Cj Bolland
CJ Bolland, born Christian Jay Bolland in Stockton-on-Tees and raised in Antwerp from age three, is a British-Belgian techno DJ and producer who grew up around dance music thanks to parents who ran a club in Antwerp, with his mother also working as a DJ there. His own productions first circulated on Belgian pirate radio stations before a tape reached R&S Records, leading to a formative 32-hour studio session with label founder Renaat Vandepapeliere and a signing that launched his career under aliases including Pulse, Space Opera, Cee-Jay, Ravesignal and Sonic Solution. His 1992 Ravesignal 3 EP, and specifically the track Horsepower, made Bolland one of the most prominent names in the emerging global rave scene, and he went on to release the albums The 4th Sign and Electronic Highway on R&S before signing a five-album deal with Internal/PolyGram in 1994. Alongside his studio work, Bolland has remained an active DJ for more than three decades, continuing to play venues including Berlin's Berghain and Amsterdam's De School, and he briefly stepped away from techno around the millennium to form the jazzy electro band Magnus with singer Tom Barman before returning to DJing. Tracks including Camargue, The Prophet and Sugar Is Sweeter remain staples of his back catalogue and his continuing live sets.