Gareth Emery (GB)

About

Also known as: Gareth Thomas Rhys Emery

Three wins at the A State of Trance Tune of the Year award tells you a lot about where Gareth Emery sits in the trance world. The Southampton born DJ and producer broke through with GTR's "Mistral", a track he built entirely on a laptop during a two week holiday in Provence, and which Paul van Dyk debuted live at the Nature One Festival in 2002. From there, support from Tiësto, Armin van Buuren and Ferry Corsten followed, and Emery climbed as high as number seven in the DJ Mag Top 100. His first three studio albums, Northern Lights, Drive and 100 Reasons to Live, are the records he's best known for, mixing trance and progressive house with strong vocal hooks. Later albums The Lasers and Analog pushed further into synth pop and even Britpop territory, showing a willingness to move well beyond the dancefloor. He also runs the Garuda label, and in 2019 released the collaborative album Kingdom United with long time partner Ashley Wallbridge. More recently he dropped "house in the streetlight" with LSR/CITY and Annabel.