Among the many endeavors of Gaston Steenkist and René ter Horst, Chocolate Puma ranks as one of the best-known projects from this highly productive and influential Dutch house duo. Following chart success in the '90s through releases under aliases such as the Good Men, Jark Prongo, and Klatsch!, the pair launched funky, vocal-driven house anthems as Chocolate Puma in 2000, beginning with "I Wanna Be U," which reached the U.K. pop Top 10. They kept issuing tracks via their own Pssst Music and JP Records imprints alongside major house outlets including Defected and Strictly Rhythm, while the 2011 anthology House Masters gathered material across their various pseudonyms. Throughout the 2010s the duo stayed at the leading edge of the electro-house/EDM movement, often teaming with producers such as Tommie Sunshine and Laidback Luke while placing numerous singles on Dim Mak and Spinnin' Records.
Gaston Steenkist, based in Amsterdam, and René ter Horst, from Haarlem—also known as DJ Zki & Dobre—first joined forces in 1991, the same year they established their initial label, Fresh Fruit. An early single credited to the Good Men, the infectious, samba-influenced "Give It Up," became a massive worldwide success, topping the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and later reaching number 5 on the U.K. Singles Chart. Although that track remained the duo's sole major hit under the Good Men name, they notched further club successes during the decade as Klatsch! with "Oh Boy" and "God Save the Queer," and as René et Gaston with "Vallée de larmes." Beginning in 1993 they also issued tech-house and progressive house as Jark Prongo, frequently through their JP Records imprint. After departing Fresh Fruit in 1995 to launch Pssst Music, the duo achieved their strongest Jark Prongo result with the 1998 single "Movin' Thru Your System," which became a U.K. hit upon its Hooj Choons re-release the following year; the full-length Thru Your System arrived in 2000.
The pair introduced their Chocolate Puma project the same year via "I Wanna Be U," which first surfaced on JP Records before Cream's U.K. reissue propelled it into the Top 10. They scored another major success in 2001 with "Who Do You Love Now?," a collaboration with Australian pop star Dannii Minogue under their trance alias Riva that climbed to number 3 on the U.K. Singles Chart. Additional charting singles that year included "Wack Ass MF" as Rhythmkillaz and "The Sound Of: Oh Yeah!" as Tomba Vira. Despite activity in other projects, the duo concentrated primarily on Chocolate Puma and Jark Prongo through the 2000s, shifting focus exclusively to Chocolate Puma thereafter. Their second-biggest Chocolate Puma hit, "Always and Forever," appeared in 2005 with wider distribution through Positiva in the U.K. and Ultra Records in the U.S. Defected issued the Morning Rain EP in 2008, while "Touch Me," their first joint effort with Bingo Players, came out on Strictly Rhythm that same year. The duo handled the second disc of the split release Defected in the House: Amsterdam 09 alongside Hardsoul. In 2011 In the House put out Chocolate Puma's House Masters, a triple-CD retrospective that collected tracks, remixes, and edits from the duo's more house-oriented work, followed a year later by the mixed double-CD In the House.
From 2012 onward Chocolate Puma began releasing material on EDM label Spinnin' Records, frequently in tandem with Firebeatz. They also recorded for outlets such as Dim Mak and Mixmash Records, and collaborated with producers including Kris Kiss on the 2014 hit "Step Back," Tommie Sunshine, and Laidback Luke, whose career they had helped launch in the '90s. Chocolate Puma likewise remained sought-after remixers, applying their touch to tracks by artists such as Kaskade, Hardwell, Fatboy Slim, and Oliver Heldens throughout the 2010s.
