Imanbek Maratuly Zeikenov (, ; born 21 October 2000), known professionally as Imanbek, is a Kazakh DJ and record producer. In 2019, he became known for his remix of

Saint Jhn Carlos St. John Phillips (born August 26, 1986), known professionally as Saint Jhn (stylized as SAINt JHN; pronounced "Saint John"), is a Guyanese-American rapper and singer. He is best known for the 2019 remix to his 2016 song " Roses". The r ...

's "

Roses A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

". In 2021, Imanbek won a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

for his remix of "Roses", becoming the first Grammy recipient from Kazakhstan, and the first Grammy award winner in a non-classical category from within the CIS.

Career

Born in Kazakhstan, he comes from Aksu and has played the guitar since the age of 8. He studied and worked in rail transport (at one point he worked at the Aksu railway station), but has been engaged in music production since 2017. His remix of "

" by

Guyanese-American Guyanese Americans are American people with Guyanese ancestry or immigrants who were born in Guyana. Guyana is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As of 2019, there are 231,649 Guyanese Americans currently livi ...

rapper

brought him international attention. (The remix was done without Saint Jhn's involvement as Zeikenov's attempts to contact him on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

failed and he did not receive a reply.) It has appeared in the charts throughout Europe including Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, India and Sweden, becoming number 1 on Shazam World. Based on the success and popularity of the remix, the original song recorded in 2016 appeared on the US ''Billboard'' chart, the UK Singles Chart and other charts in Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, and Ireland in 2019. He has signed with the Russian label Effective Records and released his first song on

KSHMR Niles Hollowell-Dhar (born October 6, 1988), known professionally as Kshmr (pronounced "Kashmir" and stylized in all caps), is an American musician, DJ, songwriter, record producer, former rapper, and singer. He was ranked 23rd on ''DJ Mag''s 20 ...

's label Dharma Worldwide, a sublabel of

Spinnin Records Spinnin' Records is a Dutch electronic music record label founded in 1999 by Eelko van Kooten and Roger de Graaf. In September 2017, Warner Music Group acquired Spinnin' Records for over $100 million. Background Van Kooten is the son of former ...

. On 24 November 2020, he was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Remixed Recording for his remix of Saint Jhn's ''Roses''. On 12 February 2021, Imanbek released '' Bang'', a collaborative 4-track

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP) with English singer

Rita Ora Rita Sahatçiu Ora (; born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer-songwriter, television personality, and actress. Born in Pristina, modern-day Kosovo, she rose to prominence when she featured on DJ Fresh's 2012 single, "Hot Rig ...

. It was released simultaneously alongside its lead single "Big" with French DJ

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

and featuring American rapper Gunna. Argentine trap artist

Khea Ivo Alfredo Thomas Serue (born 13 April 2000), known by his stage name Khea, is an Argentine rapper and singer. He is a member of the Argentine Latin trap scene along with artists such as Cazzu and Duki (rapper), Duki. Early years Ivo Alfred ...

features on the song "Mood" which also appears on the EP. On 15 March 2021, Imanbek won a

for his remix of "Roses", becoming the first person from Kazakhstan to win a Grammy. In May 2021, Imanbek won the 2021 Billboard Music Award for Top Dance/Electronic Song. He received the award for his remix “Roses” originally released by Saint Jhn in 2016. On 11 June 2021, Imanbek released his new song " Sweet Dreams" with Norwegian DJ and record producer

Alan Walker Alan Olav Walker (born 24 August 1997) is a Norwegian DJ and record producer. His songs "Faded (Alan Walker song), Faded", "Sing Me to Sleep", "Alone (Alan Walker song), Alone", "All Falls Down (Alan Walker song), All Falls Down" (with Noah Cy ...

. The music video was uploaded to Alan Walker's official channel. The music video currently has 24 million views. He released a remix contest of Sweet Dreams in partnership with the digital workstation, FL Studio and Alan Walker.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Other releases

Imanbek has a number of other releases, most notably: * "Valentino" (with

24kGoldn Golden Landis Von Jones (born November 13, 2000), known professionally as 24kGoldn, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He initially saw recognition for his 2019 single " Valentino", which marked his first entry on the ''Billboard'' Ho ...

) *"SAD" (with Rasster) *"Take Me" (with O'Neill) *"Hot" (with

Parah Dice Parah Dice is a Turkish (according to his profile on Spotify, Turkish) DJ and record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and techni ...

) *"Smoke It Up" (with Stephanskiy) *"Dope" *"Clandestina" (with Filv and Edmofo featuring Emma Peters) *"Voyage, Voyage" (with Duboss) *"Romantic Dance" (with DJ Dmimixer featuring Murana) *"Summertime Sadness" *"Hey Baby" (with

Afrojack Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), known professionally as Afrojack (stylized in all caps), is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album ''Forget the World ( ...

featuring Gia Koka) *"Bam" (with Kddk and Ya Rick)

Awards and nominations

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Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, "

" (Imanbek Remix) , Best Remixed Recording , , , - !scope="row",

UK Music Video Awards The UK Music Video Awards is an annual celebration of creativity, technical excellence and innovation in music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotiona ...

, "Goodbye" (with Goodboys) , Best Dance/Electronic Video - UK , ,

Notes

References

{{reflist 2000 births Living people Kazakhstani DJs Kazakhstani record producers Grammy Award winners People from Almaty Region