Adonis, born Michael A. Smith on January 4, 1963, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American acid house musician. Adonis began his musical journey studying contemporary jazz at the American Conservatory of Music and playing bass guitar in several R&B bands. His breakthrough came with the release of "No Way Back" in 1986, a seminal Chicago house track that sold over 100,000 copies and was later ranked number 14 on Rolling Stone's list of the 20 best Chicago house records in 2014. Following this success, Adonis released several influential singles including "We're Rockin Down the House" (1986) and "Acid Poke" (1988). In 2005, he released the EP Images with Noleian Reusse.