K-Hand, Detroit House and Techno DJ, Dies at 56

Kelli Hand, the pioneering Detroit house and techno DJ known as K-Hand, has died, as The Guardian and the Detroit Metro Times report. She was 56 years old. A cause of death has not been revealed, however Hand’s death was confirmed to The Guardian via her agent.

A native Detroiter, Hand was named the “First Lady” of her hometown by the city’s council in 2017. The title was an acknowledgement of Hand’s trailblazing presence as a Black female producer and DJ in the local, male-dominated dance music scene.

In the 1980s, Hand began making brief trips to New York City, where she soaked up the music at clubs like Paradise Garage. During her visits she stocked up on vinyl, and eventually purchased her own turntables. Shortly after, she began DJing sets from her bedroom before playing publicly around Detroit.

In 1990, Hand launched UK House Records, which was later renamed Acacia Records (after a street in Detroit). That same year she issued Think About It, her debut EP as K-Hand (a name she chose for its gender ambiguity). In 1995, Hand’s first full-length On a Journey arrived, followed by six studio albums throughout her career. Hand continued to perform live DJ sets and release records through 2020, collaborating with artists like Jeff Mills, Robert Hood, Mike Banks, and more. Hand was a longtime champion of physical media, always preferring to work with hardware and LPs. “If you can DJ with vinyl then you can DJ with anything,” she told mixmag in 2018.