Born Matthias Paul on the 16th of December in 1971, Paul van Dyk on the east side of the Berlin Wall.  Van Dyk is known to have said that his musical influence is the radio, listening to underground frequencies.  He also cited The Smiths and New Order as big inspirations, which he got to listen to through smuggled records.  A year after he moved back to Berlin from Hamburg, he had his first gig.  That was the beginning of his career’s constant progress.

He started spinning at Turbine Club with Kid Paul.  Their regular act was known as Paul vs Paul.  Van Dyk caught the attention of more established acts in the scene including Cosmic Baby and Mastermind For Success (MFS) Records.  Three years later, he released several EPs.  He became a mainstream name after he did remixes of songs by the likes of New Order under MFS.  He managed to win over the UK audience with Seven Ways.  He eventually became the lead dj at Gatecrasher in Sheffield.  In 1998, he founded his own independent record company aptly called Vandit.  It is home to big acts in his genre (please do not hate me, Paul, for saying ‘your genre’) such as BT, Jon O’Bir, Guissepi Ottaviani and of course, himself.  They also hold parties similar to his humble beginnings called Vandit Nights.  He is a strong anti-drug advocate, and came up with the famous ‘No E, Pure PvD” slogan.

His public convictions does not end there.  He is also anti-war and anti-poverty.  After a trip to Mumbai, he became active in several civic organisations including Amnesty International and UNICEF.  He also utilises his music to convey messages to his audience and to the world.