Skrillex

Sonny John Moore, the artist who helped revolutionize electronic music in the 2010s and went on to become one of the world's most influential producers in the following decade, was born in Los Angeles on January 15, 1988. At age 16 he discovers he was adopted, a trauma that pushes him to take refuge entirely in music and underground culture. In 2004 he becomes the frontman of post-hardcore band From First to Last, with whom he records two albums that find a certain following in the emo and alternative circuit ("Dear Diary, My Teenage Angst Has a Body Count" and "Heroine"). Due to serious vocal cord problems requiring several surgical procedures, Moore is however soon forced to abandon the project and completely redefine his career.

The choice is to move toward electronic music production under the alias Skrillex, and the project takes concrete shape in 2010 with the release of two EPs, initially distributed as free downloads, "My Name Is Skrillex" and "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites". Skrillex takes dubstep (until then dark, hypnotic and underground) and hybridizes it with the aggression of metal, pop melodies, and French electro house in the vein of Justice / Daft Punk. The result is the so-called "Brostep", a genre defined by distorted basslines, frenzied vocal chops and devastating drops. Tracks like "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" and "First of the Year (Equinox)" go viral, turning him into a mass phenomenon and allowing him to win his first three Grammy Awards, in 2012.

In 2011 Moore founds the record label OWSLA, which becomes an incubator for emerging talent (including Porter Robinson, Zedd and Marshmello); in 2014 he releases his first proper studio album, "Recess", which debuts at number four on the Billboard 200. During this period Skrillex proves he's not just a passing fad but a chameleonic producer: he joins forces with Diplo in the Jack Ü project (2013-2016), and their self-titled album contains the global hit "Where Are Ü Now" (featuring Justin Bieber!), a track that redefines the sound of radio pop in those years and earns Skrillex two more Grammys.

After years of grueling touring, between 2017 and 2022, also due to the pandemic period, Moore drastically scales back live appearances. He works behind the scenes as an elite producer for heavyweights of the global music scene such as Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, Travis Scott and FKA Twigs, and briefly reunites with From First to Last. It's a period of transition and artistic maturation, far from the spotlight of commercial EDM.

It's 2023 that marks the "renaissance", with the release of two quite different albums within just a few days of each other: "Quest for Fire", an eclectic and mature compendium of club music ranging from UK garage to techno, hailed as one of the best electronic albums of the decade, and "Don't Get Too Close", a more intimate project geared toward experimental pop, hip-hop and emo-rap. Shortly after, together with producers Fred Again.. and Four Tet, he forms an impromptu trio capable of selling out Madison Square Garden in a matter of hours and closing out the Coachella Festival 2023, cementing his status as a living legend of contemporary electronic music.

In 2025 he consolidates his position with "Fuck U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol but Ur Not!!". Now a headliner at many of the world's most important music festivals, in June 2026, just days after performing at Primavera Sound in Barcelona in front of an adoring crowd of over sixty thousand people, he releases "Soma", in which he displays unprecedented eclecticism, letting Latin rhythms seep strongly into his sound design.

With a total of nine Grammy Awards won, Skrillex holds the record for the most statuettes won by an electronic music artist. This is thanks to his ability to reinvent himself: from "public enemy" of techno purists to pop genius, all the way to becoming the respected godfather of the new global clubbing scene, helping bring the underground into the mainstream, breaking down barriers between genres, and proving that a kid with a laptop (he initially produced with a MacBook and a pair of broken headphones) could compete with the biggest recording studios. If this isn't punk…