Cappella
Encyclopedia
Cappella was an Italian
Eurodance
act formed in 1987 by producer Gianfranco Bortolotti. The act went through a number of line-up changes over the years but was most successful in the early 1990s when it was fronted by British performers Kelly Overett and Rodney Bishop. Their biggest hit was "U Got 2 Let the Music
", which reached number 2 in the UK in 1993.
act and the main man behind Cappella was the Italian producer Gianfranco Bortolotti of Media Records, with contributions from the likes of Michele Persona and Mauro Picotto
. In 1988, the act debuted on the British charts with the song "Bauhaus (Push the Beat)", and the following year with "Helyom Halib" which peaked at number 11. At the time, the act was fronted by the singer Ettore Foresti.
Three years later Cappella scored another UK top 30 hit with "Take Me Away", which sampled Loleatta Holloway
's "Love Sensation" - the same track that had been unlawfully sampled on the number 1 hit "Ride On Time" by Black Box
in 1989.
It was not until 1993 when Cappella began to gain momentum. After "U Got 2 Know" (which was based on the distinctive riff of Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Happy House") got to the heady heights of number 6 in the UK, two permanent members were drafted in: rapper Rodney Bishop from London
and ex-SL2
dancer Kelly Overett from Ipswich
. "U Got 2 Let the Music
" (which sampled Alphaville
's "Sounds Like a Melody
") was released in October 1993 and climbed to number 2 on the UK singles chart
, held off from the top slot only by Meat Loaf
's "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)".
Further hits followed: "Move On Baby" reached number 7 in February 1994, "U & Me" peaked at number 10 in June, and "Move It Up" ended the U Got 2 Know album project with a number 16 hit in October. Shortly after this, Kelly was fired from the group. It later emerged that she had not actually performed on any of the records - though this should have been obvious to anyone who had seen her performing "Move On Baby" live on Top of the Pops
. As for the real voices that were actually used, "U Got 2 Know" included Xaviera Gold
's vocals from "You Used To Hold Me", "U Got 2 Let the Music" sampled a vocal from a JM Silk
track, and the vocals for "U & Me" was sampled from a song by Vicki Shepard. "Move On Baby" and "Don't Be Proud" were sung by a session singer. The hit "Move It Up" was also sung by a session singer now known to be Jackie Rawe. Interestingly, Overett would later establish a real singing career by releasing a single called "Follow Your Heart" in 1994 under the name "Kelly O". Although she did prove to critics that she was more than a face on a production-type group, "Follow Your Heart" would be her only single.
In 1995, Cappella returned with new member Allison Jordan, who had previously scored a club hit with "Boy From New York City". Rodney Bishop was also replaced by Patrick Osborne, but returned to the group before long. The comeback single "Tell Me the Way" reached number 17 in the UK in September 1995 and was followed by the album War In Heaven.
The act continued to have minor hits in continental Europe for a while before resorting to remixes of previous big hits. In 2004, the act - now once again faceless, released a brand new track called "Angel" which failed to trouble the German or Italian chart. A greatest hits
CD/DVD was released in August 2005.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Eurodance
Eurodance
Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...
act formed in 1987 by producer Gianfranco Bortolotti. The act went through a number of line-up changes over the years but was most successful in the early 1990s when it was fronted by British performers Kelly Overett and Rodney Bishop. Their biggest hit was "U Got 2 Let the Music
U Got 2 Let the Music
"U Got 2 Let the Music" is a 1993 song recorded by the Italian eurodance, house and techno group Cappella. The song was released as single in early 1994 and was the second from their second album U Got 2 Know....
", which reached number 2 in the UK in 1993.
Background
The name Cappella was first used in the year 1987. In the beginning, the act was a Hi-NRGHi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
act and the main man behind Cappella was the Italian producer Gianfranco Bortolotti of Media Records, with contributions from the likes of Michele Persona and Mauro Picotto
Mauro Picotto
Mauro Picotto is an Italian electronic music musician. Previously a member of the Italian rave outfit, Cappella. He became well-known as a solo artist with techno-trance tracks including "Komodo" , "Pulsar" and most famously for "Lizard"...
. In 1988, the act debuted on the British charts with the song "Bauhaus (Push the Beat)", and the following year with "Helyom Halib" which peaked at number 11. At the time, the act was fronted by the singer Ettore Foresti.
Three years later Cappella scored another UK top 30 hit with "Take Me Away", which sampled Loleatta Holloway
Loleatta Holloway
Loleatta Holloway was an American singer, mainly known for disco songs such as "Hit and Run" and "Love Sensation", both of which have been sampled extensively.-Biography:...
's "Love Sensation" - the same track that had been unlawfully sampled on the number 1 hit "Ride On Time" by Black Box
Black Box (band)
Black Box was an Italian house music group popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The members of the group included a trio made up of a club DJ , a classically trained clarinet teacher , and a keyboard and electronic music "wiz"...
in 1989.
It was not until 1993 when Cappella began to gain momentum. After "U Got 2 Know" (which was based on the distinctive riff of Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Happy House") got to the heady heights of number 6 in the UK, two permanent members were drafted in: rapper Rodney Bishop from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and ex-SL2
SL2
SL2 was the name of a hardcore/rave music act in the early 1990s from London, England. They also recorded, remixed or produced under the names Slipmatt & Lime and T.H.C.-Background:...
dancer Kelly Overett from Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
. "U Got 2 Let the Music
U Got 2 Let the Music
"U Got 2 Let the Music" is a 1993 song recorded by the Italian eurodance, house and techno group Cappella. The song was released as single in early 1994 and was the second from their second album U Got 2 Know....
" (which sampled Alphaville
Alphaville (band)
Alphaville is a German synthpop group which gained popularity in the 1980s. The founding members were Marian Gold , Bernhard Lloyd , and Frank Mertens Alphaville is a German synthpop group which gained popularity in the 1980s. The founding members were Marian Gold (real name Hartwig Schierbaum,...
's "Sounds Like a Melody
Sounds Like a Melody
"Sounds Like a Melody" is a song by West German rock/synthpop group Alphaville, from the group's debut album Forever Young. The single was released on May 14, 1984.In Sweden, the song topped the very first Tracks ever on September 8, 1984....
") was released in October 1993 and climbed to number 2 on the UK singles chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, held off from the top slot only by Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
's "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)".
Further hits followed: "Move On Baby" reached number 7 in February 1994, "U & Me" peaked at number 10 in June, and "Move It Up" ended the U Got 2 Know album project with a number 16 hit in October. Shortly after this, Kelly was fired from the group. It later emerged that she had not actually performed on any of the records - though this should have been obvious to anyone who had seen her performing "Move On Baby" live on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
. As for the real voices that were actually used, "U Got 2 Know" included Xaviera Gold
Xaviera Gold
Xaviera Gold is a female African American dance music singer who is a former DJ and mixer on Chicago's WBMX-FM. She hit in 1987 with Ralphi Rosario on the song "You Used To Hold Me" under the name Xavier Gold . With Masters At Work she went to #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1993...
's vocals from "You Used To Hold Me", "U Got 2 Let the Music" sampled a vocal from a JM Silk
Steven Hurley
Steve "Silk" Hurley is an American club DJ, pioneering house-music producer, songwriter, and four time Grammy Award-nominee...
track, and the vocals for "U & Me" was sampled from a song by Vicki Shepard. "Move On Baby" and "Don't Be Proud" were sung by a session singer. The hit "Move It Up" was also sung by a session singer now known to be Jackie Rawe. Interestingly, Overett would later establish a real singing career by releasing a single called "Follow Your Heart" in 1994 under the name "Kelly O". Although she did prove to critics that she was more than a face on a production-type group, "Follow Your Heart" would be her only single.
In 1995, Cappella returned with new member Allison Jordan, who had previously scored a club hit with "Boy From New York City". Rodney Bishop was also replaced by Patrick Osborne, but returned to the group before long. The comeback single "Tell Me the Way" reached number 17 in the UK in September 1995 and was followed by the album War In Heaven.
The act continued to have minor hits in continental Europe for a while before resorting to remixes of previous big hits. In 2004, the act - now once again faceless, released a brand new track called "Angel" which failed to trouble the German or Italian chart. A greatest hits
Greatest hits
A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...
CD/DVD was released in August 2005.
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... |
||||
| 1989 | Helyom Halib | — | — | — | ||
| 1994 | U Got 2 Know | 10 | 10 | 12 | ||
| 1996 | War In Heaven | — | — | — | ||
| 1998 | Cappella | — | — | — | ||
| 2005 | Best Of | — | — | — | ||
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... |
Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... |
Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... |
USA Dance Chart Hot Dance Club Play The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs... |
||
| 1988 | "Bauhaus (Push The Beat)" | 60 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1989 | "Helyom Halib" | 11 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1989 | "House Energy Revenge" | 73 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1990 | "Get Out Of My Case" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1990 | "Everybody Listen To It" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1991 | "Everybody" | 66 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1992 | "Take Me Away" | 25 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1993 | "U Got 2 Know" | 6 | 21 | 26 | — | — | — |
| 1993 | "U Got 2 Know Revisited" | 43 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1993 | "U Got 2 Let The Music U Got 2 Let the Music "U Got 2 Let the Music" is a 1993 song recorded by the Italian eurodance, house and techno group Cappella. The song was released as single in early 1994 and was the second from their second album U Got 2 Know.... " |
2 | 3 | 9 | 14 | 4 | — |
| 1994 | "Move On Baby Move on Baby "Move on Baby" is a 1994 song recorded by the Italian eurodance, house and techno group Cappella. The song was released as single on February 10, 1994 and was the third one from their second album U Got 2 Know.... " |
7 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 7 |
| 1994 | "U & Me" | 10 | 14 | 4 | 15 | — | — |
| 1994 | "Move It Up/Big Beat' | 16 | 33 | 8 | — | — | — |
| 1995 | "Don't Be Proud" | — | — | 26 | — | — | — |
| 1995 | "Tell Me The Way" | 17 | 35 | 24 | — | 15 | — |
| 1996 | "I Need Your Love" | — | — | 30 | — | 6 | — |
| 1996 | "Turn It Up And Down" | — | — | — | 54 | 7 | — |
| 1997 | "Be My Baby" | 53 | — | — | — | 11 | 16 |
| 1997 | "Do You Run Away Now" | — | — | — | — | 10 | — |
| 1997 | "U Tore My World Apart" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1998 | "U R The Power Of Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1998 | "U Got 2 Let The Music '98" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1998 | "Throwin' Away" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2002 | "U Got 2 Know 2002" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2004 | "Angel" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2004 | "U Got 2 Let The Music 2004" | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2007 | "You Got To Let The Music" (vs. Tyro) | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2010 | "Take Me Away" (feat. Bootmasters) | — | — | — | — | — | — |
See also
- 49ers49ers (band)49ers are an Italian house and Eurodance act, featuring producer and DJ Gianfranco Bortolotti and vocalist Ann-Marie Smith. They were named after the San Francisco 49ers American football team, as Smith was the 49th vocalist to audition....
- One of Gianfranco Bortolotti's other Italo houseItalo houseItalo house is a form of house music popular in Italy, Britain and United States since the late 1980s. It fuses house music and Italo disco. The genre's main musical characteristic is its use of predominantly electronic piano chords in a more lyrical form than classic Chicago House records...
acts of the era. - NukleuzNukleuzNukleuz is a dance record label based in the Clapham area of London, UK. Nukleuz is the home to many artists and compilation series in various genres including trance, UK hardcore, tech house and hard house....