Eric Prydz, also known as Cirez D and Pryda is a disc jockey, music producer and recording artist. It’s very likely that his name is more popular than his face as he has a strange aversion to all forms of publicity coupled with the fact that he rarely appears in his own music videos.
This Swedish-born music star stepped into the international limelight when his platinum-certified hit single “Call on Me” was released in 2004. He dropped another international hit “Proper Education” in 2007 which gave him garnered a Grammy nomination followed by another chart-topper, ‘Pjanoo’ in 2008.
After a long wait, Prydz blessed his fans with the release of his debut studio album, Opus, in February 2016. This multi-talented music star has won several well-deserved accolades during his career, including the DJ award of the Year at the 2017 Electronic Music Awards.
Eric Prydz ( Cirez D ) Bio
Eric Sheridan Prydz was born on July 19, 1976. He was born in Täby Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. He started making music around the turn of the century, but remained under the radar until 2004 when he dropped the dance music track ‘Call on Me’, a sample of the 1982 song ‘Valerie’ by Steve Winwood.
“Call on Me” was a huge commercial success making its way onto the international music charts in both Europe and the United States. It was No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for 5 weeks and also topped the German Top 100 for 6 consecutive weeks. Strangely, Prydz distanced himself from the popularity of his single and is said to have stopped playing the song at his concerts.
In 2006, he began work on another single “Proper Education,” a remixed version of the 1979 song “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II” by Pink Floyd. ‘Proper Education’ met with huge commercial success after its international release on January 1, 2007. The song topped the Billboard Hot Play Club Play Chart as well as the UK Dance Albums Chart. It eventually received a nomination in the Best Remixed Recording category at the 50th Grammy Awards.
In August 2008 Prydz released another hit single “Pjanoo” which topped the UK Dance Chart for 10 consecutive weeks and also peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. However, he was unable to replicate that level of success with his subsequent song releases – ‘2Night’ (2011), ‘Niton (The Reason)’ (2011) and ‘Every Day’ (2012).
In May 2012, Eric Prydz released an 11-track compilation album, Eric Prydz Presents Pryda, a compilation of songs he had recorded between 2004 and 2008 under the moniker Pryda. He started working on his debut album in 2014, but meanwhile he released three EPs in 2015; Pryda 10 Vol I, Pryda 10 Vol II, and Pryda 10 Vol III
Prydz’s highly anticipated debut studio album Opus was released on February 5, 2016. The album consisted of 19 tracks including “Every Day”, “Liberate”, “Generate”, “Opus” and many more. The album went on to top the UK Dance Albums Chart as well as the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums Chart in the United States. He also charted on the US Billboard 200.
Among his recent efforts is the PE Elements which was released in May 2018.
Things to know about the Swedish DJ
1. In addition to releasing his own original songs, Eric Prydz has also recorded remixed versions of countless songs, including Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Calvin Harris’ “Flashback” in 2009. He has collaborated with the band British CHVRCHΞS on the single “Tether” released in 2015.
2. Eric Prydz was a member of the musical supergroup “Swedish House Mafia”, a group of Swedish DJs. Prydz and fellow band members – Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso performed together regularly in the mid 2000s and the name ‘Swedish House Mafia’ was first coined in March 2007.
3. When the group decided to officially adopt the name in November 2008, Prydz withdrew from the group. However, he collaborated with different band members on several projects.
4. Eric Prydz operates 3 record labels; Pryda, Mouseville Records and Pryda Friends. On Pryda he releases music under the name Pryda while on Mousvulle Records he releases his music under the alias ‘Cirez D’.
5. He was named DJ of the Year at the first Electronic Music Awards which took place in September 2017. The Swedish-born music star was also nominated for Live Act of the Year.
6. Prydz resides in Los Angeles, California. He is said to be afraid of flying and therefore most of his tours are by road transport.