Chris Lake

From the early years of the 2000s onward, UK-based creator and selector Chris Lake has assembled an expansive body of self-produced tracks and reinterpretations, moving fluidly across progressive house, tech-house textures, and vocal-centric EDM. Multiple charting successes have come his way through partnerships with major EDM figures including Deadmau5 and Steve Aoki, while his reworkings have touched pop figures such as Sia, Kylie Minogue, and Lady Gaga. Lake also operates the Rising Music imprint, which has put out dozens of releases since its launch in 2005. His first full-length project, Crazy, appeared in 2009, followed by the joint effort Cross the Line with Marco Lys in 2010. Further joint projects arrived via the Close Your Eyes EP with Walker & Royce in 2018 and the four-track The Answer EP with Armand Van Helden in 2020, plus the 2021 single “Beat Freak” alongside Riva Starr and the 2023 track “Beggin’” with Aluna.

Lake first drew notice in 2002 when bootleg remixes of material by the Prodigy and the Eurythmics, issued under the alias Christophe D’Abuc, circulated among progressive house selectors. That same year saw the release of his initial original track, “Santiago de Cuba.” Subsequent singles surfaced on Pangea Recordings and Statra Recordings before Rising Music debuted with “One Too Many” near the end of 2005. The breakthrough arrived with “Changes,” featuring vocalist Laura V, which climbed into the Top Ten of Billboard’s dance airplay chart and reached the Top 30 on the U.K. singles chart. In 2007 “Carry Me Away,” featuring Emma Hewitt, claimed the top spot on the dance airplay chart, while both “Only One” and “If You Knew” in 2008 also landed inside the Top Ten. Nervous Records issued the debut album Crazy in 2009, which gathered several earlier singles.

A split volume of the Toolroom Knights mix series with Tocadisco arrived in 2010. Later that year Lake and regular partner Marco Lys completed the album Cross the Line for Rising Music. The club-oriented single “I Said,” a Deadmau5 collaboration, also surfaced in 2010. Lake moved to Ultra Records in 2012 and delivered multiple singles for the label over the following years, among them joint releases with Steve Aoki and Anna Lunoe. Signing to Skrillex’s OWSLA in 2017, he introduced himself on the imprint with “I Want You.” The two-track Close Your Eyes EP, again with Walker & Royce, followed in 2018. Further singles “Y.O.D.O.,” “Deceiver,” and “Stay with Me” carried activity through 2019.

The four-song EP The Answer, a team-up with house veteran Armand Van Helden, landed in 2020. Lake and Riva Starr issued “Beat Freak,” featuring vocalist lau.ra, the next year, while a separate collaboration with NPC produced “A Drug from God.” In 2022 came the tracks “400,” “Nightmares,” and “In the Yuma” featuring Aatig. “Beggin’,” a partnership with Aluna, followed in 2023.