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The Vengaboys are more an euro-pop project than a real eurodance project at the litteral sense of the the term. Originally, "The Vengaboys" was a working name of the two Dutch DJ's, known as Danski and Delmundo. Their real names are Dennis van den Drieshen and Wessel van Diepen. Wessel van Diepen is a famous RadioDJ in the Netherlands and he wants to stay anonymous. Wessel van Diepen made more productions. In 1991 he got a big hit with James Brown is dead from L.A. style. In 1994 he got a project with Lick ft. Kentucky. Nakatomi from Children Of The Night is from Wessel too.
The origin of the Vengaboys, according to van Diepen, comes from the time when they were touring with their school bus across Spain from 1992 till 1997. In the summer they placed their equipment on various Spanish beaches to organize illegal beach parties. The parties usually ended when the Guardia Civil showed up. Being both Party-animals and producers, Danski and Delmundo had some Underground Club hits in 1996 and in 1997, which have been pressed in limited editions. They are also the producers of the E-Motion project. During one of the hottest Spanish summers (1996), The Vengaboys met up with Kim Sasabone and the other band members (Roy, Denice and Robin) at one of their beach parties. During the autumn of 1996 the idea grew that it was time to expand the over successful parties throughout the world. They would be performing under the name “The Vengaboys” ("Venga" means "come on" in Spanish) .
One of the band's particularity was that they were always wearing each a special outfit. The frontlady Kim Sasabone (April 1st 1974 from Salvador) always appeared wearing a sexy camouflage outfit. Roy Olivero-Den Burger (aka Roy Darman, born 31 July 1975, coming from Trinidad), then later his replacer Donny Latupeirissa, were dressed as a cowboy. Denise Van Rijswijk (born October 20th 1978, dancer from the Netherlands) wore a disco outfit. Robin Pors (born January 1st 1978) then Yorick Bakker (born July 10th 1976) played the role of a sailor.
Danski and Delmundo based themselves in a well-equipped studio in the northern part of Europe, while the band members continued their oversuccesful European tour under the name “The Vengaboys”. The first two singles only had a local success. Parada De Tettas, only featuring Kim (credited as Sonia), and only released in the Netherlands, reached number 14 in the charts. To Brazil was a Duitch summer hit, reaching the #22 position. Everything began with the single Up and Down, which was released in March 1997. It went Top 5 in the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Spain… in fact, it was a big hit across Europe, reaching number 4 in the UK. The UK really caught the Venga-flu, where the band have since had two numbers ones with Boom Boom Boom Boom (including remixes by Brooklyn Bounce and the Klubbheads) and We're Going To Ibiza. Along with We Like To Party, these four singles have given the band a combined sales total of almost 2 million singles in the UK alone.
The first Vengaboys-album, first called The Party Album, then strangely renamed Greatest Hits, turned out to be a worldwide bestseller. It went platinum in the U.K., Germany, Scandinavia, Belgium, South America and India. The release in America and South Africa meant gold, while sales in Holland and Canada resulted in triple platinum. So far, the Vengaboys have sold over 10 million singles and 4 and a half million copies of their albums, proofing to be the most successful Dutch pop group ever.
In March 2000, the Vengaboys released their second album, called The Platinum Album, which includes the chart-topping hit singles Kiss (When The Sun Don't Shine) and Shalala lala. The expectations were that this album, which already went gold in the Netherlands, would exceed all previous sales. This album also introduced a new member : Yorick, who replaced Robin who wanted to pursue a solo-career.
Besides their musical talents, the Vengaboys have always found a way to draw the attention of the press. They once threw a 10000 $ amount cash into the audience during a concert in Barcelona ('Music for the people, money for the people'), promoted their single Kiss (When The Sun Don't Shine) by setting up the world record for the Longest Kiss ever and have been arrested by the police at an airport because of the dangerous looking 'bullet-belt' singer Kim usually wears. Also, an autograph-session in a warehouse in Tokyo had to be stopped when an immense amount of fans literally tore down the store, the band nearly survived a plane accident in Bombay and they made front-page headlines by refusing the Dutch Export Prize (they told they only accepted prizes awarded from the public). With more sunny music on the way and a fully booked tour schedule - they performed over 190 times in 32 different countries in the past year.
After Kiss they released Shala Lala, which became a world wide hit, but surprised the fans. It included a remix by Alice Deejay and an uncensored version of the video of Shalala Lala .
On the 15th of April at the TMF awards, the Vengaboys won an award for the best dance act Holland. Roy gave this award away to an fan, he said :" This award is for you, the fans !"
Sir Duke is a part of Swedish club scene for more than 2 decades. Sir Duke is a force to recon and he has no plans on slowing down. Touring with artists like ICE MC, Boney M, Haddaway and Paul Young among others, Sir Duke has developed a crowded pleasing sounds. With ICE MC, Sir Duke got his first international success with radio shows and tours in over 140 cities and 4 countries in Eastern Europe. They together did a remix, which was one of the most played tracks in Eastern Europe 2008.During UEFA European Championships in Ukraine 2012, Sir Duke represented Camp Sweden were he played for the entire national camps in Ukraine. The style of Sir Duke is emotional big room sounds together with modern EDM that will make the crowd explode at the right moment. Sir Dukes success with Better Man, featuring Richard Grey has reached Top 10 charts around 14 countries world wide.
Basshunter aka Jonas Altberg was born 1984 in Halmstad, Sweden. He lives with his parents and younger brother 5 minutes from Sweden's best beach "Tylösand". He can shortly be described as stubborn and a creative person. He started to produce music in 1999 with a little help from the computer program "Fruityloops". The interest of music became bigger and after a lot of demos spread over the internet, he started to get some phone calls from clubs that wanted to have him as a deejay.
In April 2006 he got his first real contact to the music industry when he signed a record deal with Warner Music. He released his first single Boten Anna in Scandinavia and it became a hit instantly. It all went very fast, much faster then Basshunter himself ever could expect.
From a normal guy that were very good in computer games he went to the guy that performed almost every day all over Scandinavia. The story continued that his "Swedish" song also went no. 2 in Holland on the sales chart, which is historical.
In January 2008 he hit the UK by storm with the release of this first single "Now You're Gone" and hit no. 1 for a massive 5 weeks.
In July 2008 he released his second UK single "All I Ever Wanted"; unfortunately it only made no. 2 in the charts but he also released his new UK Album "Now You're Gone: The Album" which hit no. 1 on its release.
2 Unlimited is a Eurodance act formed in 1991. The project was the brainchild of Belgian producers Jean-Paul DeCoster and Phil Wilde and was fronted by a Dutch duo, rapper Ray and singer Anita. During five years of enormous worldwide popularity, the act scored 16 chart hits, including "Get Ready for This" Twilinght Zone", "No Limit" and "Tribal Dance". During their career, they have sold more than 18 million records worldwide.
Twenty 4 Seven is a Dutch Eurodance act, created by record producer Ruud van Rijen in 1989. Active sporadically ever since, the act has featured nine different vocalists, has performed across Europe and Africa, and as of 2010 is fronted by Li Ann and Stacey "Stay-C" Seedorf. One of the earliest popular Eurodance projects, the project originated as a hip hop group, and transitioned to the mainstream Eurodance sound in the early 90s with "Slave to the Music", the band's most successful single to date. The group originally featured rapper Tony Dawson-Harrison, who created the Captain Hollywood Project in 1992.
Neal Antone Dyer better known by the stage name Tony T. (born in London in 1971) is a British singer, rapper and DJ of Jamaican origin, best known as the frontman of German dance music projects Beat System and R.I.O.. His best known hit with R.I.O. was "Turn This Club Around" that reached number 3 in German Singles Chart and topped the Swiss chart, and was certified gold in both charts.
Jessy De Smet, whose stage name is Jessy (born 8 July 1976, Zottegem, Belgium), is a Belgian dance music singer of Flemish origin who had several gold records in the late 1990s and 2000s.She started her career in 1995 as a member of Belgian dance act The Mackenzie ft. Jessy. They had a number of hits and won a TMF Award for best album in 1998 with Angel. "Innocence", "All I Need" and "Alive" were the biggest hit singles. In 2001, Jessy decided to leave The Mackenzie and go solo.In 2002, she released her solo record Rain, produced by Regi Penxten, the man behind the popular group Milk Inc. The single "Look at Me Now" became a hit in Belgium and the UK, and launched her solo career. After this success, she worked with international acts, such as Verheyen & Vanvaeck, Sash!, Linda (Milk Inc), DJ Rebel, Michael Beltran and Mickey Modelle. Modelle launched her back into the UK Singles Chart with a reworked version of "Dancing in the Dark".In 2011, Jessy released a greatest hits compilation, The Ultimate Jessy - Best Of 1995-2012, including the new single "Angel" with the American rapper Kaliq Scott.In 2012, she released "Innocence '12", a remake of her signature song that launched her career in the 1990s. It featured the Belgian urban artist, Abie Flinston, and was produced by Penxten.In 2015, she released "Glorious", her last dance-album. She wants to experiment with other genres and release something totally different by the end of 2016 ...
Over the years, Woody van Eyden released many tracks in many styles using various aliases. Tracks like "Time: Now!", "Get ready" or "Unifinished Symphony" reached international sales and dance charts.
His studio ability has made him a very demanded remixer/producer over the years, remixing/producing for artists like ATB, Talla 2XLC, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Andy Moor, JamX & deLeon, and much more. His productions are released on labels like Fenology Records, Armada, Ministry of Sound, Kontor, Ultra US or ATCR to name a few. Woody's skills in productions get major support by Paul van Dyk, Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Judge Jules, ATB, Matt Darey, John 00 Fleming, Rank 1, Dumonde, Adam White etc. At the moment Woody and Alex M.O.R.P.H. are in their studios, working on a lot of co-ops and productions together as they will release different tracks as a team/B2B soon on different labels (Anjunabeats, Gesture Music, Lost Language, Fenology Records, MonsterTunes,...)
A party in September 2003 was the birth of the Royal Gigolos. The vocalists Melanie and Jay and the DJ/producer Tyson came together and found out that they shared the same enthusiasm about the classical 1966 tune "California Dreaming" by the Mamas & the Papas. A jam session took place that evening and finally led to a date in the studio where Mel and Jay sang the lyrics of "California Dreaming" to DJ Tyson's beats. In January 2004 a sample of "Royal Gigolos - California Dreaming" was given to the German DJs. It took astonishingly little time for the production to hit number one in almost every German dance chart (e.g. ODC, GDP, DMC and so on). But that was only the beginning of a unique success story. In only four weeks labels for the Royal Gigolos debut single had been found in each country of the world where music is being published. "California Dreaming" became number one in the national dance and club charts in more than twenty countries (for example Russia, the Ukraine, Hungary, all of Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France and Canada) and even reached the radio and sales charts. In France and Belgium "California Dreaming" climbed to number two in the single charts and only O-Zone's smash hit of the year, "Dragostea Din Tei", kept it from reaching the top position. The Royal Gigolos Mel, Jay and Tyson were supported by the dancer Kristian and DJ Mike Moore. In the beginning Melanie was on stage only with Kristian because Jay - due to his final exam - wasn't able to present the act the way he wanted. Mike Moore and Tyson went on to a large club tour and delighted fans all over the world with their DJ sets. Countless shows took place in 2004, the Royal Gigolos went to Eastern Europe for several times, to France and Belgium and even in Mexico-City three thousand enthused fans partied to the sound of the Royal Gigolos. The success story continued with the second single "No milk today". It entered the Top Five in various dance and sales charts worldwide. Meanwhile Jay had passed his exam and replaced Kristian on stage while Mike Moore left the group to occupy with other projects. With the double A-side "Self control / Somebody's watching me" the next rocket is about to launch. Based on Laura Branigan's and Rockwell's numbers the Royal Gigolos have produced another high quality club number. Within a few weeks after the vinyl-promotion the title has become number one in almost every German dance chart. We're allowed to be curious about how the success story continues because the Royal Gigolos will put forward more musical surprises...
Marie-Jose van der Kolk (born September 16, 1974 in IJmuiden, Netherlands) also known by her stage names Loona and Carisma, is a singer, songwriter and dancer. She is most noted for her collaboration with DJ Sammy, who is her husband, and performing as a duo under the stage name of DJ Sammy feat. Carisma. When Marie moved to Majorca where she met DJ Sammy, they started recording songs under the name DJ Sammy featuring Carisma as "Life is just a game" which was their first hit (in 1996). This single was followed by "You are my angel", "Prince of love" and "Golden child". All these songs were put together in the album called DJ Sammy featuring Carisma "Life is just a game". In the summer of 1998 Marie came with a new project called "Loona", produced also by DJ Sammy. The first single was a cover of Paradisio's song "Bailando" and it became the summer song of 1998 in Germany reaching the top in German charts. In the autumn it was followed by another single "Hijo de la luna" (cover of the Spanish band Mecano) which also reached number 1 in German charts. Next release was her first album called "Lunita", where all the songs were in Spanish.