Inner City

Formed in Detroit in 1987 around producer Kevin Saunderson and vocalist Paris Grey, who came from Chicago, Inner City sits at the intersection of Detroit techno, house, and a more soul- and pop-inflected songwriting driven by vocals. The project emerged at a time when Saunderson, a member of the Belleville Three alongside Juan Atkins and Derrick May, was developing a more open, vocal-led version of the city's electronic aesthetic. Inner City quickly gained attention with tracks such as 'Big Fun', 'Good Life', 'Ain’t Nobody Better' and 'Do You Love What You Feel', which established a sound blending house rhythms, bright synths and very direct choruses. This formula runs through the albums Paradise/Big Fun (1989), Fire (1990), Praise (1992) and Testament '93 (1993), while the early-1990s live shows also incorporated Tommy Onyx into the group's setup. After several years of more sporadic activity, Inner City took on a new form from 2017 with Kevin Saunderson and his son Dantiez Saunderson, later joined by Steffanie Christi’an. This revival led to the album We All Move Together in 2020, including collaborations with artists like Idris Elba, and extended Inner City's identity between Detroit techno heritage and contemporary vocal house.