Tyson Illingworth

Tyson Illingworth, better known as TyDi, is a 34-year-old Australian songwriter, record producer, and DJ specializing in electronic dance music. He got this nickname while still in high school and it stuck with him in his career. One competition misprinted his nickname “Tydi” as “tyDi,” but since he won the competition he thought the name must be lucky so he changed it.

 

 

TyDi has always been interested in music and began participating in competitions since he was 16. His parents however wanted him to play an instrument and bought a drum set. He ended up selling it and buying turntables and DJ equipment. For a while, he used to sneak out of the house, and DJ without his parents knowing. But when he started gaining popularity his parents accepted his career choice and supported him, but still wanted him to have a degree.

 

He studied at the Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Technology, for which he is really grateful. He likes to produce everything himself and going to university helped him learn how to make a song from beginning to end. He always looked up to Markus Schulz, and now he is at a point where he writes tracks for him and does remixes for Markus’s labels.

 

It was tyDi’s second album “Shooting Star”, which was released in 2011, that launched him to the global stage, reaching number 1 in the UK, Finland, and number 4 in the US. In 2008 and 2009, at 17 tyDi was ranked at number 1 of Junkee’s Australian Top 50 DJs, being the youngest winner of this award. He says he loves making music and will want to continue doing it even when he is 70 years old and on a walking stick.