| Chris Fortier | |
| Birth Name: | Chris Fortier |
| Alias: | Fade 40oz |
| Origin: | Melbourne, Florida |
| Genre: | House |
| Occupation: | Disc jockey Record producer |
| Years Active: | 1990–present |
| Label: | Fade Records EQ (Grey) |
| Associated Acts: | Fade, 40oz |
Chris Fortier is an American DJ and founder of the Balance Record Pool as well as co-founder and owner of Fade Records. Fortier's DJing covers a range of styles from dark progressive to minimalist techno. He is well known for being a central figure in the development of electronic dance music in the United States as both a DJ and founder of the Balance Record Pool.[1]
Chris Fortier grew up in Melbourne, Florida, moving to Orlando, Florida to attend the University of Central Florida.[2] Until he discovered house music, Fortier's primary hobby was surfing.[3] He began DJing in 1990 in Orlando where he was influenced by other Florida DJs such as Kimball Collins and Dave Cannalte.[4] After performing with DJ Icey, Kimball Collins set Fortier up as resident DJ at the Aahz nightclub.[5] In 1993, Fortier was introduced to Neil Kolo, who had been producing music for 5 years.[6] They found they had chemistry and became the duo Fade, releasing "...For All the People" on their newly founded label Fade Records in 1994.[6] In 1996, Fortier founded the Balance Record Pool, a record pool designed to help North American DJs to spread electronic music.[7] Balance won the International Dance Music Awards for best record pool in 2005 and 2006.[8] [9] The Balance Record Pool and Jimmy Van M's DJ booking agency making up Balance Promote Group.[6]
In 1998, when submitting a bootleg remix of Sarah McLachlan's song "Plenty" to her record label, Fortier was offered the chance to remix the Delerium song "Silence" featuring McLachlan.[10] Their remix was released on Nettwerk and sold over one million copies.[5] Fade Records began to expand to productions not exclusively by Fortier and Kolo, including helping launch the career of Steve Porter.[5] Fortier helped Porter develop his production abilities and Porter helped introduce Fortier to the mixing software Pro Tools.[11] In 2000, Fortier began his residency at New York City club Twilo, playing alongside Dave Seaman.[10]
After being in contact with EQ / Stomp regarding distribution of their records in the Balance Record Pool, Fortier was given the opportunity to mix the seventh entry in their Balance series.[5] For Balance 007, Fortier used Ableton Live to mesh songs together, similarly to Sasha.[2]