Alan Walker facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alan Walker
Walker in 2016
Background information
Birth name	Alan Olav Walker
Also known as	DJ Walkzz
Born	(1997-08-24) 24 August 1997 (age 26) Northampton, England
Origin	Bergen, Norway
Genres	Trap electropop electro house future house future bass big room house
Occupation(s)	DJ music producer YouTuber
Years active	2012–present
Labels	MER Sony RCA NCS Ultra Corite
YouTube information
Years active	2012–present

Alan Olav Walker (born 24 August 1997) is a Norwegian DJ and music producer. He is best known for his single "Faded" (2015), which was certified platinum in 14 countries. Three of his songs—"Faded", "Alone" (2016) and "The Spectre" (2017)—have garnered over a billion views on YouTube.

As of July 2023, Walker's channel is the most subscribed channel in Norway. It had 44.6 million subscribers on 19 November 2023. He also has the most views of any Norwegian creator, with approximately 13.2 billion views as of 1 October 2023.

Early life

Alan Olav Walker was born on 24 August 1997 in Northampton, England. His father, Philip Alan Walker, is British and his mother, Hilde Omdal Walker, is Norwegian. He grew up with two siblings and at the age of two, he and his family moved to Bergen. Walker had no musical background but was able to teach himself by watching YouTube tutorials based on musical production.

Career

Walkers at the Starburn Festival, Norway, 2016

In 2012, Walker started producing his music on his laptop using FL Studio. He then started posting his music to YouTube and SoundCloud. He released his debut house single, "Dennis 2014", in 2014. His next release "Fade" (2014) was the quickest to reach 1 million views on NoCopyrightSounds.

Walker playing DJ Set

Walker signed with MER Musikk under Sony Music Sweden and released his next single, "Faded", a remastered vocal version of "Fade". It was released on 8 December 2015 and featured uncredited Naustdal pop singer, Iselin Solheim. The single topped the year-end charts in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, iTunes charts in 33 countries, as well as entering top 10 in Spotify Global Chart. The music video on YouTube has over 3.4 billion views and 26 million likes, placing it among the most-liked videos on the platform. It has over 1.7 billion plays on Spotify, and is also one of the Top 10 Most Shazamed tracks of 2016. The single also received official remixes from Tiësto, Dash Berlin, and Hardwell.

His other hits include "Force" (2015), "Sing Me to Sleep" (2016), "All Falls Down" featuring Noah Cyrus and Digital Farm Animals (2017), "Darkside" (2018), "Diamond Heart" (2018), "On My Way" featuring Sabrina Carpenter and Farruko (2019), and "Alone, Pt. II" featuring Ava Max (2019), all of which attracted hundreds of millions of views on YouTube.

When it comes to making music what I feel is the most important thing is to basically have a musical freedom, and that I can make whatever I want to.

—Alan Walker

At the beginning of 2017, Walker's YouTube channel became the most subscribed channel registered in Norway, after passing about 4.5 million subscribers, and had the most views among Norwegian YouTubers at around 7.7 billion views as of 25 January 2020. Between February and April, he toured around America including attending the Euphoria Festival in Texas.

Walker at Wind Music Awards

On 26 November 2021, Walker released his second studio album titled World of Walker. The album had 15 songs and was his first album in three years. It reached number 6 on the Norwegian Albums Chart and number 24 on the Finnish Albums Chart.

On 13 November 2021, his contract with NoCopyrightSounds expired and his releases on the label (Fade, Spectre, Force) were removed from the NoCopyrightSounds catalog and from streaming platforms.

In 2022, Walker released Walkerverse, a project that was issued as two EPs, later re-released as his third studio album. The two EPs contain nine songs, including "Somebody Like U", "Hello World", and the single "Lovesick." The Walkerverse Tour 2022 was then held starting in September 2022. The tour, which visited large-scale venues such as Washington, D.C.'s Echostage, Chicago's Radius, and San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, began in the UK in September and continued for 29 shows until December in San Francisco, California.

In 2022, Walker signed with the Swedish crowdfunding website Corite, which allows fans to invest in a music project. Walker raised over $100,000 from fans for his next musical projects, the first being a compilation EP called Origins, while the second was a collaboration with his online community of fans known as The Walkers, called "Unity".

On 7 April 2023, Walker re-signed with NCS and "Dreamer" was released. This was Walker's first NCS release in eight years and also his first release since his original contract expired and his previous releases were deleted. The song reached 1 million views within 13 days of its release.

Artistic image

Walker uses a hoodie and face mask when he performs on stage. When asked why he uses a mask during an interview with Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, he stated that "It is to keep a low profile while maintaining the mental image they have given me. I think it's pretty cool. A little twist that makes people ask themselves questions about who really is the person behind Alan Walker." On an episode of his Unmasked series, he stated that "The mask is more of a sign and a symbol of unity and being alike each other, rather than me being different."

Music style

Walker's music has been described as slightly slower-tempo progressive house, 1990s trance music, or dubstep with a smoother rhythmic edge.

Personal life

Walker keeps his personal life private. He is not married.

Interesting facts about Alan Walker

• Walker has British and Norwegian citizenship.
• He cited EDM producers K-391 and Ahrix, and film composers like Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky as inspiration to pursue a career in music.
• Walker quit high school in January to dedicate himself entirely to music.
• He was known as "DJ Walkzz" or "Walkzz" when he started out. He began using his real name only after signing up with a record label.
• Walker designed his logo in 2013, a symbol consisting of intertwined letters "A" and "W" which are the initials of his name.
• The music video for his single "Alone" has over 1.2 billion views on YouTube.
• Walker's track "On My Way" served as the soundtrack of the sixth season of the US-based battle royale mobile game PUBG Mobile.
• In 2019, Walker's music video "Diamond Heart" was nominated for Best Cinematography at the Berlin Music Video Awards.

Discography

• Different World (2018)
• World of Walker (2021)
• Walkerverse Pt. I & II (2022)
• Walkerworld (2023)

Tours

Headlining

• Walker Tour (2016–2018)
• The World of Walker Tour (2018)
• Different World Tour (2018–2019)
• Aviation Tour (2019)
• Walkerverse: The Tour (2022–2023)

Supporting

• Rihanna – Anti World Tour (2016)
• Justin Bieber – Purpose World Tour (2017)
• Martin Garrix – Thursdays at Ushuaïa

Awards

Images for kids

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  Walker at the 2018 Different World Tour

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  Walker at Houston Live in 2021

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  Walker in 2022

See also

In Spanish: Alan Walker para niños