Nick Holder

Nick Holder established himself during the closing years of the 1990s and the opening years of the following decade as one of house music’s most widely respected producers, generating a vast catalog that drew support from DJs spanning the techno, progressive house, and adjacent scenes. Operating out of Toronto, where he also ran DNH Records, he had already logged considerable time behind the decks before “Da Sambafrique” brought him his initial major breakthrough. Although he had placed tracks with Definitive and Stickmen across the preceding decade, nothing previously had matched the reach of that anthem. K7 subsequently commissioned full-length projects from him, and his records found near-constant rotation among peers, with “Trying to Find Myself,” “I Once Believed in U,” “Summer Daze,” and “Sometimes I’m Blue” ranking among the most frequently played selections.

Holder’s involvement in music dates back to the early 1980s, when he began working as a DJ. Toward the end of that decade he became immersed in the Detroit techno movement that had developed within driving distance of his Toronto base. Derrick May and Carl Craig, along with late-1980s Chicago productions by Adonis, proved especially influential. During the 1990s he turned to production, issuing 12-inch releases on Definitive, Stickmen, Hi Bias, Strobe, and Studio K7; the latter imprint issued his 1997 albums One Night in the Disco and Back on Track. Numerous additional recordings appeared via NRK, among them the major tracks “Da Sambafrique” (NRK 018), “I Once Believed in U” (NRK 023), and “Trying to Find Myself” (NRK 031), as well as the albums From Within and Underground Alternatives.