Juan Atkins

Juan Atkins
Atkins performing as Model 500 at DEMF in 2007.
Background information
Also known as	Model 500, Infiniti
Born	(1962-12-09) December 9, 1962 (age 54)
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	Detroit techno, house, electronica
Instruments	Korg M3, Korg R-3 Sequential Circuits Pro-1, Roland TR-808
Years active	1980–present
Labels	Metroplex, Om Records
Associated acts	Cybotron

Juan Atkins (born December 9, 1962) is an American musician. He is widely credited as the originator of techno music, specifically Detroit techno along with Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. The three, sometimes called the Belleville Three, attended high school together in Belleville, Michigan, near Detroit.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of a concert promoter, Juan Atkins learned how to play bass, drums, and "a little lead guitar" at an early age. After moving to rural Belleville, Michigan, Atkins met Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. The three were among the few black students at their school, and would later be known as the "Belleville Three", and the originators of Detroit Techno. As teenagers, they were exposed to the electronic and funk sounds from a 5-hour late-night radio show called "The Midnight Funk Association" on WGPR to hear DJ Charles "The Electrifying Mojo" Johnson's genre-defying radio show.

At the age of sixteen, Atkins heard electronic music for the first time, which would prove to be a life-changing experience. In late-1990s interviews, he recalls the sound of synthesizers as being like "UFOs landing." He soon had his first synthesizer and abandoned playing funk bass.

He bought his first analogue synthesizer, a Korg MS-10, and began recording with cassette decks and a mixer for overdubs. He subsequently taught Derrick May to mix, and the pair started doing DJ sets together as Deep Space. They took their long mixes to Mojo, who began to play them on his show in 1981. Atkins, May, and Saunderson would continue to collaborate as Deep Space Soundworks, even starting a club in downtown Detroit for local DJs to spin and collaborate.

The 1982 single "Cosmic Cars" also did well. Cybotron recorded their debut album, Enter, and were soon signed to Fantasy Records. One track, "Clear," struck out in the direction that Atkins would pursue with what would later be called his "techno" music. The song took Kraftwerk-like electronic elements and fused them with club music.