Everything you need to know about Calvin Harris

It's been a while since we've had new music from Calvin Harris, but the Scottish DJ has now dropped his song with Dua Lipa called 'Poison' on Friday 27th May. There have also been rumours that he might have collaborated with Little Mix's Jade Thirlwall and David Guetta, on his new album, however these have not been confirmed yet.

In 2021, Calvin teamed up with Tom Grennan, and their song 'By Your Side' was listed as one of the most played songs of the year.

In 2020, Calvin released a huge collaboration with The Weeknd called 'Over Now'. The video to the chilled-out song features a CG version of The Weeknd dressed like a disco ball in various locations including a CG cityscape, a forest and even in space!

Also in 2020, Calvin Harris was nominated for a BRIT Award, and it was announced he'll be headlining Creamfields Festival, which was unfortunately cancelled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Despite being super successful now, it wasn't always that way for the Scottish DJ, who started his music career by creating and recording music in his bedroom as a teenager. It wasn't until his debut album 'I Created Disco', which was released in 2007, that he began to enjoy real success.

After Calvin Harris' second album 'Ready For The Weekend' debuted at Number 1 in 2009, he started to become a real music contender, and by the time he released his third album '18 Months' in 2012, he'd established himself as one of the biggest names in electronic music.

Read on to find out more about Calvin Harris and how he became famous...

Who is Calvin Harris?

Calvin Harris is a Scottish DJ who rose to fame after posting his songs on MySpace. He signed a record deal in 2006 and has since topped the charts several times with his incredible hits. Some of his biggest songs include 'We Found Love' withRihanna, 'Sweet Nothing' with Florence Welch, 'Blame' with John Newman and 'One Kiss' with Dua Lipa.

What is Calvin Harris' real name?

Calvin Harris wasn’t born Calvin Harris. That’s right - the mastermind DJ was born with the real name of Adam Richard Wiles. Despite releasing his music under his stage name, you will find that Calvin Harris' real name is used in writing credits for his music.

Fans first realised Calvin Harris wasn’t the DJ’s real name when he was dating Taylor Swift back in 2016. When giving a speech at an award ceremony, Taylor thanked her ‘boyfriend Adam’, prompting lots of confused faces and Google searches for ‘Calvin Harris real name’!

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Is Calvin Harris on tour?

Calvin Harris is not currently on tour, however he has announced two gigs for the summer. One gig will be at Belsonic in Northern Ireland, and the other is in Scotland. On 2nd July 2022, Calvin Harris will be taking to the stage at Hampden Park Stadium. Tickets are on sale now{{ticketWords}}.

Who is Aarika Wolf?

Calvin Harris attended the BRIT Awards 2019 with Aarika Wolf. Aarika and Calvin started dating in 2018, although they also dated previously for a few months in both 2015 and 2017.

The pair have been linked as far back as 2014, when Aarika starred in the DJ's music video for his hit 'Blame' featuring John Newman. 'Blame' was Calvin's seventh UK Number 1 single, debuting at Number 1.

As well as appearing in Calvin' Harris' music video, Aarika Wolf is also a model. She was born in North Dakota, USA.

Back in 2018, Calvin and Aarika were involved in a serious car crash in California. According to American showbiz site TMZ, Aarika was driving a white Range Rover, when she reportedly hit another vehicle which was occupied by two girls. Pictures which were obtained by the publication show serious damage to the vehicle Aarika hit, with the airbags also being activated.

Calvin Harris later addressed the incident on social media tweeting, 'I promised myself I'd never do anything worthy of appearing in TMZ ever again but sadly this was out of my control thankfully everyone is ok'. (sic)

It's understood that Calvin and Aarika split in early 2022, although this has not been confirmed.

When is Calvin Harris' birthday?

Calvin Harris was born on 17th January 1984, and he has most definitely improved with age. The hunk is aged 38-years-old (at the time of writing) and looks like a totally different person to when he first emerged on the music scene aged 23.

Where is Calvin Harris from?

The superstar DJ grew up in Dumfries, Scotland with his family - Calvin Harris has two older siblings, he has an older brother called Edward, and an older sister called Sophie. He later moved to London to try and make in the music business. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for him that time and he returned to his hometown, which was when he made his first record signing.

How tall is Calvin Harris?

Calvin Harris is very tall at 6ft 5 3/4 in. His shoe size is large too - a UK size 12.5!

What job did Calvin Harris have before music?

Before Calvin Harris was famous, he used to work in a supermarket stacking shelves, purely so that he could get enough money to buy music production equipment. He also once had a job in a fish factory. He also had ambitions to become a professional footballer.

Calvin Harris' modelling career

Calvin Harris must be feeling good about himself as well - in 2015, he turned his talents to modelling as the star of Emporio Armani’s underwear campaign, joining the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Radael Nada who have modelled for the brand and Justin Bieber who’s stripped down for Calvin Klein. In the black and white shots Calvin Harris is positively oozing with confidence as he shows off his toned bod. Must be all those Summers in Ibiza!

WATCH: The jobs your favourite celebrities did before they were famous

When did Calvin Harris start making music?

Calvin Harris started making music when he was just 13 or 14-years-old, but he burst onto the music scene in 2007 with his debut album, 'I Created Disco', which he worked on after moving back home to Dumfries from London. His first album was all made using an Amiga 500+ - if you don't know what one of those is, here's what it looks like!

How did Calvin Harris become famous?

Among many other things, Calvin Harris was eventually discovered through now-defunct social media site MySpace. Calvin Harris recorded his debut album ‘I Created Disco’ in his bedroom, after uploading a number of the tracks to MySpace.

He was scouted by a record company and signed before officially releasing the album which included hits ‘Acceptable in the 80s’ and ‘The Girls’ in 2007. His second album, 2009’s ‘Ready For The Weekend’, charted at Number 1 in the UK Charts and spawned hits ‘You Used To Hold Me’ and ‘I’m Not Alone’.

2012 release ’18 Months’ saw Calvin Harris' star status continue to rise as he recruited an impressive list of guest vocalists such as the MASSIVE ‘I Need Your Love’ with Ellie Goulding, ‘We Found Love’ with Rihanna, as well as Tinie Tempah and Dizzee Rascal also contributing.

The collabs kept coming on 2014’s ‘Motion’ and ‘Funk Wav Bounces Vol.1’ was the soundtrack to Summer 2017 with tracks including ‘Slide’ which Frank Ocean emerged from hibernation to feature on.

Does Calvin Harris sing?

Calvin Harris is now known for his superstar collaborations, however for those wondering ‘can Calvin Harris sing?’ The answer is a big fat yes! Calvin Harris provided the vocals for all the tracks on his debut album ‘I Created Disco’ which included ‘Acceptable in the 80s’ and 'The Girls’. He also sings on his 2009 songs ‘Ready For The Weekend’, ‘I’m Not Alone’ and ‘You Used To Hold Me’.

Calvin Harris’ third album ’18 months’ saw appearances from superstar vocalists such as Kelis on ‘Bounce’, Ne-Yo on ‘Let’s Go’ and Florence Welch on ‘Sweet Nothing’. However Calvin still voices one of the album’s stand out tracks ‘Feel So Close’. Calvin also provided the vocals on 2014’s Number 1 hit ‘Summer’ and 2016’s ‘My Way’.

WATCH: Calvin Harris - 'Summer' (Official Video)

Who has Calvin Harris worked with?

Calvin Harris has written, produced or mixed a number of songs for some high profile artists including, Kylie Minogue's 'In My Arms', Chris Brown's 'Yeah 3x' and infamously 'I Will Never Let You Down' which he wrote for his then girlfriend Rita Ora. And who can forget his EPIC collaboration with Dua Lipa on 'One Kiss', as well as The Weeknd with 'Over Now' - now take a look at songs Calvin Harris has written for other artists.

Scroll through to see Calvin Harris' collaborations:

Where does Calvin Harris get inspiration for his music?

The DJ says some of his biggest inspirations include the likes of FatBoy Slim, Outkast, the Chemical Brothers and even The Isley Brothers! However, back when he was a teenager he also saw Nirvana, known in the 90s for their hits such as 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and 'Heart-Shaped Box', as a huge influence.

Can Calvin Harris play any musical instruments?

Calvin Harris is a talented musician as shown in a video he uploaded in 2017 with the making of his song 'Slide', where he can be seen playing the piano. Unfortunately in preparation for the release of his collab with The Weeknd, he has deleted all of his previous tweets.

Is Calvin Harris teetotal?

According to Glamour magazine, Calvin Harris stopped drinking alcohol in 2008 and has been teetotal ever since.

In a Twitter Q&A in December 2018, he revealed to fans that although he'd once 'lived off' two bottles of Jack Daniels 'a night', he'd been sober since 2014.

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Did Calvin Harris' second album, 'Ready For The Weekend' get lost?

A number of sources state that while Calvin Harris was writing his second album 'Ready for the Weekend', his laptop - with some of the album - was 'lost' at Heathrow Airport. However, the DJ apparently said that to buy himself a bit of extra time! It was worth the wait though as the album went to Number 1 in the UK.

What is Calvin Harris' record label called?

Calvin Harris created his own record label in 2010 called Fly Eye Records. As you would expect, many acts signed to the label are Electronic Dance Music (EDM) acts. He has also released some of his own music through it including his collaboration with Kelis, 'Bounce'.

WATCH: Calvin Harris - 'Bounce' (Official Video) featuring Kelis

Which World Record does Calvin Harris hold?

Calvin Harris broke a record previously held by Michael Jackson for the most UK Top 10 hits from a studio album. His album '18 Months' had nine Top 10 hits including 'Sweet Nothing' with Florence Welch, 'We Found Love' with Rihanna and 'I Need Your Love' with Ellie Goulding. The record was broken once again in 2017 with the release of '÷' from Ed Sheeran.

What is Calvin Harris' net worth?

For three years in a row Calvin Harris topped Forbes' list of the world's highest-paid DJs in 2013, 2014 and 2015. All those MASSIVE chart hits have paid off for Calvin... literally. According to Forbes Calvin Harris earned a cool $38.5 million in 2019 making him one of the richest DJs around.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, by 2020 Calvin Harris' net worth was around $240 million.

What football team does Calvin Harris support?

Calvin supports his hometown football team Queen of the South Football Club, which is based in Dumfries.

Is Calvin Harris' song 'My Way' about Taylor Swift?

Despite rumours that his 2016 song 'My Way' was written about his ex Taylor Swift, Calvin Harris revealed in an interview it's actually about leaving his job at a supermarket before he made it famous.

Speaking to an American radio station he said, "It’s breaking out of a situation. I thought of the concept years ago, when I left Safeway. I was trying to move to London and I was working in the store in Scotland, I was trying to go on and make music for a living but I couldn’t because I didn’t have any money. I was like, damn this grocery store! If I could break out of this I could have enough time to work on music and get good."

Calvin Harris once said in an interview that he doesn't write songs about his experiences, "I'm not an autobiographical singer. I'm very vague with my messages," he explained.

WATCH: Calvin Harris - 'My Way' (Official Video)

Calvin Harris' collaboration with Sam Smith 'Promises'

Calvin Harris' collaboration with Sam Smith, 'Promises', was released in August 2018, with the music video, featuring both artists finally dropping a few weeks after the song was released. The song reached Number 1 in the UK.

In an interview, Sam Smith revealed how the new collaboration came about saying he, "Hit up Calvin on Instagram". Sam went on to say that they, "Had an amazing day together writing the song".

'Promises' was Calvin's follow-up to his collaboration with Dua Lipa, 'One Kiss', which was released back in April 2018.

Who is the girl in 'How Deep Is Your Love'?

Calvin Harris' collaboration with Dua Lipa, ‘One Kiss’, was the biggest selling single of 2018. So it’s no surprise at all the accompanying video for the track takes the title of the most played video of 2018. One of Calvin’s most iconic videos has to be for his 2015 hit with Disciples ‘How Deep Is Your Love'. The video has over 1.4 billion views on YouTube (and counting).

It features supermodel and Zayn Malik’s girlfriend, Gigi Hadid looking absolutely gorgeous as she awakes on a table before stumbling into a series of parties looking rather confused. Don’t sweat Gigi, your hair looks great. The singer's name is Ina Christine Wroldsen, who has also sang on 'Breathe' by Jax Jones and 'Places' by Martin Solveig.

WATCH: 'How Deep Is Your Love' - Calvin Harris and Disciples (Official Video)

Calvin Harris' biggest songs:

Calvin Harris: 'Giant'

Calvin Harris released his epic Rag’ n’ Bone man collaboration, ‘Giant’ in January 2019, on release it quickly shot into the Top 10. The DJ posted on his Instagram that the track was his 40th top 40 production. Writing ‘Giant is my 40th top 40 production! What a great birthday present. Thank you!!!’ Talk about dominating the game!

Calvin Harris: Songs with Rihanna

Calvin Harris has also worked with the ladies in his life. While dating Rita Ora back from 2013 to 2014 (remember that?!) he wrote and produced her single ‘Never Let You Down’. However things turned a bit nasty when the pair split with Harris not giving Rita legal permission to perform the track. The decision pulled the plug on Rita's Teen Choice Awards performance just days before she was set to take the stage. Eek!

And who can forget all that ‘This Is What You Came For’ drama. Following Calvin and Taylor's split and Taylor's very quick new romance with actor Tom Hiddleston, the pair were at war over who wrote Calvin’s hit ‘This Is What You Came For’, which features Rihanna on vocals. It finally emerged Taylor had co-written the track under the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg, but that’s not before a whole hell of mud was slug on Twitter.

While things ended BADLY with a capital B when Calvin broke up with Taylor and Rita, he’s still good friends with ex Ellie Goulding. The pair worked on ‘I Need Your Love’ and dated briefly in 2013, Ellie even takes credit for setting Calvin up with Taylor! Telling a newspaper in 2015, "I did play matchmaker that’s true. Calvin is a really great mate and he’s fantastic, and Taylor is such a cool person who I love."

Calvin Harris and Katy Perry: 'Feels'

So what do you do when things have ended very badly with an ex? Well, if you are Calvin Harris, team up with their arch nemesis on a track that will become the sound of the Summer. Calvin recruited Taylor’s enemy Katy Perry for his most recent album ‘Funk Wav Bounces Vol.1’.

Along with rapper Big Sean and Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry features on track ‘Feels’ which was released in June 207. The song quickly claimed the top spot and stayed put for a number of weeks. Take that Taylor!

What is Calvin Harris doing now?

Calvin Harris is releasing new music! The DJ has confirmed he has a new track dropped on Friday 27th May, which is understood to be on his upcoming album 'Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2'.

In June 2021, Calvin Harris also released track called 'By Your Side', featuring Tom Grennan.

The year before, Calvin teamed up with The Weeknd on the vibey track 'Over Now'. After the song was first teased by The Weeknd during a virtual concert, the track was eventually released in August of that year.

WATCH: 'Feels' by Calvin Harris (Official Video)

You can hear Calvin Harris' songs, including many of his collaborations on heat.

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