Eric Prydz

Eric Prydz had one of the biggest dance-pop hits of 2004, then spent the next twenty years steering away from it. Under his own name, as Pryda and as Cirez D, the Swedish producer built his own labels, a deep catalogue of club records and a live show made of lasers and holograms.

From Täby to “Call on Me”

Eric Sheridan Prydz was born on 19 July 1976 and comes from Täby, in Stockholm County. His breakthrough came in September 2004. “Call on Me” is built on a replayed version of Steve Winwood’s 1982 song “Valerie”, and Winwood re-recorded his own vocal for it. Released in the UK by Data Records and Ministry of Sound, it reached No. 1 twice that autumn and also topped the charts in Germany, France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Austria.

The video did half the work. Director Huse Monfaradi set it in an aerobics class, and it was talked about far beyond the clubs. Even Downing Street noticed: “The first time it came on, I nearly fell off my rowing machine,” Tony Blair said in 2004.

Prydz soon tired of the record. He called it “super lazy” and refused to play it for years, until he brought it back on 15 March 2025 at the “20 Years of PRYDA” show in Austin, Texas.

Pink Floyd, “Pjanoo” and two Grammy nominations

Two more crossover hits followed. “Proper Education” (2006), a reworking of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2”, reached No. 2 in the UK and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Remixed Recording. “Pjanoo” (2008), a piano-led instrumental, also peaked at No. 2 in the UK and topped the UK Dance Chart. A second Grammy nomination came in 2013, for his private remix of M83’s “Midnight City”.

After that, his singles moved away from the pop chart. “Niton (The Reason)” reached No. 45 in the UK in 2011 and “Liberate” No. 71 in 2014, while “Opus” and “Breathe” with Rob Swire did not chart at all. By then, his audience was in the clubs and at his own shows.

Pryda, Cirez D and the labels

Prydz splits his music across names. Pryda carries most of his progressive house, Cirez D his techno-leaning tracks. The full list is long: Groove System, Sheridan, Tonja Holma, Hardform and Moo, among others, plus AxEr with Axwell and A&P Project with Steve Angello. “Miami to Atlanta” (2009) was the first track to use what fans now call the “Pryda snare”.

He started the label Mouseville in 2002, and his Pryda label celebrated its tenth year in 2014. Pryda Friends and Pryda Presents complete the family of imprints.

Swedish House Mafia, almost

Prydz was informally grouped with Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello under the Swedish House Mafia name. When the trio formed officially in late 2008, he decided not to join. The story of Swedish House Mafia shows the road he did not take: stadium singles and a group brand, where Prydz kept to his own name and aliases.

Albums, EPIC and HOLO

His first album was a compilation: Eric Prydz Presents Pryda, three discs released by Virgin (Astralwerks in the US) in May 2012 and launched at Ministry of Sound in London. It reached No. 40 in the UK. The PR(10)DA EPs followed in 2015, then his debut studio album, Opus, on 5 February 2016 (UK No. 23). PR(15)DA, announced in April 2019, gathered 27 tracks.

On stage, Prydz built EPIC, a show that grew with each version. EPIC 3.0 took place at Madison Square Garden on 27 September 2014, with a 20-metre hologram and 32 lasers. EPIC 6.0, at Tomorrowland in 2019, put him inside a holosphere of 72 panels and more than 2.4 million LEDs. In April 2023 he brought his HOLO show to Coachella. On the radio side, Pete Tong named his 2013 Essential Mix the Essential Mix of the Year.