The origin of his DJ moniker Westbam is a homage to Afrika Bambaataa, thus Westphalia Bambaataa. He started his career as a DJ in 1983 in the Odeon club in Münster. In 1984 he moved to his friend and mentor William Röttger in Berlin where he released his first record called 17 – This Is Not a Boris Becker Song, which was coproduced by Klaus Jankuhn. WestBam, his brother Fabian Lenz, William Röttger, Klaus Jankuhn and Sandra Molzahn later founded their own label Low Spirit.
In 1991, he organised the first Mayday rave in Berlin. With over 5000 people, it was the biggest techno party in Germany at the time. Since then, Mayday has been vital to the German techno scene. Westbam was involved in the planning of the events and also produced the annual Mayday anthems together with Klaus Jankuhn in the project Members of Mayday until 2013. In February 2014 Westbam announced that he will not perform any longer at Mayday and the Members of Mayday project will disband.
After several single records he released his first album named The Cabinet. In 1993, he played a number of rave events in the United Kingdom including Obsession Passion at the Sanctuary in Milton Keynes. In 1997 he released his first book, titled Mixes, Cuts & Scratches. It dealt with the art, the work and the life of a DJ.
In 2005, he released an album Do You Believe in the Westworld, with the first single being Bang The Loop. Westbam presented this album live with a band, which consisted of a drummer, a bass player, Klaus Jankuhn on keyboards and a laptop for programming and Westbam performing as MC.
Westbam released his triple album A Love Story 89-10 in 2010 on Bass Planet / Kontor Records.[7]
2013 saw the release of his double album Götterstraße, on which Westbam collaborated with artists such as Richard Butler, Lil Wayne, Rockell, Iggy Pop, Bernard Sumner, Inga Humpe, Brian Molko, Kanye West, Afrika Baby Bam and Hugh Cornwell.
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