Colin Faver was an influential British disc jockey and promoter who was greatly responsible for introducing many to the sounds of techno and acid house in the '80s and '90s. Faver co-founded London's pioneering dance radio station Kiss FM, and helped launch the first acid house party along with fellow DJ Danny Rampling. Rabbit City Records, the label Faver co-founded with Gordon Matthewman, released Aphex Twin's seminal early track "Digeridoo," as well as records by Spiral Tribe and Force Mass Motion. Faver was a resident DJ at numerous club nights throughout his decades-long career, and worked tirelessly as a promoter of underground dance sounds without regard to genre or scene boundaries. The ego-free DJ stayed behind the scenes, never attracting controversy or notoriety, and remained dedicated to music for his entire life.

Colin Faver entered the music business in the late '70s while working at London record shop Small Wonder. The store established a label, Small Wonder Records, and Faver helped sign artists, including the Cure, whose 1978 debut single, "Killing an Arab," was released by the label. Along with Kevin Millin, Faver co-founded Final Solution, a company that designed much of Small Wonder Records' artwork, as well as putting on concert events and club nights, including gigs by Throbbing Gristle, Joy Division, and Bauhaus. He also became a DJ, spinning at clubs such as The Marquee and Vortex, and became a resident at The Camden Palace in 1982, playing a boundless array of music including electro, disco, new wave, hip-hop, reggae, and industrial. He became an in-demand disc jockey, regularly playing gigs across the globe and even landing a rare guest appearance at Larry Levan's legendary Paradise Garage club in New York City.

Kiss FM began as a pirate radio station in the mid-'80s, initially broadcasting dance music in South London, and eventually throughout all of London. When acid house began emanating from Chicago, Faver and fellow DJ Danny Rampling helped develop the first acid house parties, held at the WAG club. Faver also spun at Manchester's The Haçienda, another U.K. club crucial to the development of the acid house scene. When Kiss FM went legal in 1990, Faver helmed a weekly techno radio show, which featured guest mixes from myriad DJs from across the international dance music spectrum, including Carl Cox, DJ Pierre, Joey Beltram, and countless others, as well as interviews with Detroit techno pioneers Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. Along with Fabio and Grooverider, Faver was a resident DJ at Kevin Millin's club night Rage; when this folded, Faver established a techno night called Knowledge along with his Kiss FM cohort Colin Dale and Jane Howard. This influential night lasted until 1993, hosting sets by DJs including Dave Angel and Sven Väth, and gradually reflected the harder direction that techno music was taking, particularly from Belgium and the Netherlands as well as the U.K.

Faver and Gordon Matthewman (who produced tracks together as Razor Boy Mirror Man) formed Rabbit City Records in 1991, releasing their own single "Cutter Mix" and following it up with Aphex Twin's second EP, Analog Bubblebath, Vol. 2, which featured his groundbreaking, hypnotic track "Digeridoo." The label released dozens of records throughout the decade, including several EPs and full-lengths by Force Mass Motion, as well as an EP by free party sound system Spiral Tribe (aka SP 23). Faver co-promoted a night called Deep Space along with his life partner, techno DJ Brenda Russell, as well as another well-regarded night called Submerge. Faver released a few commercially available mix CDs, but largely remained behind the DJ booth at clubs or on the radio rather than capitalizing on his name with releases. Faver's Kiss FM show ended in 1997, but he continued DJ'ing, albeit not at the relentless pace as he once did. In 2014, he began a deep house/R&B show on Mi-Soul, an online British soul station. On September 5, 2015, Colin Faver passed away due to multiple organ failure at the age of 63. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi