BIOGRAPHY

Major Lazer (Origin Miami, Florida, U.S 2008) is a renowned American music trio that comprises singers, songwriters, composers, record producers, and DJs. A DJ trio from the United States called Major Lazer consists of Diplo, a record producer, Walshy Fire, and Ape Drums, both DJs. Diplo and Switch founded it in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2008. Switch left the company in 2011 after three years. Then Walshy Fire and Jillionaire took his place. Jillionaire quit the group in June 2019, and Ape Drums took his place. The group music consists of various genres, including dancehall, soca, house, reggaeton, and moombahton with reggae. identity private.

EARLY LIFE

Major Lazer was founded on November 20, 2008, in Kingston, Jamaica, by Diplo and Switch. Its nationality is Jamaican-American. Diplo, one of the group members, was born on 10 November 1978 in Tupelo, Mississippi, the United States, to Barbara Jean Cox (mother) and Thomas Pentz (father). He is a record producer, songwriter, DJ, and musician. Walshy Fire is a celebrated Jamaican disc jockey born on 25 November 1982 in Orlando, Florida, United States. On the other hand, Ape Drums is a gifted American DJ born on the 28th of June 1990 in Houston, Texas, United States.  Their former member, Switch, is a versatile English DJ, songwriter, sound engineer, and record producer who was born in London, United Kingdom. The group also added renowned Trinidadian DJ and music producer, Jillionaire, who was born on 3 April 1978, in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Tobago.

CAREER

Major Lazer began as the white duo of Los Angeles producer Thomas “Diplo” Pentz and English-born producer David “Switch” Taylor. Diplo was originally a Philadelphia DJ known for his mixtape Never Scared (2003) and the album Florida (2004), but would soon become a famous producer working with pop stars such as Britney Spears and Beyonce. Switch had produced Maya M.I.A. Arulpragasam’s Arular (2005). They decided to travel to Jamaica and make an album of reggae/dancehall music with local collaborators. The result was Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do (2009), featuring several guest vocalists and rappers (Mr. Evil, Vybz Cartel, T.O.K., Busy Signal, Mr. Vegas, Turbulence, Santigold, Nina Sky, Amanda Blank), a parade of charming and sometimes nostalgic revisitation of the genre for the digital dancefloor (Hold The Line Can’t Stop Now, What You Like, Cash Flow, Anything Goes, Mary Jane).

After the EP Lazers Never Die (2010), Switch left in 2011, replaced by Trinidad’s DJ Christopher “Jillionaire” Leacock and Florida’s rapper Walshy Fire (Leighton Walsh) for the second album Free the Universe (2013) and for the third album Peace Is the Mission (2015), that contains the hit of future bass Lean On, a collaboration with French DJ William “DJ Snake” Grigahcine, and Danish singer Karen “MO” Andersen. In 2019 Jillionaire left too and was replaced by Texan DJ Ape Drums (Eric Alberto-Lopez). Diplo is also a member of the duo Jack U with Skrillex that released Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack U (2015), of the duo Silk City with fellow white producer Mark Ronson that released the hit single Electricity (2018), and of the trio LSD with Australian singer Sia Furler and English singer Timothy “Labrinth” McKenzie that released Labrinth, Sia & Diplo Present LSD (2019).