The Belleville Three: Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson

Every genre has an origin story. Techno’s starts with three teenage friends from Belleville, a small town outside Detroit, in the early eighties: Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. They’re known as the Belleville Three, and between them they shaped the sound that the rest of the world would call techno.

Detroit in the eighties

Detroit was the city of cars, and of Motown. By the early eighties, the car industry was in decline and much of the city was struggling. Three young Black kids in the suburbs were listening to a strange mix: funk and soul, but also European electronic music like Kraftwerk, and a late-night radio show called The Electrifying Mojo that played everything from Prince to synth-pop.

Juan Atkins: the originator

Atkins was the first to make the leap. With Rick Davis he formed Cybotron, whose 1984 track «Techno City» gave the scene a word. As Model 500, with tracks like «No UFO’s», he set the template: machine rhythms, futuristic synths, funk underneath.

Derrick May: the innovator

May, recording as Rhythim Is Rhythim, made «Strings of Life» in 1987, one of the most famous dance records ever. Its piano and strings are emotional in a way people didn’t expect from machine music. He also became one of the scene’s most quoted voices.

Kevin Saunderson: the elevator

Saunderson took the sound to the charts. With Inner City and singer Paris Grey he released «Big Fun» and «Good Life» in 1988, both big hits in the UK. They showed techno could fill a pop chart without losing its soul.

The British connection

In 1988, the British label 10 Records, part of Virgin, released a compilation put together by Neil Rushton: Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit. It introduced the sound to the UK just as the acid house explosion was taking off, and it helped fix the name «techno» for good. British clubbers and DJs became some of the Detroit artists’ most loyal audiences.

Their legacy

After them came a second wave of Detroit artists, from Underground Resistance to Carl Craig and Jeff Mills, and the sound travelled to Berlin, the UK and the rest of the world. Every techno night you go to today owes something to those three friends.

Want to hear the difference with house? Read Techno vs house, and discover the machines behind the sound in 808, 909 and 303.

FAQs

Who are the Belleville Three?

Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, three friends from Belleville, Michigan, considered the founders of Detroit techno.

Who invented techno?

No single person, but Juan Atkins is often called the originator, with May and Saunderson completing the trio.

Why is it called techno?

The word comes from tracks like Cybotron’s «Techno City» and was fixed by the 1988 UK compilation Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit.