First making his name with a series of successful collaboration tracks with Martin Garrix in 2012, Jay Hardway quickly established himself as another superstar EDM producer to emerge from The Netherlands, filling his sets with melodic, big room euphoria and glossy, high energy trance thumpers.
Born in the small town of Drunen, North Brabant, Hardway (real name Jobke Heilbolm) grew up at a time when artists like Tiësto and Armin Van Buuren dominated the local radio and pop charts. He started creating his own tracks on his laptop when he was 14 after discovering the electronic music program Fruity Loops. After turning 18 he started DJ-ing at parties and in bars and, after befriending Garrix on an online dance music forum, the pair teamed up to create singles 'Registration Code' and 'Error 404'.
The young, like-minded producers really broke through when their track 'Wizard' became a scorching electro favourite, receiving over 3.5 million YouTube views in its first week and reaching number seven in the UK charts. He also remixed Norwegian pop starlet Margaret Berger's Eurovison Song Contest entry 'I Feed You My Love', worked with Mike Hawkins on 'Freedom' and released his first EP 'Gold Skies' in 2014, as his reputation for fist-pumping, party-starting sets grew globally.
Known for interacting with fans and posting tutorial videos explaining his beatmaking process, his Inspire Radio podcasts also helped build a loyal following and he became a big favourite on dance music hub Beatport thanks to tracks such as 'Bootcamp', 'Golden Pineapple', 'El Mariach' with Bassjackers and 'Voodoo' with DVBBS. Whether spinning tracks at pool parties in Las Vegas, superclubs in Ibiza or festivals in Asia, Hardway continued to be regarded as a producer pushing progressive house to new realms and a DJ guaranteed to set dance floors ablaze.
