Juan Atkins (born September 12, 1962), also known as Model 500 and Infiniti, is an American record producer and DJ from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. ''

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was prin ...

'' has described him as "the original pioneer of

Detroit techno Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mil ...

." He has been a member of

The Belleville Three The Belleville Three are three American musicians, Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson, who are credited with inventing the Detroit techno genre. Origins Kevin Saunderson was born in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of nine he mov ...

, Cybotron, and Borderland.

Early life

Juan Atkins was born in

. His father is a concert promoter. At an early age, he played guitar and bass guitar in funk/garage bands with his friends. After his parents split, he moved to

Belleville, Michigan Belleville is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state Michigan. The population was 3,991 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. As a western suburb of Metro Detroit, Belleville is southeast of Ann Arbor, Michig ...

. In junior high school, he met Derrick May and

Kevin Saunderson Kevin Maurice Saunderson (born September 5, 1964) is an American electronic dance music Dj and record producer. He is famous for being a member of a trio, along with Juan Atkins and Derrick May, who came to be known as The Belleville Three, w ...

. The three would later be known as

. At the age of 15, he bought his first synthesizer, a

Korg MS-10 , founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners. Under the Vox brand name, the ...

Career

Juan Atkins formed Cybotron with Richard Davis in 1980. The duo's debut studio album, '' Enter'', was released in 1983. Atkins and Davis split ways in 1985. In 1985, Atkins founded the record label

Metroplex A metroplex is a conurbation with more than one principal anchor city of near equal importance. Metroplex may refer to: * Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, a conurbation in Texas, U.S. *Eastgate Metroplex, a professional/retail complex in Tulsa, O ...

. In that year, he started making solo records under the alias Model 500. As Model 500, he released ''Deep Space'' in 1995, ''Mind and Body'' in 1999, and '' Digital Solutions'' in 2015. He is also one half of the duo Borderland along with

Moritz von Oswald Moritz von Oswald (born 1962) is a German record producer and percussionist from Hamburg and based in Berlin. He is a co-founder of the production duo and record label Basic Channel. He has collaborated with Juan Atkins, Carl Craig, and Nils P ...

. The duo released ''Borderland'' in 2013 and ''

Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

'' in 2016. In 2015, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Metroplex, Juan Atkins collaborated with VAVA Eyewear.

Style and influences

Juan Atkins has stated that George Clinton's bands

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

and

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, pioneered the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, Bush. Funkadeli ...

were important to his musical awakening. He grew up listening to

The Electrifying Mojo The Electrifying Mojo (born Charles Johnson in Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American radio personality. He is a disc jockey based in Detroit, Michigan whose on-air journey of musical and social development shaped a generation of music-lovers in D ...

's radio shows. He also acknowledged

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

as one of the influences on his music. ''

'' has described him as "the original pioneer of

Discography

Studio albums

* ''3MB Featuring Magic Juan Atkins'' (1992) * ''Deep Space'' (1995) * ''Skynet'' (1998) * ''Mind and Body'' (1999) * ''The Berlin Sessions'' (2005) * ''Borderland'' (2013) * '' Digital Solutions'' (2015) * ''

'' (2016) * ''Mind Merge LP'' (2017)

Compilation albums

* ''

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

'' (1993) * ''The Infiniti Collection'' (1996) * ''20 Years 1985 - 2005'' (2005)

EPs

* ''The True Techno EP'' (1992) * ''The Future Sound EP'' (1993)

Singles

* "

No UFO's "No UFO's" is a 1985 techno song by Juan Atkins under the alias of Model 500. It was released on Atkins own label Metroplex. The song was the first track released after the split of Atkins' previous group Cybotron. The music followed similar the ...

" (1985) * "Night Drive" (1985) * "Testing 1-2" (1986) * "Play It Cool" (1986) * "Technicolor" (1986) * "It's Channel One" (1987) * "Sound of Stereo" (1987) * "Make Some Noise" (1987) * "Beat Track" (1987) * "Interference" (1988) * "The Chase" (1989) * "Ocean to Ocean" (1990) * "Jazz Is the Teacher" (1993) * "I See the Light" (1993) * "Sonic Sunset" (1994) * "The Flow" (1995) * "Starlight" (1995) * "I Wanna Be There" (1996) * "Be Brave" (1998) * "Update" (2002) * "Outer Space" (2004) * "OFI" / "Huesca" (2010) * "Control" (2012) * "Riod" (2016)

Filmography

Feature films

* ''High Tech Soul'' (2006)

Short films

* ''Black to Techno'' (2019)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Juan 1962 births Living people 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American musicians African-American DJs American electronic musicians American techno musicians Detroit techno DJs from Detroit Electronic dance music DJs 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians