Michaël Brun (born 19 May 1992) is a Haitian 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 technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

based in New York, known for blending

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

with traditional Haitian styles such as

kompa Compas (; ; ), also known as konpa or kompa, is a modern méringue dance music genre of Haiti. The genre was created by Nemours Jean-Baptiste following the creation of Ensemble Aux Callebasses in 1955, which became Ensemble Nemours Jean-Baptist ...

and

rara Rara or RARA may refer to: * Rara music, a form of festival music originating in Haiti * Rara festival, a Lent carnival in Haiti * Rara Lake, lake in Nepal * Rara, Nepal, a village in Karnali Zone * Rara National Park, a protected area in Nepa ...

. He released his debut EP ''Gravity'' in 2013 and founded the record label Kid Coconut in 2014, to showcase Haitian music and develop Haitian artists. In 2018, he released the single "Positivo" with

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer. He is one of the best-selling Latin artists, with 35 million records sold worldwide. Balvin was born in Medellín. At age 17, he moved to th ...

, which became the theme song for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

. His debut album, ''Lokal'', was released on June 26, 2019.

Early life and education

Brun was born and raised in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

, Haiti, to a Guyanese mother and Haitian father. He also has French Haitian, Portuguese,

Chinese Guyanese Chinese Guyanese are Guyanese nationals of Han Chinese descent. The first numbers of Chinese arrived in British Guiana in 1853, forming an important minority of the indentured workforce. After their indenture, many who stayed on in Guyana came t ...

, and

Indo-Guyanese Indo-Guyanese or Guyanese Indians, are Guyanese nationals of Indian origin who trace their ancestry to India and the wider subcontinent. They are the descendants of indentured servants and settlers who migrated from India beginning in 1838, a ...

ancestry. Growing up he was exposed to the music of Caribbean Sextet and

Tabou Combo Tabou Combo is a Haitian compas band that was founded in 1968 in Pétion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. The orchestra has performed throughout the world (North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and especially in the Caribbean). T ...

, which influenced his musical tastes. His father was in a band called Skandal in the '90s. Brun began playing piano, violin and guitar at a young age. He initially intended to have a career as a pediatrician. At 15, he began DJing and producing his own electronic music tracks as a hobby. He attended

Culver Military Academy Culver Academies is a college preparatory boarding school in Culver, Indiana, which is composed of three entities: Culver Military Academy (CMA) for boys, Culver Girls Academy (CGA), and the Culver Summer Schools and Camps (CSSC). Culver Milita ...

in Indiana and then

Davidson College Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...

in North Carolina as a pre-med student, while continuing to work on his music production.

Music career

2011: First singles and ''Gravity'' EP

Brun was one of the first electronic music artists in Haiti. On June 29, 2011, he released the 4-track single ''Shades of Grey'' on

S2 Records Sony S2 Records, formerly named as S2 Records and Sony Soho Square (typeset as Sony Soho2), was a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (SME), which operated as a record label in the 1990s and early 2000s. Sony Soho Square was named after its ...

. Primarily styled as

progressive house Progressive house is a subgenre of house music that emerged in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. It is characterized by its evolving, melodic Musical form, structures, subtle Transition (music), transitions, and layered sound design.Gerard, ...

, Brun released "

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

," on Dutch DJ

Hardwell Robbert van de Corput (; born 7 January 1988), known professionally as Hardwell, is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted the world's number one DJ by ''DJ Mag'' in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2022, he was ranked at number 43 in ...

Revealed Recordings Revealed Recordings (or shortened to Revealed, stylized as revealed) is a Dutch record label established by Hardwell in 2010. The label is headquartered in Breda, Netherlands. History The label was established on 11 April 2010 by electronic musi ...

on December 21, 2011. Dirty South signed Brun to his label Phazing Records shortly after, releasing Brun's next single "Rise". Brun also joined Dirty South on tour in Miami. Around that time, he started performing at major events including

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

and

Electric Daisy Carnival Electric Daisy Carnival, commonly known as EDC, is an electronic dance music festival organized by promoter and distributor Insomniac. The annual flagship event, EDC Las Vegas, is held in May at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and is the largest e ...

, and decided to take a hiatus from medical school. In 2012, Brun released the tracks "Rift" with Dirty South and "Synergy" with Special Features. Brun released his debut EP ''Gravity'' in September 2013, which reached number 2 on the

Beatport Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards disk jockey, DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that ...

charts. Also in 2013 he remixed tracks for artists such as

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris (and sometimes under the stage name Love Regenerator), is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'' (2007 ...

and Armin van Buuren.

2014–15: Touring, singles, and Kid Coconut imprint

In March 2014, Brun became the first Haitian to play at

Ultra Music Festival Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music Music festival, festival that takes place in March in Miami, Florida. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. It was first held on Miami Beach, but bes ...

. That year he also performed at the Moonrise Festival in Baltimore, and at Coachella. He was nominated for World's Best EDM Artist at the

World Music Award The World Music Awards was an international award show founded in 1989 under the patronage of Albert II, Prince of Monaco and co-founder/executive producer John Martinotti. The event was based in Monte Carlo. Awards were presented to the worl ...

s. In August 2014 Brun released the single "Zenith", which was the first release on his new label Kid Coconut. In June 2015, he released "See You Soon" on Kid Coconut. He then released a collaboration with Roy English titled "Tongue Tied July". In 2015 he performed at clubs including Create (Los Angeles), Temple (San Francisco), Union Nightclub (Toronto), and Story (Miami), and also appeared at the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

Festival.

2016–17: "Wherever I Go" single, tour and festival

In January 2016, Brun released "Wherever I Go", a collaboration with Artists for Peace and Justice's Audio Institute. He then embarked on his first North American Tour, titled the ''Wherever I Go Tour'', followed by the creation of the Wherever I Go Festival in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In May 2016, he collaborated with American artist

The Ready Set Jordan Mark Witzigreuter (born November 14, 1989), known professionally as The Ready Set, is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. He is the lead vocalist and sole member of the act, using a backup b ...

and released a remix to The Ready Set's song Good Enough which charted at number 40 on US Billboard

Dance/Mix Show Airplay Dance/Mix Show Airplay (formerly Hot Dance Airplay) is a monitored electronic dance music radio chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart came about as a result of the small but influential impact of electronic dance musi ...

. In August 2016, he released a collaboration with Louie for the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

film '' XOXO'', titled "All I Ever Wanted". In October 2016, he announced ''Haitian Heat'', a Haitian music playlist that he curates for

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

. In January 2017, he released "Gaya", a collaboration with Haitian roots music collective Lakou Mizik and Haitian pop artist J. Perry. He followed "Gaya" with remixes for

OneRepublic OneRepublic is an American pop rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado, formed in 2002. The lineup currently consists of Ryan Tedder (lead vocals, piano), Zach Filkins (guitar, viola), Drew Brown (musician), Drew Brown (guitar), Brent Kutzle ( ...

Maxwell Maxwell may refer to: People * Maxwell (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician and physicist * Justice Maxwell (disambiguation) * Maxwell baronets, in the Baronetage of N ...

Kesha Kesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. Her first major success came in 2009 when she was featured on rapper Flo Rida's number-one single, "Right Round". Kesha's music and ima ...

Major Lazer Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music and DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. They were founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after three years in 2011. He was the ...

and FLETCHER. He released "Easy On My Love" in December 2017.

2018–present: "Positivo" and ''Lokal''

In 2018, as part of collaborations with artists from around the world to bring Haitian sounds into the mainstream, he released the single "Positivo" with Latin singer

. It was the theme song for

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

coverage, and as of March 2019, has over 12 million views on YouTube. Brun also opened for J Balvin on his 2018 Vibras tour. In 2017, Brun began experimenting with songs that would bridge the gap between Nigerian afrobeat and Haitian music. This led to the concept behind his debut album ''Lokal'', released on Kid Coconut on June 26, 2019. The album's first single was "Akwaaba Ayiti", a reworking of a song by

Mr Eazi Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade (born 19 July 1991), better known by his stage name Mr Eazi, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and record executive. He is the pioneer of Banku music, a fusion of sound he describes as a mixture of Ghanaian highlife a ...

. The nine-track album features collaborations with artists including

Win Butler Edwin Farnham Butler III (born April 14, 1980) is an American-Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and multi-instrumentalist. He co-founded the Montreal-based indie rock band Arcade Fire with Josh Deu and his wife Régine Chassagne. Early l ...

and

Regine Chassagne Regine ( , ) or Régine () is a feminine given name, the French and German form of Regina. People with the first name include: Regine * Regine Heitzer (born 1944), Austrian figure skater * Regine Hildebrandt (1941–2001), German biologist and ...

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core ...

, J. Perry,

Eddy François Eddy François is a Haitian musician, Born in Cap-Haitian, Eddy François is influenced by 80s music and begins his music career as a guitarist and bassist in a choir. In 1988, he joins the Kompa band Superstar Music machine and that following ye ...

, and

BélO Jean Bélony Murat (born 29 October 1979, known by his stage name BélO) is a Haitian composer and guitarist. The songs in his first album ''Lakou trankil'' (''Quiet Streets'') explain and reflect the problems Haitians face. BélO is popular in E ...

. The track "Nouvo Jenerasyon" includes a sample of a song from his father's konpa band Skandal. Brun puts on an annual Haitian block party-style tour called Bayo, with the third edition taking place in 10 North American cities in 2019. Special guests on the tour included

Boukman Eksperyans Boukman Eksperyans () is a '' mizik rasin'' band from the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Grammy nominated for their debut album '' Vodou Adjae''. The band derives its name from Dutty Boukman, a '' vodou'' priest who led a religious ceremony in 17 ...

, and

Adekunle Gold Adekunle Almoruf Kosoko (born 28 January 1987), known professionally as Adekunle Gold and AG Baby, is a Nigerian Afrobeats singer and songwriter currently signed to Def Jam Recordings. He gained widespread attention after releasing the 2015 hit ...

. It started out in 2016 as a free block party in Haiti. He also played a set at Coachella 2019. The 2022 edition of Bayo took place on 21 May and featured

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...

, Kes, and many other artists. On April 4, 2023,

Astralwerks Astralwerks (or Astralwerks Records) is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music that is now owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in ...

, an American

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

owned by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

, announced it had signed Brun. His first Astralwerks single, "Clueless" (featuring

Oxlade Oxlade is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (born 1993), English professional footballer * Allen Martindale Oxlade (1882–1932), Australian rugby player * Aubrey Oxlade (1882–1955), Australian cric ...

), was released in February 2023. On November 13, 2024, Brun released "Safe" a collaboration single with John Legend & Rutshelle Guillaume. On January 31, 2025, Brun released his single "Touchdown", featuring J Balvin, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, and Tasan. The track debuted as the anthem for the 2025 NFL Wild Card Weekend on ESPN.

Personal life

Brun lives in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. He is an ambassador for

Paul Haggis Paul Edward Haggis (born March 10, 1953) is a Canadian screenwriter, film producer, and director of film and television. He is best known as screenwriter and producer for consecutive Best Picture Oscar winners ''Million Dollar Baby'' (2004) and ...

' Artists for Peace and Justice, a nonprofit that encourages peace and social justice. He mentors children in Haiti's nonprofit school The Audio Institute, and is also on the board.

Awards and nominations

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Remixes

Radio appearances

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brun, Michaël 1992 births Living people Musicians from Port-au-Prince 21st-century Haitian musicians Haitian DJs Haitian record producers Remixers Haitian people of Chinese descent Davidson College alumni Culver Academies alumni Electronic dance music DJs Progressive house musicians Latin Grammy Award winners