March 23 to April 20, w/ Mayhem featuring Quintino being released on March 23, 2018, followed by Pika Pika w/Loopers, It's Time w/ Laidback Luke, Anthem w/ Hardwell & Moshi Moshi w/ Vini Vici.
On May 18, he released a new single Pretender, featuring AJR & rapper Lil Yachty. In June, he remixed Rita Ora's hit single Girls featuring Charli XCX, Bebe Rexha & Cardi B. Later that month, he & Italian DJ Marnik released their version of Bella Ciao, which garnered controversy. On July 20, he released a new single Lie To Me, featuring singer-songwriter Ira Wroldsen.
Aside from music, he has been involved w/ various charities w/ EDM.com naming him No. 1 on its list of the 11 most charitable EDM producers. He's the founder of the Steve Aoki Charitable Fund, which raises money for global humanitarian relief organizations & medical research. Among the organization's fund-raising methods are his touring events, memorabilia auctions & collaborations w/ other artists. In early 2015, he was named as Global Ambassador for the Best Buddies program, a non-profit devoted to young people w/ developmental & intellectual disabilities. Additionally, MTV Latin America awarded him the Chiuku Award for his humanitarian work. He was presented w/the award at the International Dance Music Awards.
