SANDRA COLLINS

Perhaps more than any other genre, electronic dance music spent the 20th century dominated by male DJs and producers, with only the occasional vocalist such as Björk or Tracey Thorn attaining any sort of notoriety. Consider Sandra Collins the first female DJ to reach superstar status in the late-'90s electronic dance music explosion. By being one of the first American DJs to champion the traditionally Eurocentric sound of trance, she quickly rose to stardom. Her beginnings on the West Coast at rave parties and at clubs led to her eventual entry into the popular Tranceport album series along with a March 2000 cover story for the important New York publication, Mixer.