CJ Bolland

Who is CJ Bolland?

C. J. Bolland is a British electronic music producer and remixer.

Born in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, Bolland's family moved to Antwerp, Belgium when he was three years old. As a teenager he was strongly influenced by the Belgian underground scene of new wave, electro and EBM embodied by artists such as Front 242, Neon Judgement and The Klinik. His first productions were aired in the early 1980s on Belgium's 'Liaisons Dangereuses' radio show, and Bolland was one of the first record producers to be signed to the fledgling Belgian techno record label R&S. His first release, "Do That Dance" in 1989, was followed by several more under different aliases such as 'Space Opera', 'The Project', 'Cee-Jay' and 'Pulse'. Bolland's first major success with the track "Horsepower" on 1991's Ravesignal III EP earned him industry attention and respect with wide airplay amongst European techno DJs, and 1993's 4th Sign album, including the singles "Camargue" and "Nightbreed" saw him garner further acclaim and commercial success. Bolland's second album for R&S, Electronic Highway, was released in 1995.

In late 1994 Bolland left R&S to sign a five album recording contract with Internal/Polygram Records. During this time he became notable as the first artist to release an album in the DJ-Kicks series for Studio !K7 independent record label, 1995's DJ-Kicks: C.J. Bolland. His first studio album for Polygram was 1996's The Analogue Theatre from which his greatest commercial success came with the single "Sugar Is Sweeter" hitting #1 in the United States Hot Dance Club Play chart, and reaching #11 on the UK Singles Chart. Further UK hits followed with "The Prophet" and "It Ain't Gonna Be Me". Bolland is also a prolific remixer with a long résumé, including work with Orbital, Depeche Mode, Moby, The Prodigy and Tori Amos. His song "The Prophet", sampling Willem Dafoe in Martin Scorsese's 1990 film The Last Temptation of Christ was an underground club hit.