Paul Oakenfold (born August 30, 1963 in Greenhithe, Kent, England)^[1] is a record producer and one of the best-known Trance DJs worldwide.

In 1984, Oakenfold spent several months in New York City, where he fell in love with the dance club music (see 1984 in music). At that time, more than any other, New York was bursting with musical invention: hip-hop was the freshest street sound around, and Larry Levan – arguably the first ever superstar DJ, inspiring a frenzy in the crowd that some guy playing records had never inspired before - was packing out the Paradise Garage every week with the revolutionary, hypnotic mixing style that would become the acid house DJ’s stock in trade. In 1985 young Paul spent the summer in Ibiza, Spain. Dancing in the warm night air beneath stars at the then open-air Amnesia (nightclub) to the oddest mix of music any of them had ever heard, courtesy of island legend Alfredo, Paul’s urge to import this incredible experience – and the Balearic sound – back to England became too great to resist. Oakenfold produced Happy Mondays' Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, followed by remixes for U2, Massive Attack, Arrested Development, The Cure, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Deacon Blue, Simply Red, New Order and The Shamen with production partner Steve Osborne under the collaborative name 'Perfecto'. Many of these remixes were released under his label Perfecto Records.

He first started playing in clubs as a teenager and soon built up a reputation as a top party DJ. His Acid House nights Phuture, Spectrum, (Theatre of Madness), at London's Heaven, and Manchester's Legends nightclubs, and Land of Oz, were among the events for which he first became widely known, among clubbers and ravers, in the late 1980s. However, it wasn't until the early 1990s when his name was associated with the DJ elite. The reason for this rise in public admiration was his adoption of a new breed of dance music called Goa, something he discovered on the beaches of Goa in India and fused with similar sounding European records to create his own distinct sound. He took this to the mainstream when in 1994 he created a two-hour set for BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix. This set became known as the Goa Mix which is still broadcasted on the BBC radio network. His album Perfecto Fluoro became an instant masterpiece in every major club and college campus in Boston, and the #1 essential dance collection of Boston Beat during 1996 with Jamiroquai's Travelling Without Moving.

In 1997, Oakenfold mixed one disc of the double album Fantazia House Collection 6, a UK House music compilation series that had been massively successful at the time. He brought his distinctive style to the mix.

After a short spell as a member of the band Grace, Oakenfold became Cream's resident DJ from 1997 - 1999. During this time, he began to concentrate on the release of Tranceport in 1998. Oakenfold followed Tranceport with arguably his most successful album Perfecto Presents Another World which introduced millions to his mixing skills. His popularity across the Atlantic is slowly growing thanks to his work on the soundtracks of films and games such as:

• Swordfish
• The Matrix Reloaded
• Collateral
• Herbie Rides Again
• Die Another Day (He remixed The James Bond Theme)
• GoldenEye: Rogue Agent
• Appleseed
• Konami's Dance Dance Revolution (For Xbox versions only)

In 2001, Paul took part in the first Area Festival tour. This tour featured Incubus, Carl Cox, Orb, OutKast, and The Roots.

In 2002, Q magazine named Oakenfold in their list of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". In the same year, Oakenfold released his first solo album, called Bunkka featuring artists like Nelly Furtado, Tricky ("The Harder They Come"), the world-renowned Pakistani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ("Zoo York"), Ice Cube ("Get Em Up"), and Shifty Shellshock, then the lead singer of Crazy Town ("Starry Eyed Surprise"). In 2002 Oakenfold said to have struggled with dyslexia as a child and has stated his intention to help dyslexic children.^[2][3]

In 2004, Oakenfold's song "Ready Steady Go" was reproduced with some Korean lyrics for the movie Collateral, and was included in the film soundtrack. "Ready Steady Go" was also used in Saab commercials, the EA Sports game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003, the pilot for the television program Las Vegas, the film The Bourne Identity, and the Alias episode "Snowman". In an earlier episode, The Imposter, of Radio Free Roscoe, a 2005 series on The-N, a character Travis Strong DJed to the song (obviously acting as if it were his own). This particular song has also been used during the performances of extreme freestyle water ski jumpers.

In 2005, Oakenfold remixed the classic Transformers theme as the theme song for then-new television series, Transformers Cybertron.^[4] He also contributed with his single Beautiful Goal for the FIFA series (Theme song of 2005).He also created the NASCAR theme song for 2006.

'A Lively Mind' was released on June 6, 2006. The first single 'Faster Kill Pussycat' is a collaboration with the actress Brittany Murphy, and was released on May 2, 2006. 2006 saw his single Beautiful Goal was used in FIFA 06, a game for the PlayStation 2 and PC market. Oakenfold's 2006 CD was released by Maverick Records. His name is also associated with a song called "see it", featured in the second stage of "Frequency", a music/rhythm game for the PS2 released on November 20, 2001. The song itself is very inconspicuous and is rarely mentioned; it does not appear on any of his albums.

2007 saw the publication of the first official biography of Paul Oakenfold, written by Richard Norris of The Grid and Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve fame. Paul Oakenfold: The Authorised Biography was published by Bantam Press on 24 September, 2007. Oakenfold is said to be a big fan of Chelsea F.C.. It has more recently been used in the film adaptation of Anthony Horowitz's novel Stormbreaker. He has also tried his hand at acting by playing one of the zombies in the 2007 smash 28 Weeks Later. He also scored the soundtrack for the film Vexille.

In October 2007 he released his Greatest Hits & Remixes, Vol. 1 which features his best performance tracks, in 2008 he features his music in the film Nobel Son,

• 1994 Journeys By DJ Volume 5: Journey Through The Spectrum
• 1995 A Voyage Into Trance
• 1996 Perfecto Fluoro
• 1997 Global Underground 004
• 1998 Tranceport
• 1998 Global Underground 007
• 1999 Essential Millennium with Pete Tong & Fatboy Slim
• 1999 Resident: Two Years of Oakenfold at Cream
• 2000 Perfecto Presents: Travelling
• 2000 Perfecto Presents: Another World
• 2001 Swordfish: The Album
• 2001 Perfecto Presents Ibiza
• 2002 Bunkka
• 2003 Perfecto Presents: Great Wall
• 2004 Creamfields
• 2005 Perfecto Presents: The Club
• 2006 A Lively Mind
• 2007 Greatest Hits & Remixes, Vol. 1

In 2007, Paul Oakenfold completed his 100th remix.

• Official Website
• Paul Oakenfold discography at MusicBrainz
• Paul Oakenfold interview from Real Detroit Weekly
• Paul Oakenfold interview at musicOMH.com
• Paul Oakenfold Music Videos
• Paul Oakenfold's Official My Space Page