That is, according to a recent Billboard interview with Saunderson. Conversations about race and dance music are as relevant as ever with Black Lives Matter protests raging on worldwide, and their questioning reflected that. When asked if he had been personally affected by industry gatekeepers shirking their responsibility to book more black artists, Saunderson recounted a conversation with a prominent figure in a “leading global agency.”

Saunderson said the exchange took place when he was rebooting his ’80s group Inner City – so likely in 2016 or early 2017. After a friend referred him, he left them a message and they called him back. “I said, ‘This is Kevin Saunderson and I wanted to talk about maybe doing some future business and touring together,'” Saunderson recalled. “He said, ‘Well, who are you? I don’t know anything about you. I don’t know who you are.'”

Outside of the agent (whose name and company he didn’t mention) not bothering to look into his career before their call, Saunderson said he took issue with their tone. “The point is that he’s very arrogant, and I didn’t know if it was a color thing or what,” he said. “But he was like, ‘I don’t know your music, I don’t know who you are, and we take top artists around this agency.'”

The Elevator

For fans of house and techno, at least, Kevin Saunderson needs no introduction. Around the same time he co-founded Inner City in the late ’80s, he garnered worldwide renown as a member of the Belleville Three, a trio credited for shaping the sound that would come to be known as Detroit techno. Saunderson was often referred to as The Elevator for his role in exposing the genre to a wider audience, while Juan Atkins and Derrick May were called The Originator and The Innovator, respectively.

The Billboard interview was not the first time in recent memory Saunderson has discussed matters of racial equality. As protests surrounding the death of George Floyd erupted in cities across the U.S., he voiced his solidarity for the movement. “I stand with them,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “I’m a peace-loving person and not one for violence, however, we the people have had enough. We’ve had enough hatred and bigotry. We’ve had enough systematic racism. We’ve had enough of killing us.”

Prior to the Black Lives Matter protests, Saunderson shared that self-quarantining after being diagnosed with COVID-19 gave him the opportunity to work on new music. He has yet to formally announce upcoming releases resulting from his time indoors.

Plenty of electronic musicians of color have been vocal on the matter, after all. Seminal Detroit techno producer and DJ Kevin Saunderson shared an open letter on the matter via Facebook with the full details of George Floyd‘s untimely death as well as his own reflections on the incident.

“People from around the world are standing together, risking their own safety for the future of humanity,” he wrote. “For us and for the future of our children and our beloved planet. I stand with them. I’m a peace-loving person and not one for violence, however, we the people have had enough. We’ve had enough hatred and bigotry. We’ve had enough systematic racism. We’ve had enough of killing us.”

Jeff Mills – typically one of electronic music’s more articulate intellectual figures who himself played an integral role in techno’s protest music origins – has given a different kind of input than usual. In addition to changing his Facebook page’s default image to the raised fist symbol, he has used his platform to draw attention to news articles around the protests.

Artists from overseas have also shared perspectives on the movement to end racial inequality. Considering Apartheid’s lasting effect on social injustice in South Africa, Black Coffee‘s short message of hope is especially relevant. “All of this will bring us closer together…we’re a global family now more than ever,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

The protests originating in Minneapolis quickly spread to cities in every U.S. state as well as countries like the U.K., Germany, Brazil Syria. Law enforcement has responded in much of the U.S. by deploying tear gas, pepper balls and foam bullets, adding fuel to the debate around police brutality.

Derek Chauvin, who was arrested for apparently murdering Floyd by pinning his knee on his neck after handcuffing him, has had his charge upgraded from third to second-degree manslaughter. The three other officers present have also now been arrested for aiding and abetting.

In a post to his Facebook page on Tuesday, Saunderson explained that his ailments had started two weeks prior. “I have been under the weather for the past 14 days with flu-like symptoms,” he said. “I was concerned, so I called into the doctor’s office and they said I had coronavirus-like symptoms, and to come in to get tested.” Saunderson said that after taking the test he had been waiting for two weeks to receive the results.

On Wednesday, Saunderson posted a subsequent video confirming that he tested positive for COVID-19. “I did get my results in about an hour ago,” he said. “The doctor called me and told me I was positive with the coronavirus.”

Saunderson reassured fans that he felt better than he had previously, and that he would remain at home where he could focus on recovery. He promised to wear a mask when he did eventually go out, but said that he expected to remain at home at least a week or two longer.

As of this writing, numerous globetrotting DJs have come down with COVID-19. One of the first was John Acquaviva, who told CBC back in March that healthcare providers had taken two weeks to test him for the coronavirus despite being “a guy who ticks off the boxes” on account of his frequent travel.

As with countless electronic musicians, Saunderson said that he’s spent his time in quarantine working on new music.

The conceptual core of each of the 19 singles comprising the 1998 effort’s tracklist remain, but with improved sonics. The Detroit superstar also modified the arrangements of certain singles to varying degrees. Spanning the breadth of the house and techno spectrum, songs from Heavenly Revisited could easily find their way into a contemporary DJ set.

Kevin Saunderson A.K.A. The Elevator

E-Dancer is but one of the aliases adopted by Kevin Saunderson over the course of his career. However, as a member of the Belleville Three – the group of artists widely credited as the originators of the techno genre – he earned another nickname. Juan Atkins and Derrick May came to be known as “The Originator” and “The Innovator,” respectively, and Saunderson was dubbed “The Elevator” for his role in popularizing the developing style of music outside of Detroit.

Kevin Saunderson released Heavenly Revisited through his artist label, KMS Records, on June 30th. This month, he, Atkins and May will conclude their reunion tour as the Belleville Three with a performance at Tomorrowland in Boom, Belgium on July 22nd.

Source: Dancing Astronaut