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Pete Tong is one of the most influential and recognizable figures in dance music's history, mainly due to his lengthy tenure as a host on BBC Radio 1, where he has hosted the weekly Essential Selection and Essential Mix programs since the early '90s. Through these programs, as well as the FFRR Records label, which he founded, Tong has broken countless club anthems to the general public, elevating dance music into the pantheon of popular culture. He has released numerous best-selling mix CDs, and maintains his status as a major club and festival DJ, favoring crowd-pleasing hits and club classics during his energetic sets. Compared to his career as a DJ, he has kept a relatively lower profile as a recording artist, occasionally putting out tech-house tracks or remixes for artists like Seal, Robyn, and U2. However, since the mid-2010s he has revisited dance music's past with several albums of symphonic cover versions of iconic tracks. Classic House, with conductor Jules Buckley and the Heritage Orchestra, appeared in 2016 and topped the U.K. albums chart. This was followed by several similar releases, including 2021's Pete Tong + Friends: Ibiza Classics.

Born in Dartford, Kent in 1960, Pete Tong played drums in a school band during his teenage years but later switched to DJing. After leaving school, he worked as a mobile DJ playing weddings and parties during the late '70s, and did time at small record labels as well. He made his first radio appearance on Radio Invicta, a pirate station dedicated to soul music. By 1983, Tong had hired in with London Records as an A&R representative, and several years later his position exposed him to the house music coming out of Chicago. After meeting with the owners of DJ International and Trax Records (the two most important Chicago house labels), Tong organized a 1986 compilation titled The House Sound of Chicago, Vol. 1, the first British release to focus on the sound. He had never given up DJing during his stint with London Records, and he began hyping the style at clubs around London, leading to its breakout during the late '80s. He also founded FFRR (Full Frequency Range Recordings), and released numerous house and hip-hop tracks, with D Mob's "We Call It Acieeed" and Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It" among the label's early success stories.

When the BBC began giving airtime to house music, Tong was a natural choice to lead the sessions, and his Essential Selection radio show (broadcast every Friday night, beginning in 1991) became the place for club kids -- as well as label executives -- to learn about the latest in dance music. Tong has traditionally chosen an up-and-coming track as the week's Essential New Tune, with many going on to become major hits and enduring classics. Since 1993, he has also hosted Essential Mix, a weekly program emulating the continuous mix format of dance clubs, and featuring a wide range of DJs, both established and rising. Several of the program's episodes, such as Paul Oakenfold's 1994 Goa Mix and David Holmes' 1997 journey through the history of soul music, have become legendary among dance music aficionados. Nearly every year since 1995, an Essential Mix of the Year has been determined by listener votes; winners have included Basement Jaxx, Flying Lotus, Caribou, and Josey Rebelle.

Tong's reputation grew as big and as fast as the world-wide popularity of house music during the early '90s, and he released several collections focusing on the major dance hits of the moment. Numerous volumes of The Annual and Dance Nation (on Ministry of Sound) and Essential Mix series (on FFRR) appeared during the mid-'90s, often packaged with mixes by other big-name DJs like Oakenfold, Carl Cox, and Boy George. Most of these mixes, as well as volumes of the Essential Selection series launched in 1997, reached the upper regions of the U.K. Compilation Chart. Keeping up with the biggest sounds of the moment, Tong's sets incorporated drum'n'bass, big beat, progressive house, trance, garage, and every other dance style that reached mainstream popularity. Essential Selection presented the soundtrack to the 1999 film Human Traffic, which included a disc mixed by Tong.

A longtime Ibiza DJ, Tong held a residency at the Pacha club during the mid-2000s. It's All Gone Pete Tong, a mockumentary named after a popular Oakenfold-coined phrase meaning "it's all gone a bit wrong," was released in 2004; Tong himself made an appearance in the film and contributed to its soundtrack. Tong began releasing tech-house singles in 2005, including co-productions with Chris Cox and Superbass.

Tong rebooted FFRR in 2011, focusing on EDM and commercial house. The DJ launched an All Gone Pete Tong event at Pacha that year, and began hosting a similarly named program in the U.S., as part of iHeartRadio's EDM channel Evolution. Continuing to issue mix CDs, Tong released All Gone mixes on Defected's ITH Records throughout much of the 2010s, including sets with Felix Da Housecat, Groove Armada, Skream, and Calvin Harris. He continued issuing low-key tracks on labels like Kompakt and Pets, with co-producers such as John Monkman and Tom Flynn.

In 2016, Tong released Classic House, an album of symphonic interpretations of iconic dance tracks by Moby, Robert Miles, Inner City, and others, featuring the Heritage Orchestra and conductor Jules Buckley. The release hit number one in the U.K., and was certified gold. Tong continued the concept with 2017's Ibiza Classics, featuring covers of songs by Massive Attack, the Prodigy, Jessie Ware, and others. The album reached number 11 and was also certified gold. Chilled Classics followed in 2019, featuring guest stars like Boy George, Wiley, Todd Edwards, and Robert Owens; it peaked at number 20. Also in 2019, the DJ began hosting Pete Tong's House Nation on BBC Radio 2. Pete Tong + Friends: Ibiza Classics, a different set than the earlier release, appeared in 2021, with guests including Tale of Us, Kölsch, and Riton. ~ Paul Simpson & John Bush

One of the most flamboyant and talented house divas of the 1990s, Ultra Naté stayed true to the dance mainstream despite major-label interference; though she began her career with Warner Brothers, by the late '90s she was recording for the indie dance heavyweight Strictly Rhythm and enjoying more success than she had before. Born and raised near Baltimore, she was studying pre-med during the late '80s when she began to get into the city's dance scene. At one nightclub, she was introduced to two DJs who had recorded as the Basement Boys. The trio got together to record a single called "It's Over Now" and gained a contract with Britain's WEA Records. The single became a large international dance hit, and though Ultra Naté was already more famous around the world than in her native country, her debut album, Blue Notes in the Basement, was released in America as well, on Warner Brothers. From the LP, the follow-up singles "Scandal," "Is It Love," and "Deeper Love" also became hits. Despite the fact, Warner Brothers attempted to market her in the States as an R&B singer, though her second album One Woman's Insanity failed to crossover. ("Show Me" did become a number one dance hit in America.) Ultra Naté moved to the independent Strictly Rhythm for her 1997 single "Free," produced by Mood II Swing. The track became her biggest hit yet, with Top Ten entries throughout Europe and the number one spot in France and Switzerland. Her third album, Situation: Critical, appeared in April 1998, with production by Mood II Swing, Al Mack, Masters at Work, and D-Influence. Stranger Than Fiction (2001) and Silk, Grime & Thunder (2007, for Tommy Boy) followed. ~ John Bush

House producer, DJ, gender equality activist, and entrepreneur LP Giobbi's music primarily features ecstatic piano melodies and soul- and gospel-inspired vocals. She is the founder of the nonprofit educational platform FEMME HOUSE, as well as the co-owner of the label and artist collective Animal Talk, along with her close friends Sofi Tukker. Quickly rising since her 2018 debut, she's performed at festivals like Coachella, Moogfest, and Burning Man and she's released dozens of singles and remixes, with tracks like 2021's "Carry Us" and "24" streaming in the millions. After launching a weekly show on Diplo's online station in 2021, FEMME HOUSE released its first compilation and went on tour in 2022. Giobbi's debut album, the 2023 release Light Places, is a set of uplifting dance tracks rooted in improvisation, and 2024's Dotr reflects on family, love, and loss.

Born in Oregon, LP Giobbi learned to play piano as a child, and received a degree in Jazz Piano Performance at UC Berkeley. Her parents were avowed Deadheads, and she frequently sports vintage Grateful Dead shirts during her performances, referring to herself as a one-woman jam band. Her first single, "Amber Rose" (with hermixalot and Computo), appeared in 2018 as the premier release on Animal Talk, a label, artist collective, and publishing company that Giobbi co-founded with dance-pop duo Sofi Tukker. Additional singles such as "Perfect Fire" and "Dejala Pasar" followed, as well as collaborations with TT the Artist, Little Boots, and others.

At the 2019 edition of Moogfest, Giobbi and hermixalot (Lauren A. Spalding) launched FEMME HOUSE, which offers online music production and DJ workshops for women, trans, and non-binary artists. The organization's weekly show on Diplo's Revolution streaming channel premiered in early 2021, and Giobbi's single "Say a Little Prayer" (featuring ÍøÆغÚÁÏian Rockstar) was issued by Diplo's Higher Ground imprint later in the year. She released several other heavily streamed songs during the year, including "Carry Us" (with Kaleena Zanders), "24" (with Born Dirty), and "O Retha" (with Crush Club). The first FEMME HOUSE compilation was released by Insomniac Records in 2022, featuring Giobbi and hermixalot's "Togetherness," arriving concurrently with the FEMME HOUSE Takeover Tour, featuring daytime music workshops and club shows at night.

Giobbi remixed Portugal. The Man's song "What, Me Worry?" She signed to Counter Records and released singles like "All in a Dream" (with DJ Tennis and Joseph Ashworth) and "Forever and a Day" (with Caroline Byrne), while "Sinner" (with Bklava) appeared on D4 D4NCE. She also collaborated with Pete Tong, Ultra Naté, and Jules Buckley on a remake of Naté's club classic "Free," which was released by Ministry of Sound. Garcia (Remixed), Giobbi's full remix of Jerry Garcia's first solo album, was released in 2023. Light Places, Giobbi's debut full-length for Counter Records, includes her previous singles for the label as well as songs featuring additional guests like Sofi Tukker and Little Jet. She followed the album with a set of remixes, a deluxe edition, and the singles "Giodisco" (Defected) and "Time Expands" (Yes Yes Yes). She also remixed Taylor Swift's massive hit "Cruel Summer," and collaborated with Redfield and DJ Rae on the song "Waiting."

2024 saw the release of the single "Howl" (with Le Chev) and the second FEMME HOUSE compilation. Giobbi's second album, Dotr, included appearances by Alabama Shakes, Portugal. The Man, Jacob Banks, Danielle Ponder, and others. ~ Paul Simpson