Loading details…
Artist
K-Hand
12+ albums
technoHousedetroit technoelectronicGarage House
about
Kelli Hand (1965 – August 3, 2021) aka K-HAND was named “the first lady of Detroit” by the city’s council in 2017, acknowledging a career in which she was a rare Black woman in dance music production and DJing. Born and raised in Detroit, she began DJing in the late 80s, producing her own music and founded the label Acacia Records, to release tracks spanning jackin’ house, ghettotech and Detroit techno. She began touring in Europe by the mid-1990s with Warp Records releasing the single 'Global Warning' in 1994. She released the first of seven studio albums in 1995, and steadily continued to release music until 2020. K-Hand’s musical development began at a very early age in Detroit. At just six years old Kelli was already embracing the study of voice, piano, and bongos and went on to play the drums and a variety of percussion instruments throughout High School. In college she studied Music Theory and frequented legendary clubs such as “The Paradise Garage” as well as started her own inspirational Classic House vinyl record collection that her mentors Larry Levan and Timmy Regisford were playing in the early to mid 80’s. In 1990, with Kelli’s enthusiasm and knowledge for this musical sound, she was quickly recruited by the late Ken Collier to DJ for “Zippers” club in Detroit as well as started collaborating with the Collier brothers, Greg and Ken. Within the same year, she released her 10th twelve inch release,”Everybody”, and “Freak them Hoes”, while launching what is now kn
