KEVIN "Master
Reese" SAUNDERSON
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• biography • |
Kevin Saunderson is a legend in his own right, known and respected around the world, as one of the three Artist/ Producers/DJ's from Detroit, who originated Techno/House music, which helped to reshape the future of Dance music as we know it.
Kevin
was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1964, but moved at the age of nine to the
place known as the 'Motor City', Detroit! He attended Belleville High
School, and then moved onto Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti,
where he played Football. After 2 years Kevin quit playing football in
order to pursue a musical direction, so he joined his high school pals,
Derrick May & Juan Atkins, which unknown at the time would be the
move that would help Kevin's career escalate. He
started as a DJ and developed new skills that led him into producing
records, which he released on his own label KMS Records. The
demand for his Artist/DJ/Producer derived records were overwhelming
overseas as well as right here in the States, cities like Chicago and
New York were open to Kevin's new brand of music. He introduced acts
like 'Kreem', 'Reese', 'Inter-City', and 'Reese & Santonio. Kevin
has many other aliases such as ;- 'Tronik House', 'Reese Project',
'Essaray', 'E-Dancer', & Kaos, which he uses to show his versatility
in being able to create different modes of Dance music.
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And they're justifiably
proud of a healthy career spanning early pioneering hits like "Big
Fun" and "Good Life" through Hallelujah and "Pennies From
Heaven" to recent brainstormers "Do Ya" and "Share My
Life". and out now your love which has entered the top 40 in the uk at 28.
Signed to Brum's sublime Six6 label after leaving Virgin, Inner
City have proved cynics wrong by staying fresh & innovative. They've also
proven that old adage "you can't please all the people all Whereas fans of
their anthemic style of uplifting dance classics have been delighted with recent
singles like "Do Ya" and "Share My Life" they weren't keen
to hear the group's weird experimental techno jam "Ahnongay".
On the other hand, those fans whose tastes are more in keeping with
the original Detroit techno vibe were delighted with "Ahnongay"! Inner
City, 1996 - style, are working on new material which highlights BOTH styles.
Amazingly, the good life of being one of the world's top dance groups came to
them by accident.
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In l987 Kevin, then a 22- year-old Detroit college telecommunications student struggling to pass his exams and at the same time make a success of his fled gelling indie record label KMS, recorded a backing track in a makeshift studio stuck in the basement of his apartment. He needed a girl vocalist who could also supply lyrics and his friend Chicago house producer Terry "Housemaster" Baldwin suggested Windy City Chanteuse Paris Grey. She agreed, flew into Detroit, came up with lyrics & "Big Fun" was born. Incredibly the tape was then filed away & almost forgotten until months later UK dance aficionado Neil Rushton visited the Motor City to put together a compilation album, "Techno - The New Dance Sound Of Detroit" for Virgin. He freaked & made sure "Big Fun" was on the LP and soon afterwards it was released as a single and went on to become a worldwide smash. But despite its sudden success, Paris hung on to her job as a sales assistant in a Chicago store - only quitting when the follow-up, "Good Life" even outsold "Big Fun". |
The third single
"Ain't Nobody Better" retained Kevin's techno-logic microchip feel
topped by Paris' soulful voice. Their debut album, "Paradise" cemented
this prosperity and highlighted the Detroit techno blueprint of mesmerising
rhythms that owed more to the white European synth groups of the 70's and early
80's, like Kraftwerk, Can & Depeche Mode than to the black dance music roots
of the 60's and 70's that Chicago house and New Jersey garage related to.
Kevin's youthful urge to make music had been fuelled at Belleville
High School in West of Detroit, where he befriended two like-minded students.
Far from being despondent, Mixmag readers voted them as the best International
act of the year and a "homecoming" deals with their manager Neil
Rushton's SIX6 label was finalised.
By now Kevin's work with his other group THE REESE PROJECT was
greeted with equal glee by journalists and clubbers alike. To close the Virgin
chapter, the label released the "Testament '93" remix album to
celebrate their time together. Featuring remixes of their best-known songs from
the likes of CJ Mackintosh,Unity, Leftfield and Future Sound of London, it hit
the stores at Easter '93 as the group toured the UK alongside the REESE PROJECT.
| Back in the States they produced a "stop-gap" single - a stylish cover of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway's "Back Together Again". Paris sung a duet with new Network artist Ronnie Simon on the track. Another UK tour followed in August '93, including a headlining appearance on The Reading Festival's dance stage and the top slot at the European Dance Weekender in Paris the following month. Two pirate shows at the annual In The City music industry seminar in Manchester was backed up by two commercially unavailable promos that stunned the underground. "Ahnongay" boasted no vocal input from Paris and featured Kevin mouthing the title over a spine tingling slab of surreal Detroit techno far removed from their popular anthemic style. And when a set of dub mixes of "Share My Life" was promoted to djs a month later, fans began wondering whether they'd dumped the format that made tunes like "Hallelujah" and "Pennies From Heaven" all-time classics. |
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| They needn't have worried
because the duo released two anthems during 1994 "Do Ya" early
in the year and the scintillating "Share My Life" in the
summer featuring some stunning mixes from Graeme Park and a brilliant
ambient/techno remix from Aquarel.
To date, Inner City have had eight top 40 hits in the UK, as well as having had two top twenty albums with combined sales of more than 6 million. Inner City have also achieved many many awards for outstanding accomplish-ments, such as being voted the 'Best Dance Act' in the world by DMC in 1989 & 1992. Inner City have also received 4 Gold Singles & 1 Gold Album.4 number one billboard club hits &7 number one club hits in the uk.
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KEVIN
SAUNDERSON
PRODUCTIONS
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