69 Fun Facts About Calvin Harris

What is Calvin Harris's real name?

Adam Wiles: he calls 'Calvin Harris' an alter ego for the stage and says he finds it horrible to be called Calvin by anyone who knows him.

In which Scottish town was Calvin Harris born and raised?

Dumfries: after a failed spell away trying to break into the music business he moved back to his parents' house there and made his debut album in his bedroom.

Before his breakthrough, Calvin Harris spent a miserable spell trying to launch his career in which city?

London: he found so little work and money there that he gave up and went home to Scotland, which is where the songs that made his name were written.

Under what alias did Calvin Harris release three EPs of house music in 2020?

Love Regenerator: he said the alias let him rediscover the way he first made music as a teenager, and he has since used it for club tracks kept apart from his pop singles.

In 2008 Calvin Harris claimed his unreleased second album was lost in the chaotic opening of which airport terminal?

Heathrow Terminal 5: a year later he admitted the story was a lie, told to buy himself more time from his record label to finish the album.

What was the title of Calvin Harris's 2007 debut album?

I Created Disco: behind the tongue-in-cheek boast was an album he wrote, performed and produced entirely on his own in his bedroom at his parents' house.

On what kind of computer was Calvin Harris's 2007 debut album entirely recorded and produced?

An Amiga: the machine was a hand-me-down from his older brother, who had moved on to a PC, and he had been making dance tracks on it in his bedroom since he was about 14.

Fresh from his first hit in 2007, Calvin Harris toured the UK as the support act for which dance group?

Faithless: the invitation came within weeks of his debut single, when he was still being described in the press as an unknown former shelf-stacker.

Which 2007 single gave Calvin Harris his first UK top-ten hit?

Acceptable in the 80s: his affectionate tribute to the decade's style peaked at number ten, although Harris, born in 1984, was only five when the 80s ended.

On which social networking site was Calvin Harris discovered before signing his 2006 record deals?

Myspace: the home-made tracks he posted there took an unknown supermarket shelf-stacker from his bedroom to writing songs for Kylie Minogue.

Calvin Harris says he first wrote Dizzee Rascal's number one Holiday for which girl group?

The Saturdays turned it down: 'they didn't like it, or their A&R guy didn't like it, but Dizzee liked it,' Harris shrugged, and Holiday went on to top the UK chart in 2009.

Where did Calvin Harris work after leaving school in order to buy DJ equipment?

A fish processing factory kept him for about a year after school, until, he says, he was laid off on his birthday; he also stacked supermarket shelves and put the wages into his bedroom studio.

Which 2008 Dizzee Rascal single with Calvin Harris topped the UK chart for four weeks?

Dance wiv Me was made without the two men ever sharing a studio: Dizzee Rascal said they swapped numbers and sent their parts back and forth over the phone, with Harris producing and singing the chorus.

Which 2015 hit did Calvin Harris make with the English production trio Disciples?

How Deep Is Your Love has an uncredited voice: Norwegian songwriter Ina Wroldsen sang the demo in a single take, and Harris kept that take when he made the track his own single.

Which song gave Calvin Harris his first UK number one as a lead artist, in 2009?

I'm Not Alone went straight in at number one in April 2009, knocking Lady Gaga's Poker Face off the top; his only earlier chart-topper had been a guest spot on a Dizzee Rascal single.

In his YouTube series Jam TV, what did Calvin Harris have Goldie and Katy Perry try to do?

Open pots of jam: Harris made the spoof series after an online interviewer kept asking him to open a jar that had been glued shut, an item he told her was the worst feature he had ever seen.

What was Calvin Harris holding on his head when he invaded The X Factor stage in 2009?

A pineapple, worn during Jedward's performance, got him escorted out of the studios and dropped from that night's spin-off show, where he had been booked as a guest; he apologised on Twitter.

Which Chris Brown hit did Calvin Harris accuse of copying one of his UK number ones?

Yeah 3x made Harris tweet that he had choked on his cornflakes; he ruled out suing, yet he ended up with a writing credit on the song, and a year later called the pair best mates.

What was the title of Calvin Harris's third studio album, released in 2012?

18 Months was built on guest singers because Harris had vowed in 2010 that zero per cent of his time would go on singing, preferring, as he put it, people who can sing well.

Which Cheryl number one from 2012 did Calvin Harris write and produce?

Call My Name arrived just as Cheryl dropped her married surname, Cole, and began releasing music under her first name only; Harris wrote and produced it but took no artist credit.

Whose record for the most UK top-10 singles from one album did Calvin Harris break in 2013?

Michael Jackson had sent seven singles into the top 10 from both Bad and Dangerous; Harris passed him with an album whose first hit had arrived in June 2011, well over a year before the album itself came out.

Which artist surpassed Calvin Harris's UK top-10-singles-from-one-album record in 2017?

Ed Sheeran did it almost at a stroke: nine tracks from ÷ sat in the top 10 in a single week of March 2017, a sweep that led the chart's compilers to cap every lead artist at three songs.

Which Calvin Harris production topped the US Hot 100 for ten weeks?

We Found Love nearly had another voice: Leona Lewis says she recorded it first but held out for a different lead single, and Harris later said it would not have been a hit with anyone else singing.

Which vocalist features on Calvin Harris's 2012 UK number one "Sweet Nothing"?

Florence Welch already owed him a chart-topper: three months earlier, Harris's remix of Spectrum had given Florence and the Machine their first UK number one.

Which 2011 Calvin Harris single was a collaboration with Kelis?

Bounce arrived the year after he announced he was done with singing, with Kelis at the microphone; the retirement was brief, and he sang the follow-up single himself ten weeks later.

Which rock band had Calvin Harris remix one of their hits for their 2013 best-of album?

The Killers gave him When You Were Young; Harris called it a real honour to be asked by one of his favourite modern bands, and said the challenge was updating a classic for the dancefloor in a tasteful and respectful way.

Which singer-rapper joined Calvin Harris on the 2012 single We'll Be Coming Back?

Example and Harris play robbers on the run in the video; in the chart the single spent two weeks stuck behind Wiley's Heatwave, making it Harris's fourth lead single in a row to peak at number two.

Which Calvin Harris track was one of Spotify's three most-streamed songs of 2014?

Summer was the service's most-played song over the season it is named for, and those first 160 million streams alone were worth an estimated million dollars or more in royalties.

Which singer features on the 2014 UK number one "Blame"?

John Newman wrote Blame with Harris and with his own brother James, who had rougher luck in front of the microphone: representing the UK at Eurovision in 2021, James scored nul points.

Calvin Harris's 2013 UK number one "Under Control" was made with Alesso and which synth-pop duo?

Hurts take the credit, though only their singer, Theo Hutchcraft, is on the record; he had already turned up that year in a cameo in another Calvin Harris video.

Which singer took the Calvin Harris production I Will Never Let You Down to UK number one in 2014?

Rita Ora was his girlfriend when he wrote and produced it; less than three weeks after the song reached number one, Harris announced on Twitter that the relationship was over.

Which 2013 hit paired Calvin Harris with Ellie Goulding for the first time?

I Need Your Love put Harris in front of the camera too: in its home-movie video he and Goulding play a couple in love, filming themselves on trips to the beach.

Which rock trio features on the Calvin Harris track "Pray to God"?

Haim, a family band from Los Angeles, ride on horseback through a snowy video full of wolves and lions; they wrote the song with Harris and their own producer, Ariel Rechtshaid.

Which festival did Calvin Harris headline in 2016 alongside Guns N' Roses and LCD Soundsystem?

Coachella gave a DJ one of its three headline nights, on equal billing with rock royalty: another went to a Guns N' Roses line-up that reunited Axl Rose with Slash and Duff McKagan after more than twenty years.

Which star co-wrote Calvin Harris's This Is What You Came For under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg?

Taylor Swift, then Harris's girlfriend, wanted her part kept secret, and has said she picked the alias because Nils and Sjöberg are two of the most popular names for Swedish men.

Which 2017 Calvin Harris single features Frank Ocean and Migos?

Slide opens with Frank Ocean musing about emptying his bank account for the Boy with a Pipe, his nod to a Picasso that fetched $104 million at auction in 2004.

Which rapper joined Pharrell Williams and Katy Perry on Calvin Harris's 2017 UK number one Feels?

Big Sean raps on the only UK number one from Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1, the album on which the best-paid DJ in EDM walked away from EDM for funk and, for the first time, sang nothing himself.

Fans of which football club adopted a 2018 Calvin Harris number one as an unofficial anthem?

Liverpool fans took the song up after its singer performed before the 2018 Champions League final in Kyiv; four years later Harris, a fan of the club, DJ'd from the team bus at its trophy parade.

Which Calvin Harris song won British Single of the Year at the 2019 Brit Awards?

One Kiss ended a long wait: Harris had been nominated for 14 Brit Awards without winning one, then went home that night with his first two.

Which 2018 single paired Calvin Harris with Sam Smith?

Promises turns its video over to some of New York's best voguers, a tribute to the ballroom scene; Sam Smith said they had never had so much fun on a shoot.

Which 2019 Calvin Harris single features Rag'n'Bone Man?

Giant never got past number two in the chart, yet it ended 2019 as the most-played song on British radio and television.

Which 2020 Calvin Harris single was a collaboration with The Weeknd?

Over Now was trailed a week early, when The Weeknd posted an old photo of the pair sharing drinks, and it ended a gap of 19 months without a release under the Calvin Harris name.

What is the title of Calvin Harris's 2024 compilation of previously non-album singles?

96 Months keeps to its window, 2015 onwards, so a Calvin Harris hits collection leaves out almost all the early anthems that made his name.

Which television presenter did Calvin Harris marry in September 2023?

Vick Hope, a Radio 1 host from Newcastle, was reported to have said yes after about five months together, when Harris proposed at his farm in Ibiza; they married in her native North East.

Which act ended Calvin Harris's six-year run as Forbes' highest-paid DJ in 2019?

The Chainsmokers took over with $46 million, helped by a long Las Vegas residency, and Marshmello passed him too, dropping Harris from first to third in a single year.

Calvin Harris headlined the last ever edition of which Scottish music festival?

T in the Park bowed out in 2016 with Harris, The Stone Roses and Red Hot Chili Peppers topping the bill; forced off its old site by an oil pipeline, it struggled at the new one and was never held again.

What is the name of the record label Calvin Harris founded in 2010?

Fly Eye Records opened with a single by Mr Blink, an anonymous DJ who had warmed up crowds at his shows; Harris promised it would put out the most exciting club music he could get his hands on.

Calvin Harris was announced in December 2014 as the new face of which brand's men's underwear line?

Emporio Armani had mostly cast sportsmen for the job, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo among them, before handing the campaign to a DJ.

Calvin Harris became a co-owner of which music streaming service in 2015?

Tidal relaunched in New York with 16 artist-owners, Harris among them; those in the room, from Jay-Z and Beyoncé to Madonna and Kanye West, signed a declaration of the service's mission on stage.

What did Calvin Harris joke he grew in 2017 to be taken seriously by the Grammys?

A beard, he joked, worked to an extent: his nomination as a producer came through, but he lost to Greg Kurstin, shaved it off and declared the experiment complete.

Which animals fronted the Kia Soul adverts that used Calvin Harris's song Colours?

Hamsters began the campaign going nowhere: in the first adverts they sat in city streets, stuck spinning on wheels, while a hipper few cruised past in a Soul.

Which British DJ accused Calvin Harris in 2025 of copying his 1996 track 'Offshore'?

Chicane lined the two tracks up in a studio video and called them almost identical; Harris answered with a video of his own, insisting the chords differed and that all he had done was play two notes over them.

Which UK top-10 single did Calvin Harris co-write and produce for Kylie Minogue's 2007 album X?

In My Arms was his first big job for another artist: within weeks of his own first single charting, the newcomer was in the studio with Kylie Minogue, vowing to make her sound camper than ever.

Which 2011 single, with Calvin Harris back on vocals, was his first solo Billboard Hot 100 entry?

Feel So Close was written in a sulk: after his label gave a lukewarm hearing to new tracks with guest singers, Harris went back to the studio thinking he would sing one himself, and finished it in a few hours.

Which 2013 Ivor Novello Award did Calvin Harris call the greatest achievement of his life?

Songwriter of the Year is voted on by fellow songwriters, and the man with a record run of hits said he couldn't believe he had even been let in the door of the ceremony.

Which singer took Calvin Harris on her 2011 arena tour months after he quit as Katy Perry's support act?

Rihanna called him the perfect fit for her Loud tour; that March he had walked off Katy Perry's, saying he was not going to DJ on a cardboard box in front of a pink curtain.

Which two acts did Calvin Harris say in 2016 had inspired him to make music?

Jamiroquai and Fatboy Slim was his whole reply when a fan asked on Twitter who had inspired him; he had already repaid one of them, when his 2013 remix took Fatboy Slim's Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat to number three in the UK.

Which Las Vegas hospitality company signed Harris as its first exclusive resident DJ in February 2013?

Hakkasan lured him away from Wynn Resorts before its MGM Grand superclub had even opened, booking him for 46 nights there and 22 more at the hotel's pool club.

Which relaunched dance label gave Calvin Harris an A&R role in 2010?

Deconstruction Records, a force in 1990s dance music, had just been revived, and the hiring was announced in Ibiza by its co-founder Mike Pickering, the former Haçienda DJ and M People member.

Which Dutch DJ did Calvin Harris knock off the top of Forbes' highest-paid DJs list in 2013?

Tiësto had led the list a year earlier, when Harris was not even in its top 10; a $46 million year, against the Dutchman's $32 million, took the newcomer straight to number one.

Which Glasgow venue did Harris give £20,000 to help save during the 2020 pandemic?

Sub Club had been shut since March 2020 and said it had been denied some £30,000 of furlough money, so it launched the Save Our Sub crowdfunder that his £20,000 went to.

Which 1990s dance style did Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding revive on their 2023 number one Miracle?

Trance was what Harris grew up on: he was 14 in 1998 and calls those years his formative era, and after decades of borrowing bits of it he made the real thing, which spent eight weeks at number one.

Which Calvin Harris single featuring Ne-Yo soundtracked a 2012 Pepsi Max advert starring Lionel Messi?

Let's Go had Harris himself in the advert, at the decks while the footballers crowd-surfed; it entered the UK chart at number two that spring, kept off the top by Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe.

Calvin Harris wrote Yeah Yeah Yeah, La La La to order for which brand's 2009 advertising campaign?

Coca-Cola's agency handed him the six-word title as the whole brief; he decided it sounded like something the funk band Parliament would sing and wrote the tune to match for a £50 million campaign.

With which Ibiza mega-club did Harris hold a weekly Friday residency in August and September 2019?

Ushuaïa already had a place in his story: his UK number one Under Control got its first play there, in a set by Alesso broadcast on Radio 1 in August 2013.

Which artist shared the billing with Calvin Harris on I Found You, his first sung single since My Way?

Benny Blanco, a fan since 2007, called Harris's one of his favourite recorded voices, whatever its owner thought of it, and kept on at him until he agreed to sing.

Which artists feature on 'Potion', the lead single from Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2?

Dua Lipa and Young Thug were both coming back for more: she had fronted his biggest hit of 2018 and he had rapped on the first Funk Wav Bounces album; the video maroons the pair on an island in a purple sea.

Which Brit Award did Harris win in 2024, the year he performed 'Miracle' with Ellie Goulding?

British Dance Act came at the third attempt, after he had lost the same award in 2022 and 2023; on stage the first person he thanked was Ellie Goulding.

Which American band's 2012 single Only the Horses did Calvin Harris help to produce?

Scissor Sisters came to him through Kylie Minogue: two years earlier Harris and their singer Jake Shears had written a song with her for her album Aphrodite, and he was asked to add his production to the single.