Duke Dumont British DJ Born 1982 in London

Early life

Adam George Dyment, who records and DJs as Duke Dumont, was born in London on 27 August 1982. He is a British DJ and record producer. In the early part of his career he was mentored by Switch, a producer who has worked with Beyonce, M.I.A. and Santigold.

Career

Dumont first became known for remixes of pop songs, including Lily Allen's "The Fear", "Two Doors Down" by Mystery Jets and "Daniel" by Bat for Lashes. His first release under his own name was the Regality EP, issued by Turbo Recordings in March 2007. The Dominion Dubs EP followed in August 2008 on the label Dubsided, and in 2010 he mixed FabricLive.51, a compilation for the London club Fabric. In 2011 he left London for the Hertfordshire countryside so that he could concentrate on original material.

In 2012 he put out two extended plays on Tiga's label Turbo Recordings, For Club Play Only Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. They received airplay from Annie Mac and Fearne Cotton on BBC Radio 1 and from Trevor Nelson on BBC Radio 1Xtra. That year he also remixed "Your Drums, Your Love" by AlunaGeorge and "The Keepers" by Santigold.

His breakthrough came with "Need U (100%)", released on 31 March 2013 with vocals by the Sierra Leonean-born British singer AME. It reached number one on the UK singles chart and also charted in Belgium and the Netherlands. The video, directed by Ian Robertson and starring Rique, has been viewed more than 37 million times on YouTube. In July 2013 the website Pitchfork premiered "Hold On", a track with vocals from the singer-songwriter MNEK.

Annie Mac premiered his next single, "I Got U", on 6 December 2013. It was released in 2014 and also went to number one in the United Kingdom. The song builds on Whitney Houston's 1998 recording "My Love Is Your Love". Dumont has said he considered replacing the sample with a new singer during recording, but kept it out of respect for the original song. In August 2014 he released "Won't Look Back", which peaked at number two on the UK chart. In July 2015 he put out "Ocean Drive", from the EP Blase Boys Club Pt. 1, which reached number 42. He also records as Blase Boys Club, a name he uses both as a production alias and as the label he founded.

In 2016 the label Defected Records released two singles, "Be Here" and "Worship", from the extended play For Club Play Only Pt. 4.

His first studio album, Duality, was released on 17 April 2020. Speaking to Billboard, he said that he had waited a long time to make an album because it gave him the chance to create a body of work with emotional weight. He pointed to the strings and chords on many of the tracks as a deliberate choice meant to give the songs lasting appeal rather than relying only on beats and synthesizer lines.

Recognition

"Need U (100%)" was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, held in 2014. "I Got U" received a nomination in the same category at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards the next year.