Cozy Corner

Peter Heppner (born 1967 in Hamburg) was the lead singer for the German electronica/synth pop band Wolfsheim, and has collaborated with many other electronic music acts, such as Paul van Dyk, Schiller, and Goethes Erben. Although he’s been active in Wolfsheim since 1987, his first commercial success was in 1991 releasing the single “The sparrows and the nightingales”. In 1998 he had a big charts success doing a song with 80’s star Joachim Witt, releasing the single “Die Flut”. In the years following, his notability as a singer increased. Collaborating with the electronic music project Schiller, he reached charts positions in 2004 with the songs “Dream of you” and “Leben… I feel you”. In the same year, he released the song “Wir sind wir” together with Paul van Dyk. Although the song was controversial because of its message (which could be interpreted as nationalist), the artists recorded another version together with the Filmorchester Babelsberg for the Day of German Unity on October 3rd, 2005 in Potsdam. A more recent project with Mila Mar and Kim Sanders from Culture Beat spawned the single “Aus Gold”, intended to support Afghanian poorhouses together with the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz. ...

James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount, February 22, 1974) is a British singer-songwriter whose debut album, Back to Bedlam, and single releases — especially the number one hit “You’re Beautiful” — brought him to fame in 2005. His style is a mix of pop, rock and folk. Along with vocals, James Blunt performs a variety of instruments, including piano and guitar. He is signed to Linda Perry’s independent American label Custard Records. Blunt won two BRIT Awards and two Ivor Novello Awards, and was nominated for five Grammy Awards in 2006. Blunt subsequently released his second album, All The Lost Souls, in 2007; this album was certified gold within its first week of release. The first single from his second album, “1973”, was Blunt’s first Global Number 1 in October 2007, beating “You’re Beautiful” which peaked at Number 2 in the United World Chart. ...

Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-American Latin rock musician and guitarist. He became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which created a highly successful blend of salsa, rock, blues, and jazz fusion. Their sound featured his melodic, blues based guitar lines set against Latin percussion such as timbales and congas. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades, and experienced a sudden resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. Rolling Stone also named Santana number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003. ...

Tiësto (IPA: /tiɛsto/; born Tijs Verwest (IPA: /tɛɪs vɛɹʋɛst/) on January 17, 1969 in Breda, North Brabant, Netherlands) is one of the world’s most famous trance DJs and producers in the electronic dance music scene. Although he has used many aliases in the past, he is best known for his work as DJ Tiësto. On his latest productions, however, he has dropped the “DJ” label and he is now known simply as “Tiësto”, an alias which is an Italian twist on his childhood nickname. ...

Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr. (born October 20, 1972), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, singer, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as an MC in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of producer Dr. Dre’s most notable protégés. His catch phrase is “-izzle,” a style of slang invented by Frankie Smith and The Gap Band in the early eighties, and popularized in part by fellow rapper E-40. ...

Armin van Buuren (born December 25, 1976) is a trance music producer. He was born in Leiden, Netherlands, but who grew up in Koudekerk aan den Rijn. In 2007, he was voted number one DJ in DJ Mag’s annual Top 100 vote. Biography Armin van Buuren pursued his career as a professional musician despite the promise of a career in law in his native country, the Netherlands, where he completed his law degree in 2004. Armin started working as a DJ in a local night club called Nexus, finished high school in 1995 and went on to university to study law. Meanwhile, he moved his studio equipment from his bedroom to a ‘real’ studio. The first tracks he produced in his new studio were, among others, tracks like “Touch Me” and “Communication”. Van Buuren has been quoted as saying, “Don’t be a prisoner of your own style.” He has described his musical style as “liberating, euphoric, uplifting, melodic and energetic.” ...

Timothy Z. Mosley (born March 10, 1971), better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, composer, rapper, and singer. Primarily known for his work in urban pop, Timbaland has produced albums and singles for a number of artists from the mid-1990s to the present day. Timbaland’s first production work was Ginuwine…the Bachelor for Ginuwine, in 1996; the album was both a commercial and critical success. He was later contacted by Aaliyah to help produce her second album, One in a Million, which went on to sell over two million copies worldwide. In 2000, Timbaland produced several hit songs including Ludacris’ “Rollout (My Business)”, and contributed three singles to Aaliyah’s self-titled third album. Embracing an international audience, he helped produce three tracks for Japanese Pop star Utada Hikaru’s debut English album, Exodus. ...

Serj Tankian (Armenian: Սերժ Թանգեան) (born August 21, 1967 in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer, songwriter, poet, activist, and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative metal band System of a Down. In 2002, Serj and Tom Morello co-founded a non-profit political activist organization, Axis of Justice. During his entertainment career, he released five albums with System of a Down, one with Arto Tunçboyacıyan (Serart), and also recently a solo album, Elect the Dead, on October 23, 2007. ...

Astrix (‘Avi Shmailov – אסטריקס) is a Psychedelic Trance DJ and producer specialising in the sub-genre of Full On Psychedelic Trance. He was born in Russia in 1981 and grew up in Tel Aviv, Israel. He began recording music under the name Astrix in 1997, sometimes misconceived to be taken from the “Asterix” comic books. An interview on UK clubbing website Harderfaster.net revealed the name was chosen for simply sounding good, and not directly influenced by anything in particular. ...

Infected Mushroom – Erez Eisen and Amit Duvdevani (aka Duvdev) – has been the leading group within the global psy-trance scene for nearly a decade. Incorporating pumping, bad-ass grooves and infectious melodies and live instruments and vocals into their songs, they’ve performed live – a feat that many of their DJ peers aspire to accomplish – for well over a million people around the globe. The band’s energetic live show has triumphed at some of the world’s biggest and most important music festivals (OMIX Festival in Mexico, Miami’s Ultra Festival, Tribe in Sao Paulo, among countless others), and they continue to regularly sell-out top clubs such as the Brixton Academy in London, Toronto’s Koolhaus at the Government, and Avalon in New York and Los Angeles. Their success as an electronic music band on the global concert circuit has translated into record sales in excess of 150,000 albums over the course of six acclaimed independent albums. Not bad for two guys from Haifa who started producing music mostly to escape boredom. ...