Robert Strauss

Robert Alan Strauss, also known as Japhy Vansan, is a Canadian‑born, UK‑shaped producer, multi‑instrumentalist, singer‑songwriter, engineer and visual artist whose work spans deep house, funk, broken beat, modern soul, ambient and electronic dance music. Active since the early 1990s, he first worked under major‑label development deals in Canada before moving into studio engineering and electronic production.

He debuted on Freerange Records with the album “Quasars & Phasars” and followed with the BBE album “Mr. Feelings”, featuring guests such as Leroy Burgess, Baatin (Slum Village), Saidah Baba Talibah, Richie Hennessey and Moka Only. After relocating to London he founded WAX Recording Studio and has produced or mixed hundreds of projects for artists including Sugarhill Gang, Jordan Rakei, Kwabs, Blue Lab Beats, Omar, Odyssey and Swing Out Sister, while releasing music on labels such as BBE, Freerange, Defected, Tokyo Dawn, Soul Jazz, Expansion and Om.

As bandleader and musical director of London soul collective Personal Life—featuring members of Amy Winehouse’s touring band—he released the cult album “Morning Light” on Tokyo Dawn Records, was nominated by Soul Survivors readers as UK Soul Artist of the Year, headlined London’s Jazz Café and toured Brazil and mainland Europe. Under his WX//CLTV (WAX Collective) banner he runs a growing multi‑alias catalogue, including projects like D/S/T/N/C/E, Transpiritual, WX//CLTV and the live‑performance concept PEACE | IN | PARALLEL, together surpassing 200 million streams across platforms as of 2026. Full legacy bio: https://www.wxcltv.com/founder