Martijn was inspired to create music from a very early age. Born on 14th May 1996 in the outskirts of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, it wasn’t long before he started guitar lessons. However, his first major inspiration came aged just eight when he watched the opening ceremony of 2004 Olympic Games on television. This event featured a set by DJ Tiësto, an experience which transformed the way Martijn thought about music. Then, he downloaded the FL Studio mixing software to which he has remained faithful ever since.

Given his artistic nature, Martijn was drawn to study fine art, but he always returned to music, which he knew was more than a hobby to him. Aged just 14 he enrolled with the Herman Brood Academie music production school to work on his artistic and technical ability, and to make personal contacts. He became a “ghost producer” creating work for other artists while remaining anonymous. Then his first big break came in 2012 when he was signed by Spinnin’ Records. Martijn became Martin Garrix.

“I sent tracks to dozens of labels, most of which never replied. So if I have a piece of advice for new artists it is that they should go all-out and that one day they will be noticed” said Martin a few years later.

Crawling through his music library on his PC, Martin Garrix came across a song he thought had great potential for a remix. He got to work on the track that was to become “Animals”, and the label loved the result. Spinnin’ Records wanted to build a bottom-up buzz, so sent Animals to selected clubs without revealing the name of the producer. It worked, and on 16th June 2013 the track was released and became an instant international hit. Even generalist radio stations played it, when normally they avoid electronic dance music without lyrics.

After a mad summer of 2013, Martin Garrix signed a contract with Scooter Braun (the manager of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande) to promote him outside Europe. Martin was named in DJ Magazine’s Top 100 in 2014, and played several big festivals including the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Lollapallooza in Chicago and the Amsterdam Music Festival.

Another massive year for Martin Garrix’s career followed in 2015, with him releasing several of his own tunes as well as working on high-profile collaborations such as “Don’t Look Down” with Usher and “Rewind Repeat It” with Ed Sheeran. As his artistic output flourished, business concerns emerged. There were disputes with Spinnin’ Records over intellectual property rights, and then with his European manager Eelko van Kooten over claims of conflicts of interest. This led Martin to announce on 26th August his plans to leave the label and his manager. He successfully took van Kooten to court in 2017, while he reached an out-of-court deal in December 2015 with the record company. The year ended on a positive note, when he released his latest track “Bouncybob” as a free download and announced plans to found his own label.

STMPD RCRDS was launched by Martin Garrix on 4th March 2016.

Asked about his label’s unique name (STMPD RCRDS), Martin said there was a link to his father’s business, a sales platform for stamp collectors: “Stamped Records” written without vowels. STMPD’s first single “Now That I’ve Found You” was released a week later, with the official launch event on 18th March.

Now in complete control of his career, Martin signed a global distribution contract with Sony Music in July. He introduced his new song “In The Name Of Love” with Bebe Rexha a month later on the iconic US talk show The Tonight Show. The year ended with a bang when Martin was named number one in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs list, a title he has held ever since. Then there were the “Best Electronic Act” and “Best World Stage Performance” prizes at the MTV European Music Awards.

Early 2017 saw his collaboration with Dua Lipa “Scared To Be Lonely” become a major hit, featuring a second performance on The Tonight Show. For the second consecutive year he was in residence on Thursdays in Ibiza, as well as headlining many of the world’s biggest festivals. He also appeared at Omnia in Ceasars Palace, Las Vegas, and became a brand ambassador for Armani Exchange.

Martin’s career went full circle on 25th February 2018 when he performed at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Just 14 years after he saw DJ Tiësto at the same event, he had become the world’s most popular DJ producer, with 16 million followers on Instagram, 15 million on Facebook and 8 million on Twitter. He reached this point selling his music in digital formats for download or streaming, with virtually no CD or vinyl releases.

Looking forwards, Martin Garrix will continue producing, and thanks to STMPD he is open to working in any musical genre. He has already followed many different paths, such as with radio hits “In The Name Of Love” with Bebe Rexha, “Scared To Be Lonely” with Dua Lipa and “Dreamers” with Mike Yung. There are also more electronic sounding tracks including “Spotless”, “Pizza”, “Game Over” and “Yottabyte”. For his “ANIMA” show in Amsterdam in October 2018 he branched into more symphonic moments, and in the future you can easily imagine Martin Garrix on stage surrounded by cellos, saxophones, and electronic guitars.

One year later, in October 2019, Martin Garrix announced his biggest ever project: he would be the UEFA Euro 2020 official music artist. Because of the Covid-19 epidemic, the project was delayed and finally released, featuring U2’s Bono and The Edge, on May 14th 2021.

From then on, Martin continued to shape his sound and career with the same drive. In 2022, he released his long-awaited debut album Sentio, filled with high-energy collaborations alongside artists such as Zedd, DubVision and Julian Jordan. The record was praised for blending his festival power with refined studio production. In parallel, he strengthened his Ibiza residency at Ushuaïa and toured worldwide again as stages reopened.

In 2023, he unveiled the project IDEM together with long-time friends and collaborators, adding a darker and more club-oriented touch to his music. He also multiplied collaborations, expanding his range while keeping his signature melodic sound.

By 2025, Martin Garrix remains one of the most influential names in dance music. He has kept a relentless schedule, headlining the biggest festivals in the world while also delivering solo shows and maintaining his long-running residencies at Ushuaïa Ibiza and Omnia Las Vegas. His latest EP, Origo, has become a major success, underlining both his melodic roots and his forward-looking vision. With talk of a future “pop” album and collaborations with some of the industry’s biggest names on the horizon, fans can expect even greater things from Martin Garrix in the years to come.

From his early inspiration as a child to his rise as a global headliner, Martijn has turned a dream into a career that continues to inspire millions of fans around the world.