This artiste with a unique stage name has become one of Finland's biggest dance exports, performing in BBC's “Top Of The Pops” programme in June 2000 and had his debut single slamming the UK singles chart at a whooping no. 3 spot, making him the only Finnish artiste ever to achieve that feat. “Sandstorm” stayed on the charts for nine weeks, spelling out the beginning of a career in music Darude had always aspired to have.

Ville Virtanen first began his journey with dance music when he bought his first PC and started to put up German-style happy hardcore with tracker programs. However, the possibilities of the PC didn't satisfy Ville for long and soon he started to work with sound modules and samplers.

Spinning at a couple of school parties, Ville began playing “Rude Boy” by Swedish artiste Leila K a lot, and from this special hit friends had begun calling him “Rude Boy”, which turned to “The Rude”, then “Da Rude” and finally Darude.

But Darude's career finally took off when he met respected Finnish dance artiste and producer Jaakko Salovaara, more widely known as JS 16, who is behind acts like Bomfunk MC, who got hold of Darude's demo tape and signed him to his label,16 Inch Records. This propelled the popularity of “Sandstorm”, which eventually went directly to number one position on Finnish Dance Chart and dominated the chart for 16 weeks. In Finland the commercial success of the commercial single release of “Sandstorm” has been enormous as well. “Sandstorm” has now sold platinum and the second single “Feel The Beat” will reach platinum status soon.

In the UK, “Sandstorm” has managed to stay in the top 20 charts for nine weeks, and has seen endorsement from maestros like Paul van Dyk and Pete Tong who see Darude's work as promising and brimming with talent. With a mish-mesh of trance, house and even bits of techno, Darude garners inspiration from artistes like JS 16, Faithless and Armand Van Helden, and he futuristic influences can be seen in his recent release, “Before The Storm”, a strong collection of different tracks ready to explode. Be prepared for more from this up and coming Finnish artiste.

Calm Before The Storm
Feel The Beat
Let The Music Take Control
Out Of Control
Sandstorm

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