Christian Jay "C. J." Bolland (born 18 June 1971,
Stockton-on-Tees, England) is an English-Belgian
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...
producer and
remixer with British roots.
Born in
Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, Bolland's family moved to
Antwerp in Flanders, Belgium, when he was three years old.
[Larkin, Colin (1999) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music'', Virgin Books, , p. 42] As a teenager, he was strongly influenced by the Belgian underground scene of
new wave,
electro and
EBM embodied by artists such as
Front 242,
Neon Judgement and
the Klinik.
Producing, R&S Records signing
His first productions were aired on Belgium's ''Liaisons Dangereuses'' radio show, and Bolland was one of the first record producers to be signed to the fledgling Belgian techno record label
R&S. His first release, "Do That Dance" in 1989, was followed by several more under different aliases such as 'Space Opera', 'The Project', 'Cee-Jay' and 'Pulse'. Bolland's first major success with the track "Horsepower" on 1991's ''Ravesignal III''
EP earned him industry attention and respect with wide airplay amongst European techno DJs. In 1992, the album ''The 4th Sign'', including the singles "Camargue" and "Nightbreed" saw him garner further acclaim and commercial success.
Bolland's second album for R&S, ''Electronic Highway'', was released in 1995.
Internal Records
In late 1994, Bolland left R&S to sign a five album recording contract with Internal/
PolyGram.
During this time, he became notable as the first artist to release an album in the ''
DJ-Kicks'' series for the
independent label Studio !K7
!K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently he ...
, 1995's ''
DJ-Kicks: C.J. Bolland''.
His first studio album for PolyGram was 1996's ''The Analogue Theatre'' from which his greatest commercial success came with the single "Sugar Is Sweeter",
hitting
No. 1 on the United States
Hot Dance Club Play
Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...
chart, and reaching No. 11 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
[CJ Bolland](_blank)
Official Charts. Retrieved 9 February 2010
Further UK hits followed with "The Prophet" (#19) and "It Ain't Gonna Be Me" (#35).
Bolland is also a prolific remixer with a long résumé, including work with
Orbital,
Depeche Mode,
Moby,
the Prodigy and
Tori Amos
Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...
. His song "The Prophet",
sampling Willem Dafoe
Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for four Academy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, t ...
in
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
's 1990 film ''
The Last Temptation of Christ'' was an underground
club
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands and enterprises ...
hit.
The song "It Ain't Gonna Be Me" was featured in the soundtrack of film ''
Human Traffic
''Human Traffic'' is a 1999 British-Irish-Welsh independent coming of age comedy drama film written and directed by Justin Kerrigan. It is a cult film of the Cool Cymru era of arts in Wales.
The film explores themes of coming of age, drug and ...
''.
In 2000, Bolland released the song "Enter the Robot", a collaboration with Australian producer
Honeysmack
David Haberfeld (born 1969, in Melbourne) is an Australian electronic dance music producer, performer, DJ and educator. Best known for his productions and live performances as Honeysmack, he is a proponent of acid house and techno music styles ...
, and in 2002 started his own record label, Mole Records. February 2004 saw the release of ''The Body Gave You Everything'', the debut album by
Magnus
Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...
, a pop/
dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...
collaborative project with
Tom Barman
Thomas Andrew Barman (born 1 January 1972), is a Belgian musician and film director.
Barman studied at the film school of St.-Lucas in Brussels, but did not finish his studies because he wished to pursue a career in music.
In 1989, he began by ...
, founder and singer for the Belgian rock band,
dEUS. In December 2006, Bolland released a solo album titled ''The 5th Sign'' with the Belgian online record label The Wack Attack Barrack, followed in October 2009 by ''500€ Cocktail'' on Wikkid Records.
Discography
Albums
* ''The 4th Sign'' (1992)
* ''Electronic Highway'' (1995)
* ''The Analogue Theatre'' (1996) -
UK #43
* ''The 5th Sign'' (2005)
* ''500€ Cocktail'' (2009)
Singles and EPs
* "The Ravesignal" (1990)
* ''Ravesignal Vol. II'' (1990)
* ''Ravesignal III'' (1991)
* "Here We Go" / "Get Busy Time"
(with The Project) (1991)
* ''Camargue (The Remixes)'' (1993)
* ''Live at Universe'' (1993)
* "Neural Paradox" (1995)
* "The Starship Connection" (1995)
* "There Can Only Be One" (1995)
* "Sugar Is Sweeter" (1996) -
UK #11
* "The Prophet" / "Sugar Is Sweeter" (1996)
* "Desolate" / "The Tingler" (1996)
* "The Prophet" (1997) - UK #19
* "Sugar Is Sweeter" / "Blue Monday"
(with Orgy) (1998)
* "How Do I Deal" / "Sugar Is Sweeter"
(with Jennifer Love Hewitt (1998)
* "It Ain't Gonna Be Me" (1999) - UK #35
* "Dark Side" / Camargue"
(with Amex) (2000)
* "Inside Out" / "Cyrus"
(with Psylocibin) (2000)
* "See Saw" (2002)
* "Prophet 1" / "The Prophet"
(with Paul Oakenfold
Paul Mark Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mas ...
) (2002)
* "The Digger" (2003)
* "Riot" (2006)
* ''Radar Remixes''
(with T99) (2011)
* "Broken Showroom" (2012)
* "Chicago" (2012)
* ''Ban Me (Remixes)'' (2012)
* "The Return" (2019)
See also
*
List of number-one dance hits (United States)
This is a list of number-one dance hits as recorded by ''Billboard'' magazine's Dance Club Songs chart – a weekly national survey of popular songs in U.S. dance clubs. It began on October 26, 1974, under the title ''Disco Action'' chart. It is ...
*
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart
This is a list of recording artists who have reached number one on ''Billboard magazine's'' Dance Club Songs chart. ''Billboard'' began ranking dance music on the week ending October 26, 1974, and this is the standard music popularity chart in th ...
References
External links
C. J. Bolland official websiteC. J. Bollanddiscography at
Discogs
Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolland, C. J.
1971 births
Living people
English record producers
English electronic musicians
English techno musicians
English emigrants to Belgium
Belgian house musicians
Belgian dance musicians
Electronic dance music DJs
Musicians from Antwerp
People from Stockton-on-Tees
Remixers
PolyGram artists
Rhythm King artists