Calvin Harris is the professional name of Adam Richard Wiles, a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer and songwriter from Dumfries, Scotland. He is associated with electronic and dance music, and is also described in genre terms including club, complextro, contemporary R&B, dance, dance-pop and disco. He releases music on Fly Eye.

Career

Harris begins with self-written and self-sung material before moving into collaborations with other vocalists. His debut album, I Created Disco, appears in 2007. It includes the singles “Acceptable in the 80s” and “The Girls”, both of which reach the UK top 10. His second album, Ready for the Weekend, follows in 2009, debuts at number one in the UK and includes “I’m Not Alone”, his first single to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart.

His third album, 18 Months, appears in 2012 and brings wider international recognition. It reaches number one in the UK and number 19 on the US Billboard 200. The album includes “We Found Love”, his 2011 collaboration with Rihanna, and all eight of its singles reach the UK top 10, setting a record for the most top 10 entries from a single studio album on the UK Singles Chart. Harris’s fourth album, Motion, follows in 2014 and debuts at number two in the UK and number five in the US. In 2017 he releases Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1, which reaches the top two in both the UK and US and becomes his third consecutive number one album on the US Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

Chart and streaming milestones

Harris becomes the first artist to have three songs in the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart top 10 at the same time in October 2014. He also becomes the first UK solo artist to pass one billion streams on Spotify.

Awards and recognition

He receives 18 Brit Award nominations and wins British Producer of the Year and British Single of the Year in 2019. He also receives five Grammy nominations, winning Best Music Video in 2013. Other honours include an Ivor Novello Award in 2013 and the title of Top Dance/Electronic Artist at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards. He appears on Debrett’s 2017 list of the most influential people in the United Kingdom and tops Forbes’ ranking of the world’s highest-paid DJs for six consecutive years from 2013 to 2018.