The Belleville Three facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
The Belleville Three
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The Belleville Three performing at the Detroit Masonic Temple in 2017. From left to right: Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Belleville, Michigan |
| Genres | Detroit techno |
| Labels | Blue Raincoat Music |
| Members |
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The Belleville Three is the name for three American musicians: Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson. They are famous for creating a whole new style of music called Detroit techno. They invented this sound in the town of Belleville, Michigan, near Detroit.
Contents
The Beginning of a Friendship
Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson all went to the same high school in Belleville, Michigan. They quickly became good friends. The town was near many car factories, and it was a place where people from different backgrounds lived and worked together.
The three friends loved listening to all kinds of music. They would turn off the lights and listen to records by bands like Kraftwerk, Parliament, and Yellow Magic Orchestra. They also enjoyed listening to a late-night radio show by a DJ named Charles "The Electrifying Mojo" Johnson. He played a mix of electronic music and funk that inspired them.
Juan Atkins was the first to get a synthesizer, an electronic keyboard that can create many different sounds. He was also the first to learn how to use turntables to mix music like a DJ. He then taught his friends Derrick and Kevin how to do it, too.
Creating a New Sound
Atkins and May started DJing at parties in Detroit under the name Deep Space Soundworks. Soon, The Electrifying Mojo was playing their mixes on his radio show. The friends also traveled to Chicago to check out the house music scene, which was a popular style of dance music there.
They decided to mix the dance beats of house music with the futuristic, machine-like sounds of bands like Kraftwerk. Their music was meant to sound like their city, Detroit, which was famous for its car factories and industry. Atkins said that Detroit was moving away from industry and toward the future, and their music reflected that idea.
The First Wave of Techno
Early Music and Labels
While in college, Juan Atkins and his friend Rick Davis formed a group called Cybotron. Their first song, "Alleys of Your Mind," was a local hit. After more successful songs, they were signed by a record label and released an album called Enter.
After Cybotron, Atkins started making music by himself as Model 500. In 1985, he released a very important techno song called "No UFOs" on his own record label, Metroplex. His friends Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson also released music on this label.
Soon, each of the three friends started his own record label. May started Transmat, and Saunderson started KMS. They all had studios near each other in Detroit and often helped each other with their music.
Nicknames and Teamwork
The Belleville Three became known for their special roles in creating techno.
- Juan Atkins is often called the "Godfather of Techno" because he got everything started.
- Derrick May is known as the "Innovator" for his creative and new ideas. A famous song he made is "Strings of Life."
- Kevin Saunderson is called the "Elevator" because he helped make the music popular. His group Inner City had many hits.
To help the techno scene grow, the friends opened a club in Detroit called the Music Institute. It was a place where they and other new DJs could play their music. The club helped bring many artists together and inspired the next generation of techno musicians.
Techno Goes Global
In 1988, a music promoter from the United Kingdom named Neil Rushton wanted to release their music there. To make it clear that their sound was different from Chicago house music, they decided to call it "techno." Juan Atkins had already been using this word for years.
The music became very popular in Europe and around the world. The Belleville Three wanted people to focus on the music itself and the positive feelings it created.
Celebrating Techno in Detroit
In 2000, the first Detroit Electronic Music Festival was held to celebrate the city's musical history. Over the years, both Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson helped run the festival, which is now called Movement. They have also performed there many times, sharing their music with their hometown.
Finally Performing as a Group
Even though people called them The Belleville Three since the 1980s, the friends didn't officially perform together as a group for a long time. They wanted to be known for their own individual work.
But after 30 years, they realized the name had stuck. In 2017, they decided to officially team up and performed for the first time as The Belleville Three at the famous Coachella festival.
Today, The Belleville Three continue to tour the world, sharing the unique sound they created as teenagers in Michigan.
See also
- Detroit techno
- Techno
