Paul Oakenfold's love for dance music began in 1987 when he first visited Ibiza with friends. Influenced from Ibiza's sound, as well as house and disco, Oakenfold produced Happy Mondays' Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches. He then went on to remix tracks from U2, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Massive Attack, The Cure, Simply Red, Arrested Development, New Order and even The Doors, with his production partner Steve Osborne under the name 'Perfecto'. Most of these remixes were released under his label Perfecto Records.

Paul Oakenfold is a producer and sound engineer. He masters his own tracks. He was one of the first popular DJs that started playing Trance music, a discovery from the hippy beaches of Goa in India. When he played a two hour set in 1994 for BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix he brought trance to the masses.

Paul Oakenfold became Cream's resident DJ from 1997 to 1999 leading to the release of Tranceport in 1998. The album was followed Tranceport with Perfecto Presents Another World. His popularity in North America is significant because of his work on the film soundtracks of The Matrix Reloaded, Swordfish, Collateral and Die Another Day.

Oakenfold worked with Madonna in 2009 for her greatest hits collection "Celebration" and also remixed a past demo "It's So Cool" from the album American Life.

Oakenfold plans to release the album Pop Killer in 2012 which will feature collaborations with Cee-Lo, Ryan Tedder and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.