Kevin Saunderson Biography
Kevin Saunderson (Kevin Maurice Saunderson) is an American electronic producer. At the age of nine, Maurice moved to Belleville, Michigan,a suburb of Detroit.
Maurice attended Bellevile High School and befriended two students, Derrick May, and Juan Atkins. The three, often called the Belleville Three are considered to be the originators of techno, specifically Detroit techno.
Kevin Saunderson Age
Kevin Maurice Saunderson was born on September 5, 1964. He is 54 years old as of 2018.
Kevin Saunderson Wife
Kevin is married to Sharmeela Lamarsha Saunderson.
Kevin Saunderson Detroit
Although he is frequently associated with Detroit, Saunderson spent the early years of his life in Brooklyn, New York, before moving to Belleville, Michigan, a rural town some 30 miles from Detroit. Kevin first met future Techno pioneer Derrick May when they were both fourteen. Derrick had decided not to pay Saunderson after losing a bet and, one day at school, he punched May in the face, knocking him out cold and giving him a concussion. After the altercation, the duo became best friends.
In high school, Maurice and Belleville High School classmate Juan Atkins were fans of DJ Charles “The Electrifying Mojo” Johnson. They soon became serious about mixing others’ music and creating their own. Kevin pursued other goals first, studying telecommunications and also playing American football at Eastern Michigan University. Juan had begun recording with Cybotron in 1981. It was not until 1987 that Derrick followed suit and made a record. Originally concentrating on becoming a DJ, Maurice was inspired to create his own music after watching the six-month-long process as Atkins and May completed “Let’s Go.”
Juan shared his technical expertise with Maurice. Those early sessions led to a track called “Triangle Of Love.” “I used to wake up in the middle of the night, go into my studio – which was in the next room – and lay down the ideas as they came to me. At the time it was all about experimentation and being a college kid” Kevin writes on his web page autobiography. “Triangle of Love” released under the pseudonym Kreem on Atkins’ label, Metroplex.
Kevin Saunderson Inner City
Inner City is a Maurice collaboration that came about “by accident,” according to him. He recorded a backing track in his home studio in 1987, but he needed lyrics and a female vocalist. His friend, Chicago house producer Terry ‘Housemaster’ Baldwin suggested Paris Grey. “Paris agreed, flew into Detroit, came up with lyrics and ‘Big Fun’ was born.” Maurice filed away the tape until, months later, UK dance entrepreneur Neil Rushton came to Detroit in search of music for a compilation album, Techno – The New Dance Sound Of Detroit for Virgin Records. Neil included “Big Fun” on the album.
Kevin Saunderson Big Fun
Big Fun was later released as a single and also became a worldwide smash.
Kevin Saunderson Good Life
Big Fun was later outsold by Inner City’s follow-up single, “Good Life.” The debut album, Paradise, soon followed. Through the years, and after three albums, Inner City had nine Top 40 hits in the UK and also two Top 20 albums, with combined sales of more than six million.
Kevin Saunderson E-Dancer
The E-Dancer project Kevin creates music that is “more underground.” The first E-Dancer album, ‘Heavenly,’ was later released in 1998 to critical acclaim; Spin named it “one of the ten best albums you’ve never heard.”
Kevin Saunderson Bassline
The bassline of Kevin’s 1988 track “Just Want Another Chance” (released under his “Reese” pseudonym on Incognito Records became very influential in the jungle and drum and bass music genres. Some notable releases incorporating the “Reese Bassline” include Renegade’s “Terrorist” (Moving Shadow, 1994), “Pulp Fiction” by Alex Reece (Metalheadz, 1995) and also “Sonar” by DJ Trace (Prototype Recordings, 1998). The bassline itself was performed by a Casio CZ-5000 using simple subtractive synthesis.
Kevin continued to develop his record label KMS. “The aim is to help and develop new talent and more importantly to continue to create and release great music,” wrote Maurice.
Kevin also sponsors traveling youth baseball teams, and also helps coach and manage one of those teams, the Metro Detroit Dodgers. Kevin’s son was playing on the baseball team A Green as of 2005. Baseball takes hold of Detroit techno star late in life.
He made his Second Life debut performing live at a mixed reality event, celebrating the Grand Opening of Detroit Life – The Motor City inside The Metaverse on May 15, 2007. That same year, Kevin compiled a mixtape for Triple J, an Australian radio station.
Saunderson’s mixing board was to be on display at the newly renovated Detroit Historical Museum in November 2012.
Kevin Saunderson Names
Maurice has worked under various names;
- E-dancer
- Esseray
- Inner City (originally Inter City)
- Kaos
- Keynotes
- Kreem
- KS Experience
- Reese
- Reese & Santonio
- Reese Project
- Tronikhouse
- The Elevator
Kevin Saunderson Net Worth
Kevin’s net worth is not yet revealed.
Kevin Saunderson Facebook
Kevin Saunderson Twitter
Tweets by kevinsaunderson
Kevin Saunderson Instagram
Kevin Saunderson The Groove That Won T Stop
Kevin Saunderson Interview
Published; May 25, 2017
Source;http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com
When journalists began writing about “The Belleville Three,” you were treated as if you were a real trio. How much did it feel like you were a team at the time?
Kevin Saunderson: It was that way. Obviously Juan [Atkins] was first and he set the pattern. He was a musician and he trained. He understood music. But what really made it happen was that Derrick [May] and I were inspired, maybe subconsciously, through Juan. We had our own aspirations outside of “the group,” shall I say, but as we developed the music developed. Derrick was taking Juan’s music to Chicago, meeting promoters, meeting the DJs and handing out records. So you could say Derrick started out as a promoter for Juan, just helping him to promote his music, but also, wanting to be one of the same.
Myself, I came along a few years later, but in enough time to make an impact. What happened is, Juan was doing all this Cybotron electro stuff. He didn’t really do tracks with a 4/4 beat. He didn’t really start doing that until me and Derrick started making music. Once he had seen that we were having success with all that, he started making it. So he was bouncing off us then. Juan had moved to Los Angeles, but he moved back to Detroit because of what me and Derrick were doing and the impact we were having on the scene.
Didn’t Juan get a deal in LA with Fantasy?
Kevin Saunderson: Well, he got that when he was in Detroit, but then he had another one later with some distribution chain down there. He came back to be a part of what was happening. That was when we started going to England. That’s when the whole compilation came together, the techno compilation. [Techno: The New Dance Sound of Detroit on Ten Records] Then we worked together. Juan helped me create my first record, he helped Derrick create a record, plus he helped us create and to understand how to arrange it, mix it down and get it to a final piece. I had all these parts, but I still didn’t know how to get it to a two-track and say, “It’s finished.” So he helped me get through that whole stage. That was “Triangle of Love.”
When you first started making records and people like Neil Rushton in the UK began taking an interest, how did that feel?
Kevin Saunderson: Strange and very weird. I didn’t really understand what the hell he [Neil] was talking about. License this, license that. I didn’t really get it until I came to England [for the first time], heard people playing my music and saw the reaction of the crowd.
When you made your records, who did you make them for?
Kevin Saunderson: Just for me.
But in terms of clubs, where did you think they’d get played?
Kevin Saunderson: I knew they would get played in clubs in Detroit, or where I obviously had a lot of experience. I always visualized myself being in the Paradise Garage, hearing my records on the sound system. That’s why sometimes I made very deep records, like “Just Want Another Chance.” Very dark and deep with dirty bass, because I’d been to the Garage and had those experiences.
You must have been pretty young when you went to the Garage.
Yes. I can’t remember how old. I had a beard at a young age. I don’t have it now because I would probably look about 85.
How was that, going to the Garage?
Kevin Saunderson: It was amazing. It blew me away. I never knew something like that could exist.
Who took you there?
Kevin Saunderson: My brothers and my cousins. We all used to go together and just dance. I went at least four times.
Was that on Saturdays?
Kevin Saunderson: I don’t remember.
I ask because there was the gay night on the Saturday that was known for being more wild.
Kevin Saunderson: Right. I probably went on both nights.
Of the three, you were the more commercially successful. Do you think that was because you brought that New York sensibility to it?
Kevin Saunderson: Definitely, there’s no doubt about it. My inspiration was a little different. I was into vocals. I was into Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King, McFadden and Whitehead, Chaka Khan. Those were anthems to me, so it was natural for me to have that inspiration when I created my music. So when I’m making music I’m thinking about melody, I’m thinking about song, I’m thinking about uplifting tunes. Because that’s what I felt, I felt good.
How did that connect with what the other guys were doing? That kind of bleak and melancholic sound. Did that meet with you or were you doing something different?
Kevin Saunderson: I think I was really doing my own thing. I had my own vision, we were just using the same tools. It was a simple as that: we were using the same tools. But then I could go very underground and very deep and dark. I was versatile. I think I was just a little more versatile in my vision [than Juan and Derrick]. I liked it all. I wanted to make it all, I guess.
What was the first time you heard one of your records being played over here in the UK?
Kevin Saunderson: The first time was “Big Fun” being played by Paul Oakenfold at Spectrum, on a Monday night. Was it on a Monday?
Yes, it was.
Kevin Saunderson: It was unreal. It was the summer of 1988.
Was that the first time you came over?
Kevin Saunderson: Nah. I came over before then, maybe four months before, in the spring of 1988. Me and Derrick DJed at some techno compilation party for Ten Records.
Like a release party?
Kevin Saunderson: Right, right.
So the second time was the one?
Kevin Saunderson: Yeah. The scene had changed that quickly. I wouldn’t say the parties weren’t that developed when I first came over, but by the summer it had changed. I think I heard my records on a pirate radio station though, the first time.
Are you conscious of what you started?
Kevin Saunderson: Of course. It is what it is.
How did you feel when it was Europe that picked up on it and your hometown let it pass by?
Kevin Saunderson: I just figured, “Hey, y’all motherfuckers will catch up eventually.” You know, America is different because of segregation in video, segregation of the radio and all those different formats. It was hard for them to accept what we were doing as a new form of music that they could understand. You didn’t hear it on any format of radio or see it on TV, obviously.
But the inspiration was very European as well.
Kevin Saunderson: I wouldn’t say mine was. Not so much as Derrick and Juan’s was.
Were you buying those Italian disco records and the European synthesizer tracks?
Kevin Saunderson: I wasn’t necessarily buying them, but I was hearing them, through Derrick and Juan. But it quickly changed to what we were doing and what Chicago was doing. I did like what I heard. I was into New Order and obviously Kraftwerk. I think the real influence of European music was that you could make music with electronic equipment.
It was the technique.
Kevin Saunderson: Yeah. Some of the music obviously was really good, but it was that “I can do this all by myself,” realization. I was more infatuated with that than anything.
You were very much chasing the idea of making records that could be played in the Garage.
Kevin Saunderson: Not always, but certain records I made to be dark. “The Sound” had that simple bassline, a nice sound that was unique and a drum pattern. That’s all it did. If I had to pick one song that was made especially for the Garage, it was “Just Want Another Chance.” No doubt about it. The sad thing about it is, as soon as I started creating music and traveling [to DJ], the Garage was no longer, so I never got to hear one of my records in there. I got to hear some of the Chicago stuff, though. Yeah, that had an influence, a great sound system and a DJ playing music.