Eddie Fowlkes

Eddie Fowlkes stands for the history of Detroit techno, and not only because his handprints are cemented in the “Legends Plaza” at the Historical Museum of Detroit. For more than 30 years he has been setting dancefloors in motion, and his collection of more than 150 albums alone speaks volumes. After visiting a party at Charivari in 1978, at which DJ Darryl Shannon was spinning records, he decided he wanted a mixer. From that moment he began to lean toward the art of DJing. In 1986 he brought out his first record. This record, “Goodbye Kiss”, which appeared on Metroplex Records, paved the way for what would later become famous as Detroit techno. In the 1980s Fowlkes appeared with three turntables, a mixer, a wah-wah pedal and the drum machines 808 and 909. This previously unknown style revolutionized all ideas about what a DJ could be and do. In 1993 Fowlkes gave his sound a new name of its own: techno soul. This genre stands for Detroit techno, but also for 1970s funk, the Motown sound, Parliament and Chicago house. Fowlkes’s DJ sets refer back to his own productions, in which single tracks run through a development, for instance from house to techno. His recordings and remixes have been released on numerous notable as well as independent labels (including on Elektra Records, Sony, BMG, Warner Brothers, Azuli, Tresor and P.I.A.S).