Sidestepper began as the studio project of producer Richard Blair in the mid 1990s.

Blair worked for Peter Gabriel at [l267339] in the early 1990s, where he made a record with Colombian legend Totó La Momposina. He went to Colombia to work with her in 1993 and has been there pretty much ever since. Through his work as a producer he met many great musicians, singers and writers, and Sidestepper began to evolve into a full live band. They signed to [l1175] in 1999 and made two highly influential albums: [m=142872] in 2000, and [m=142877] in 2003. The latter yielded a big hit in Colombia and Sidestepper earned their place as the originators of a new Latin beats movement. Many players and singers from Sidestepper went on to great success with such bands as Chocquibtown, Bomba Estereo and Sistema Solar.