The Belleville Three

The Belleville Three refers to Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson, high school friends in Belleville, Michigan, whose shared fascination with Kraftwerk, funk, and the eclectic radio sets of DJ the Electrifying Mojo led them to invent techno in early-1980s Detroit. Atkins, recording as Cybotron and Model 500 on his Metroplex label, laid the genre's blueprint; May's Transmat and Saunderson's KMS Records extended it into starker and more commercial directions. Their combined catalog, from Clear to Strings of Life to Big Fun, transformed a post-industrial city's isolation into a new global dance music, later exported back through Berlin's club scene.