Joran van Dooren

When Joran van Dooren was a child, he already had an interest in music. Because as a little boy he saw a documentary about Jerry-Lee Lewis. Joran could relate with his underdog story and it impressed him enormously. Jerry-Lee Lewis' name does not ring a bell for most people, but the name Elvis does. One of Elvis' biggest competitors was Jerry-Lee Lewis. Although Jerry-Lee was being sabotaged, he still broke through and was number one in the charts for a few weeks, followed by his rival Elvis.

This story spoke to Joran van Dooren. Someone who dedicates his life to music and, despite all the setbacks in life, still breaks through with his music.

For his birthday, young Joran van Dooren accidentally received two walkman's as a gift. They were his favorite toys. But he found it really fun to play the songs at the same time with a few seconds delay. Sometimes with the same beat. As he grew older he tried to mix one song with the other one through the walkmans.

He looked up to the DJ’s that performed at large parties and festivals that were going on at the time. From that moment he knew what his dream was.

Joran van Dooren grew up and took his first steps in the nightlife. As a young teenager he ended up in a famous club in Antwerp, called Skyclub. He thought that it was fascinating how the DJ knew how to control his audience with his music.

He wanted to work in his favorite club and was given the opportunity to be a promoter. So he managed to lure people to the club and helped improve things with the organization.

Skyclub saw how happy he was that he was able to give his input. After a while, they gave him the opportunity to do his own thing.

In the meantime, he bought himself a small DJ controller from his first salary as a student and he was finally able to do what he really loves: creating and mixing his own music.

Until suddenly a chance arose in the nightclub he worked at. A DJ fell ill and the organization wanted him to play instead. He grabbed the chance so he could prove himself to Skyclub.

He played so well for the first time that the nightclub immediately included him in their permanent DJ team.

That's how his name was suddenly launched. Other clubs and parties started to book him and everyone saw how excited he was to play in front of an audience.

But Joran wanted more, due to the influence of Jerry-Lee Lewis music, he brought a mix of old-school classics and contemporary hits in different genres.

His sound was enormously unique but remained commercially enough across all genres so that he caught the attention of the entire audience.

This led him to the idea for his own concept, Adieu, where he could do his own thing and experiment with the many musical ideas he has.

The bookings started to come in from clubs all over Antwerp city like: Ampère, IKON, The Villa,...

His first song, that will be released soon, resembles his style. A breakthrough nationally may be close by.