Roger Shah


Roger Shah, also known as DJ Shah and Sunlounger, is a German electronic music composer and producer.

Biography

History

Roger Shah was born in Esslingen, West Germany, to a German mother and a Pakistani father. His brother Pedro del Mar, also a trance DJ, hosts a bi-weekly vocal trance show called Mellomania. Roger first began to hit his production stride in his native country in 1999, putting out the tracks "Claps", "The Mission", and "Tides of Time". In 2003, Virgin Records imprint Nebula signed his "High" release. This marked his first non-domestic release, and over the next five years, he produced a range of trance labels such as Black Hole Recordings, Anjunadeep and Vandit.
Roger Shah was featured in DJ Mag Top 100 list five times. As a producer, he has worked with and produced for artists such as Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Sarah McLachlan, Kosheen, Bryan Adams and Moya Brennan.

The Armin Connection

In 2007, Armin van Buuren named Shah's "Who Will Find Me" release his favourite track of 2007. Having heard the demo of its follow-up, van Buuren saw crossover potential in the track and made contact in early 2008 to ask if Shah would like to collaborate. The result was the Chris Jones song "Going Wrong", which reached number 5 in The Netherlands. The track went on to become one of the biggest-selling trance singles of the year. From there, Magic Island Records – Shah's primary label - moved from his stable to that of one of Armin's Armada Music.

Solo albums

Songbook was released by DJ Shah in 2008. Singles taken from it like "Don't Wake Me Up", "Going Wrong" and "Who Will Find Me". In 2011, this was followed up by another solo album, Openminded, released under the name Roger Shah. Again, this featured two CDs, one with club and the other with album mixes.

Live and DJ performances

In late 2008, Shah decided to change his artist name. Dropping the 'DJ' prefix, he revised it to Roger Shah – which signalled a move away from straightforward DJ sets. Roger Shah frequently uses a wireless keyboard interface such as the M-Audio Oxygen 25 during live performance. Roger Shah has mentioned numerous times that he will perform with his laptop instead of CDs.

Pseudonyms and side projects

In addition to his name, Roger has also produced under various other aliases. Notable among them are DJ Shah, High Noon at Salinas, Magic Island, Savannah and Sunlounger. Shah is also one half of the Anjunabeats act Purple Moods and in many more groups such as Global Experience and Black Pearl.

Sunlounger

This project included the release of the Sunlounger - [Another Day on The Terrace (Album)|Another Day on the Terrace] album in 2007, which reached No.1 on Dutch iTunes' 'all-music-genres' chart and spawned four singles: "In & Out", "Aguas Blancas", "Crawling", and "White Sand". The project became so celebrated that Roger expanded Sunlounger into a live act - a performance that was featured on Armada's ArminOnly DVD. He credited this experience with his latter wholesale move into live Roger Shah performances. In 2009, Roger released the Sunlounger follow-up LP Sunny Tales (Album)|Sunny Tales]. Its progeny singles included "Catwalk", "Mediterranean Flower", "Change Your Mind", and the much-revered "Lost" - voted as Tune of the Year for 2008. A State of Trance radio show was hosted by Armin van Buuren and numerous #1 airplay positions across the globe. His third album, The Beach Side of Life, was released in 2010.

''Magic Island: Music for Balearic People – The Compilations''

Shah's compilation series has seen eleven outings.

Remixes

Shah has reworked tracks for vocalists like Sarah McLachlan and Nadia Ali. He has also remixed tunes for Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Mark Norman, York, Cosmic Gate, Josh Gabriel, Johan Gielen, System F, The Thrillseekers, Solarstone, Three Drives, Matt Darey and OceanLab.

Discography

DJ Shah

Albums

  • DJ Shah
  • ''Songbook''

    Singles

  • "Claps"
  • "Commandments"
  • "Riddim"
  • "Tides of Time"
  • "High"
  • "Sunday Morning"
  • "Sunset Road"
  • "Beautiful"
  • "Palmarosa"
  • "Who Will Find Me"
  • "Going Wrong"
  • "Don't Wake Me Up"
  • "Back to You"

    Roger Shah

Albums

  • Openminded!?
  • Music for Meditation Yoga & Any Other Wellbeing Moments
  • No Boundaries
  • Guardian of Dreams
  • Roger Shah pres. Jukebox 80s / Nightride
  • Dinner For Two
  • ''Roger Shah & Ambedo / Tribute To Earth''

    Singles

  • "You're So Cool"
  • "To the Sky"
  • "I'm Not God"
  • "Healesville Sanctuary"
  • "Hold On"
  • "Catch a Cloud"
  • "Ancient World"
  • "Over & Over 2010 / Guaba Beach"
  • "Morning Star"
  • "Hide U
  • "Shine"
  • "Perfect Love"
  • "Dance With Me"
  • "One Love"
  • "Island"
  • "Higher than the Sun"
  • "One Life"
  • "No Brainer"
  • "Hope"
  • "Without You"
  • "The Namib"
  • "Eye 2 Eye "
  • "Louder"
  • "Never Forget"
  • "Love Heals You"
  • "Reasons to Live"
  • "Unbreakable"
  • "Fire"
  • "Castles in the Sky"
  • "Eternal Time"
  • "Call Me Home"
  • "Skyarium"
  • "Star-crossed"
  • "For the One You Love"
  • "Hold Your Head Up High"
  • "A Different Part of Me"
  • "Ocean Flame"
  • "Without You"
  • "Essence of Life"
  • "When You're Here"
  • "Triumvirate"
  • "Beautiful Lie"
  • "Natural Order"
  • "Save the World"
  • "Controverse"
  • "Patong Beach"
  • "Epoch"
  • "Malam"
  • "Take Me Back"
  • "Firebird"
  • "Daytona"
  • "New Horizon"

    Compilations

  • Magic Island: Music For Balearic People
  • Magic Island: Music For Balearic People Vol. 2
  • Magic Island: Music For Balearic People Vol. 3
  • Magic Island: Music For Balearic People Vol. 4
  • Magic Island: Music For Balearic People Vol. 5
  • Magic Island: Music For Balearic People Vol. 6
  • Magic Island: Music For Balearic People Vol. 7
  • Magic Island: Music For Balearic People Vol. 8
  • Magic Island: Music For Balearic People Vol. 9
  • Magic Island: Music For Balearic People Vol. 10
  • Magic Island: Music For Balearic People Vol. 11
  • ''Magic Island: Music For Balearic People Vol. 12''

    Sunlounger

Albums

  • Another Day on the Terrace
  • Sunny Tales
  • The Beach Side of Life
  • Balearic Beauty
  • Sunsets & Bonfires
  • After The Afters
  • ''Distant Memories''

    Singles

  • "White Sand"
  • "Aguas Blancas"
  • "In & Out"
  • "Crawling"
  • "Catwalk / Mediterranean Flower"
  • "Lost"
  • "Change Your Mind"
  • "Found"
  • "Breaking Waves"
  • "Beautiful Night"
  • "Try To Be Love"
  • "Finca"
  • "I'll Be Fine"
  • "Surrender"
  • "Glitter and Gold"
  • "Sunkissed"
  • "Come As You Are"
  • "Dancing With a Ghost "
  • "I Can Feel"
  • "One More Day"
  • "Hello Sunrise"
  • "Ok"
  • "On the Other Side "
  • "Halong Bay "

    Compilations

  • Sunlounger – The Downtempo Edition
  • ''Armada Collected: Sunlounger''

    Savannah

Singles

  • "Savannah La Mar"
  • "Body Lotion"
  • "Darling Harbour"

    Global Experience

Global Experience

High Noon at Salinas

Albums

  • ''Beach Grooves, Vol. 1''