The Magician

Formerly half of nu-disco duo Aeroplane, Belgian DJ and producer Stephen Fasano left in 2010 to launch his own solo project, with which he found chart success. Born in the late '70s, the half-Italian Fasano grew up in a deprived, industrial area of southern Belgium, listening to his father's collection of pop and disco music such as ABBA, Supertramp, Michael Jackson, and Giorgio Moroder. In his early teens he inherited a collection of Italo-disco records from his uncle, who had been a DJ but had hung up his hat. Fasano caught the DJ'ing bug and began performing, which he did for many years while holding down a day job.

In 2004 he met fellow Belgian-Italian Vito de Luca, who owned a record shop, and the two bonded over shared musical tastes. They began collaborating, going through a number of short-lived projects before founding Aeroplane in 2007. Their lush nu-disco sound was very well-received, and they DJ'ed all over the world before recording an album, We Can't Fly, in 2010. Shortly before the album was released, Fasano left the group over musical differences and launched himself as the Magician.

Initially finding fame through his monthly series of free download mixes, filled with rare Italo-disco nuggets which he named "Magic Tapes," he released his debut EP, Twist, on Kitsuné in collaboration with Yuksek as Peter & the Magician. Another EP, Memory, and the single "I Don't Know What to Do" followed. He came to much wider attention with his hugely popular remixes of pop acts like Lykke Li, Chromeo, Clean Bandit, and Wolf Gang, and in 2013 was signed to Parlophone. His debut single for the label was "When the Night Is Over," which entered the Top 30 in Belgium, but it was his next, 2014's "Sunlight," which gave him his first big hit as a headliner. Featuring vocalist Olly Alexander of British electro-pop trio Years & Years, the summery, infectious single went to number seven in both the Belgian and the U.K. charts. The same year, he founded a digital label, Potion, named after his club night of the same name. "Together" and "Shy" followed as singles in 2015 and 2016. He signed with Sony in 2017, the year Julian Perretta teamed up with him for "Tied Up." ~ John D. Buchanan