From circa 1986–1988, Van Helden was in a rap group, named Define because they considered themselves "de finest around" and accordingly "defined"
rap music. His name was DJ AVH, and fellow crew members were Sir Beat and Lopoka. They performed across Europe and helped hone his DJ skills. Van Helden returned to Boston in 1988, moonlighting as a DJ in Boston clubs. He attended college in Boston. He quit his legal-review job in 1991 to work as a
remixer under the management of Neil Petricone and X-Mix. He took up a DJ residency at the Loft, a top Boston nightclub at the time. He released his first official single, a mix of Deep Creed's "Stay On My Mind" through
Nervous Records. Van Helden released "Move It To the Left" (credited to Sultans of Swing) in 1992 on the
Strictly Rhythm label, which became a moderate club hit and led to a string of singles released under several monikers for that label. His first track to make the Billboard
Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart was "Witch Doktor", However, it led to work remixing
the Rolling Stones,
Janet Jackson,
Katy Perry,
Britney Spears,
Puff Daddy,
Daft Punk and
Sneaker Pimps, adding to his reputation as one of the world's top house-music musicians. In 1996, Van Helden collaborated with
Thomas Bangalter of
Daft Punk and
Junior Sanchez as Da Mongoloids, releasing "Spark da Meth" on the
Strictly Rhythm label. A year later Van Helden's track "Ten Minutes of Funk" was featured on the Daft Punk live album
Alive 1997. "Cha Cha" was another top-ten dance hit from Van Helden's first album,
Old School Junkies: The Album, which was released in 1996, along with "The Funk Phenomena". A
greatest hits album appeared the next year, followed by a
breakbeat album later in 1997. "You Don't Know Me" was a number two hit on the
Billboard dance chart, a number one hit in the United Kingdom, on the
ARIA Charts in Australia, and was a dance and club hit. Van Helden was the featured DJ in the Southern Fried tent at Get Loaded in the Park at
Clapham Common on the
August Bank Holiday in 2005. In 2006, Van Helden re-released "My My My" featuring the British singer
Tara McDonald, which reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK dance charts. Remixes included the
Funktuary radio edit and
Stonebridge remix. In 2007, Van Helden released his new album,
Ghettoblaster, from which he released the singles "
NYC Beat," which reached number 22 on the UK chart, and "
I Want Your Soul," which reached number 19. In 2008, Van Helden gained more commercial success by remixing "
INSPIRE", a No. 1 hit by the Japanese pop star
Ayumi Hamasaki. This remix was released on the album
Ayu-mi-x 6: Gold. Also in 2008, Van Helden released two albums, ''
You Don't Know Me: The Best of Armand Van Helden and a mix album titled New York: a Mix Odyssey 2''. When discussing this mix in a 2009 interview with 5mag.net, Armand said, "I just went back to hip-hop. I put my head where I used to be when I was 19. It was a blast making it. Hip-house was just so great." In May 2009, Van Helden collaborated with British rapper
Dizzee Rascal on his single "
Bonkers". It peaked at number one in the United Kingdom, where it stayed for two weeks and became Van Helden's third chart-topper in Britain. Later in 2009, Van Helden worked with
A-Trak to create "aNYway" which was released in October under the name
Duck Sauce. The duo later gained chart success with the song "
Barbra Streisand", which peaked at number three in the United Kingdom and within the top ten of the charts in other European markets. Van Helden teamed up with American DJ/producer
Steve Aoki in 2011 to produce the song "Brrrat!", which featured on
Godskitchen's album. In early 2011, Van Helden stated that he had planned an album for 2014. Van Helden teamed up with fellow DJ/producer A-Trak in 2011 to form
Duck Sauce. The duo scored hits with "Barbra Streisand" and "The Big Bad Wolf". In 2013,
Duck Sauce released the song "It's You", a hit on the dancefloor throughout the world, and has been nominated for the MTV Video Awards. In October of the same year, they presented two new songs, "Stereo Radio" with Duck Sauce and "I Know A Place" (featuring
Spank Rock). In 2014, Van Helden collaborated with Cheap Thrills label boss and DJ Hervé to release their recent song "Power of Bass"
Duck Sauce, released their debut album,
Quack, released on April 15 through
Fool's Gold Records. The album features the duo's long chain of singles. The new Duck Sauce video for "NRG" is filmed as an infomercial. In August 2014,
Sam Smith's "
I'm Not the Only One" featured a remix by Van Helden. In September 2014, Van Helden remixed for
Jungle 70 and
Majestic with Creeping In The Dark. In April 2015, London-based
Snakehips released
Forever Pt. II EP, which spurred a series of well-received remixes, including a Duck Sauce remix of their song "Forever". Van Helden returned in March 2020 with a new song, "Give Me Your Loving" with Lorne. == Personal life ==