Steve Aoki
Steven Hiroyuki Aoki (/eɪˈoʊki/, Japanese: [çiɾojɯᵝkʲi aokʲi]; born November 30, 1977) is an American DJ and music producer. In 2012, Pollstar designated Aoki as the highest-grossing electronic dance music artist in North America from tours.[5][6]
Steve Aoki
Steven Hiroyuki Aoki
Newport Beach, California, U.S.
- DJ
- record producer
- music programmer
- record executive
- activist
- philanthropist
- Keyboards
- synthesizer
- programming
- turntables
1996–present
He has collaborated with artists such as will.i.am, Alan Walker, Afrojack, LMFAO, Tini, Linkin Park, AGNEZ MO, Iggy Azalea, Grandson, Lil Jon, Blink-182, Taking Back Sunday, Laidback Luke, BTS, Monsta X, Louis Tomlinson, Backstreet Boys, Rise Against, Vini Vici, Lauren Jauregui, and Fall Out Boy and is known for his remixes of artists such as Kid Cudi.
Aoki has released seven studio albums to date, including several Billboard-charting albums. His debut studio album Wonderland was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album in 2013.
In 2019, Aoki published a memoir, Blue: The Color of Noise.[7][8]
He is the founder of the Steve Aoki Charitable Fund, which raises money for global humanitarian relief organizations.[9]
Early life[edit]
Aoki was born in Miami, Florida, but grew up in Newport Beach, California. He graduated from Newport Harbor High School in 1995, where he was a player on the varsity badminton team.[10] He is of Japanese descent, the third child of Rocky Aoki and Chizuru Kobayashi.[11] His father was a former wrestler who also founded the restaurant chain Benihana. He has two older siblings, sister Kana (who is sometimes called by her middle name "Grace"), and brother Kevin (owner of Doraku Sushi restaurant).[12] His half-sister is model and actress Devon Aoki.[13]
Aoki attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated with two B.A. degrees, one in women's studies and the other in sociology. In college, he produced DIY records and ran underground concerts out of his Biko room in the Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative,[14] which was located in Isla Vista, a section of residential land adjacent to UCSB. As a concert venue, the apartment became known as The Pickle Patch.[15][16] Aoki was also involved in student activism at UCSB, being the founder of a Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League chapter on campus.[17] By his early 20s, Aoki had built his own record label, which he named Dim Mak – a reference to his childhood hero, Bruce Lee.[18][19][20]
Philanthropy[edit]
The Aoki Foundation helps fund research on the brain with a focus on regenerative medicine and brain preservation.[100][101] The fund emphasizes the possibilities of natural life extension that come with the elimination of brain disease.[100] The Foundation also supports other causes such as disaster relief, research on developmental disabilities, and animal rights.[100][102][103] It has partnered with Keep Memory Alive, SENS Research Foundation, the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Music for Relief, and Best Buddies International.[100]
In 2013, during his North American tour, Aoki donated a dollar of every ticket sale to four charities: the Brain Preservation Foundation, the University of Rochester Medical Center – Memory Care Program, the American Brain Foundation, and Infusio.[104][105][106] Aoki fans were invited to vote for their favorite charity, with the Brain Preservation taking the grand prize.[104] A total of $65,000 was donated,[104][105] with $33,000 going to the Brain Preservation Foundation.[107]
Personal life[edit]
Aoki and Australian model Tiernan Cowling were engaged in 2010. They later married on the Hawaiian island of Maui in 2015 and resided in Las Vegas, Nevada.[108] The couple amicably split in 2018, citing Aoki's rigorous tour schedule putting a strain on the relationship.[109]
Actress and fashion model Devon Aoki is Steve Aoki's half-sister. Model and singer-songwriter Yumi Nu is Aoki's niece.[110]
After applying in 2022, Aoki was selected to participate in a lunar spaceflight as part of the DearMoon project crew.[111][112] The mission is scheduled to occur in the 2020s aboard a SpaceX Starship.
Aoki is signed up for cryopreservation, discussing plans with Peter Diamandis in a 2022 interview A DJ's Crazy Schedule, Cryonics, and the Making of Pursuit of Happiness.[113]