Kevin Saunderson

Easily the most dexterous in the stable of Detroit techno pioneers, Kevin Saunderson recorded some of the hardest and most mechanistic techno to come out of the Motor City but routinely hit the mainstream dance charts as well with productions for his techno-pop act Inner City. From his very first production, Saunderson forged an energetic, ground-breaking style for techno -- a dense rhythmic assault of sound-samples and heavy percussion, often with a repetitive chanted chorus forming the only vocals. His Inner City productions however, consisted of much slicker, house-inspired tracks underpinning the vocal workouts by Paris Grey -- and later, his wife Ann. The group hit Great Britain's Top 40 eight times, and earned four number one club hits on the American dance chart as well. After Inner City's initial success in 1988, the group remained his primary concern until the mid-'90s, but Saunderson never deserted his hard-hitting production style; throughout the 1980s and '90s, Saunderson recorded as Tronik House, The Reese Project, E-dancer, Inter-City, Essaray and Reese & Santonio (the latter as a duo), and also developed a roster (including Blake Baxter and Chez Damier) for his own label, KMS Records. After a Saunderson retrospective appeared in 1997, he began to make a higher profile in the album ranks. The following year, he recorded a mix album for Studio !K7 as well as a debut solo LP (as E-dancer).