Kygo

Kygo is the stage name of Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, a Norwegian DJ and record producer born in 1991 in Singapore and raised in Bergen, Norway. He works in electronic music, with genres associated with his releases including club, dance, deep house, downtempo, EDM, house and tropical house. He releases music on Palm Tree Records and his own Kygo label.

Early life and name

Gørvell-Dahll is born on 11 September 1991 to Norwegian parents. He grows up in several countries, including Brazil, Japan, Kenya and Egypt, and later studies business and finance at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh before choosing to pursue music full-time. He begins piano lessons at six, later describes himself as more of a pianist than a DJ, stops playing piano in his mid-teens, and starts making music with Logic Studio and a MIDI keyboard after learning from online tutorials. The name Kygo comes from the first two letters of his first and last name, with the Norwegian letter ø replaced by o, and it begins as a username on the itslearning school platform.

Breakthrough and early releases

Kygo first releases the single "Epsilon" in 2013 through Ensis Records. He gains international attention in late 2014 with his remix of Ed Sheeran’s "I See Fire" and with "Firestone", a single featuring Conrad Sewell. That period also leads to remix requests and collaboration interest from artists including Avicii and Chris Martin of Coldplay. He performs as a support act for Avicii at Findings Festival in Oslo in 2014, and in September that year it is announced that he replaces Avicii on the main stage at Tomorrowland because of Avicii’s health issues.

Mainstream success

In 2015 Kygo releases a run of singles that includes "Stole the Show" featuring Parson James, "Nothing Left" featuring Will Heard, "Here for You" featuring Ella Henderson and "Stay" featuring Maty Noyes. By the end of that year he becomes the fastest artist to reach one billion streams on Spotify, and by June 2016 he reaches two billion streams. During this period he signs record deals with Sony Music and Ultra Music and also takes part in a charity collaboration with Electric Family supporting Médecins Sans Frontières.

Albums and collaborations

His debut album, Cloud Nine, is released in 2016 and includes promotional singles such as "Fragile" featuring Labrinth, "Raging" featuring Kodaline and "I'm In Love" featuring James Vincent McMorrow. In the same year he releases "Coming Over" with Dillon Francis and James Hersey and performs "Carry Me" with Julia Michaels at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first house music producer to perform at an Olympic closing ceremony.

In 2017 he releases "It Ain't Me" with Selena Gomez, one of his most commercially successful songs, and the single appears on the EP Stargazing. He also releases "First Time" with Ellie Goulding and later that year issues his second studio album, Kids in Love, which includes "Remind Me to Forget" featuring Miguel and "Stranger Things" featuring OneRepublic.

Later releases and business ventures

Kygo releases "Born to Be Yours" with Imagine Dragons and "Happy Now" with Sandro Cavazza in 2018, and co-founds Palm Tree Records with his manager Myles Shear. In 2019 he releases "Think About You" featuring Valerie Broussard, "Carry On" with Rita Ora for the film Detective Pikachu, "Not OK" with Chelsea Cutler, and "Kem kan eg ringe" with Store P and Lars Vaular. He also releases a remix of Whitney Houston’s "Higher Love", which becomes a major posthumous hit.

His third studio album, Golden Hour, appears in 2020 and includes "Like It Is", "I'll Wait", "Lose Somebody" and "The Truth". He also completes and releases "Forever Yours", originally by Avicii, with permission from Avicii’s family, and issues remixes of "What's Love Got to Do with It" and "Hot Stuff". From 2021 onwards he releases singles including "Gone Are the Days", "Love Me Now", "Undeniable", "Dancing Feet", "Freeze", "Never Really Loved Me", "Lost Without You" and "Woke Up in Love". In 2022 he releases his fourth studio album, Thrill of the Chase. In 2023 he releases a remix of "Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson.

Recent work and recognition

In 2024 Kygo releases "Whatever" featuring Ava Max and "For Life" featuring Zak Abel and Nile Rodgers, and issues his fifth studio album, Kygo. The album marks ten years of his career and also includes "Without You", "Me Before You", "Stars Will Align" with Imagine Dragons, "Hold On Me" with Sandro Cavazza, "Chasing Paradise" with OneRepublic and "Can't Get Enough" with Victoria Nadine. In 2026 he releases "Save My Love".

He is ranked third on Billboard’s Dance 100 list in 2018, and in the same year DJ Mag places him at number 32 in its Top 100 DJs list; in October 2019 he is placed at number 42. He also launches Kygo Life AS in 2016, a lifestyle brand for clothing and audio products.