Dragonette | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Genres | |
Years active | 2005–present |
Labels | |
Members | |
Past members |
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Website | dragonetteonline |
Dragonette is the stage name of Canadian singer-songwriter Martina Sorbara. Originally an electronic music band from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2005, [7] the band consisted of Sorbara with her husband Dan Kurtz [8] as bassist and producer (also in The New Deal) and drummer Joel Stouffer.
Dragonette released a self-titled EP in 2005 before being signed to Mercury Records and relocating to London, where they recorded and released their debut studio album, Galore , in August 2007 to moderate critical appreciation. [9] A second studio album, Fixin to Thrill , was released in September 2009. The group's third studio album, Bodyparts , was released in September 2012 and their fourth, Royal Blues, followed in November 2016.
They performed as a group until 2016, when both Kurtz and Stouffer left the band, with Sorbara continuing under the Dragonette moniker as a solo act.
Dragonette's fifth album, Twennies (and the first as a solo act) was released in October 2022.
Sorbara and Kurtz met at a Canadian music festival [10] and formed a duo named The Fuzz, [11] making music together in their basement recording studio for fun. The duo formed Dragonette after these initial recordings, and supported New Order on only their second live performance. In 2005, the band released the six-track Dragonette EP , prior to signing a record deal with UK record label Mercury Records.
Dragonette relocated to London to record their debut studio album, Galore , released on August 6, 2007, and toured the UK supporting local acts, including Basement Jaxx (with whom Sorbara also recorded the track "Take Me Back to Your House") and Sugababes and played headline gigs in small venues across the UK and Canada. British musician Will Stapleton replaced Simon Craig on guitar following the relocation. Dragonette filmed two music videos, one for "Jesus Doesn't Love Me" and another for "I Get Around". The former video leaked onto the Internet, while the other served as promotion for their first single release. "I Get Around" reached number 92 on the UK Singles Chart. A follow-up single release, "Take It Like a Man", fared no better, failing to enter the top 100 of the UK Singles Chart. "I Get Around" was released in the band's home country of Canada where it outperformed the UK release, peaking at number 57 on Billboard 's Canadian Hot 100. After Galore failed to sell as expected, Dragonette parted ways with Mercury Records. [12]
Dragonette received a nomination for New Group of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2008. [13] Kurtz and Sorbara co-wrote and co-produced the song "Grab a Hold" for Cyndi Lauper's 2008 album Bring Ya to the Brink . [14] That same year Will James Stapleton left the band, to be replaced by Chris Huggett.
Dragonette's second studio album, Fixin to Thrill , was released on September 29, 2009. The album was nominated for Dance Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2011. [15]
Dragonette have collaborated with several house DJs for releases, to varying degrees of success. Although Basement Jaxx's 2006 song "Take Me Back to Your House" only featured Sorbara on vocals, it was promoted by the band as a Dragonette collaborative. The band have since recorded several tracks with French DJ Martin Solveig, including "Boys & Girls" in 2009, "Hello" in 2010, and "Can't Stop" and "Big in Japan" in 2011; all of these tracks appear on Solveig's 2011 album Smash . Solveig and Dragonette won the Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year for "Hello" in April 2012. [16] In 2010, the band also collaborated with Kaskade on "Fire in Your New Shoes" and with Don Diablo on "Animale".
A double A-side single containing the songs "Our Summer" and "Volcano" was released digitally on July 27, 2010. [17] On August 3, 2010, Dragonette released the compilation album Mixin to Thrill digitally, while a limited-edition CD was sold via the band's online store. The compilation contains three new songs—"Volcano", "Our Summer", and "My Things"—as well as several remixes from the previous year. In 2011, Dragonette worked with Girls Aloud member Nicola Roberts, co-writing and producing the single "Lucky Day" for her debut solo album Cinderella's Eyes . [18]
On June 21, 2012, Dragonette announced the title of their third studio album, Bodyparts , which was released on September 22, 2012. [19] The album's lead single "Let It Go" was released on April 2, 2012. [20] "Rocket Ship", a track from the album, was made available as a free download on the band's official SoundCloud page. [21] The album's second single, "Live in This City", was released on August 7, 2012. [22]
In February 2013, Dragonette recorded a version of "Won't You Be My Neighbour?", the theme song to the American children's television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood , for use in Target Canada's first ad campaign. [23]
In 2014, Dragonette collaborated with Dutch producer and DJ Mike Mago on the single "Outlines". [24] The band also released the single "Let the Night Fall" on June 16, 2015. [25] The band's fourth studio album, Royal Blues, was released on November 11, 2016. [26]
During the promotion of Royal Blues, Sorbara and Kurtz revealed that they had separated in 2013, shortly after performing at the ET Canada New Year's Eve Show. [27]
In October 2020, Dragonette released cover version of Sam Roberts Band song "We're All In This Together". [28]
In 2021, Dragonette featured on a number of singles including "Phantom" with Gianni Kosta; "Summer Thing" with Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano; and "Slow Song" with The Knocks.
In August 2022, Dragonette released "New Suit", which would become the lead single from her fifth album Twennies, released in October 2022.
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |
---|---|---|---|
CAN [29] | US Dance [30] | ||
Galore |
| 80 | — |
Fixin to Thrill |
| 63 | 21 |
Bodyparts |
| — | 17 |
Royal Blues |
| 100 | — |
Twennies |
| — | — |
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Title | Details |
---|---|
Mixin to Thrill |
|
Title | Details |
---|---|
Dragonette EP |
|
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CAN [32] | BEL (FL) [33] | IRE [34] | NL [35] | UK [36] | ||||
"I Get Around" | 2007 | 57 | — | — | — | 92 | Galore | |
"Take It Like a Man" | — | — | — | — | 112 | |||
"Fixin to Thrill" | 2009 | — | — | — | — | — | Fixin to Thrill | |
"Gone Too Far" [37] | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"Pick Up the Phone" | 28 | — | — | — | — | |||
"Easy" | 2010 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"Our Summer"/"Volcano" [17] | — | — | — | — | — | Mixin to Thrill | ||
"Big in Japan" (with Martin Solveig featuring Idoling!!!) | 2011 | 36 | — [upper-alpha 1] | — | — | 118 | Smash | |
"Let It Go" | 2012 | 23 | — | — | — | — | Bodyparts | |
"Live in This City" | 65 | — | — | — | — | |||
"My Legs" [38] | 2013 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"Outlines" (with Mike Mago) | 2014 | 47 | 18 | 77 | 26 | 8 | Non-album single | |
"Let the Night Fall" [40] | 2015 | — | — | — | — | — | Royal Blues | |
"Red Heart Black" [41] (with Dada and Paul Harris) | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||
"Feel This Way" [42] (with Philip George) | 2016 | — | — | — | — | 136 | ||
"Lonely Heart" [43] | — | — | — | — | — | Royal Blues | ||
"Sweet Poison" [44] (featuring Dada) | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"Galactic Appeal" [45] (with Pretty Sister featuring Tobtok) | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||
"Secret Stash" [46] (with Mike Mago) | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"Awake" [47] (with Sonny Alven) | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"Body 2 Body" [48] | — | — | — | — | — | Royal Blues | ||
"Hope for Tomorrow" [49] (with Autograf and Klingande) | 2018 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |
"Tokyo Nights" [50] (with Digital Farm Animals and Shaun Frank) | 97 | — | — | — | — |
| ||
"Faith in Love" [52] (with Kokiri) | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"We're All In This Together" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
"New Suit" [53] | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | Twennies | |
"Twennies" [54] | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"Seasick" [55] | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CAN [56] | BEL Tip (FL) [33] | FRA [57] | NL [35] | AUT [58] | BEL (FL) [33] | AUS [59] | FRA [57] | GER [60] | US [61] | |||||
"Boys & Girls" (Martin Solveig featuring Dragonette) | 2009 | — | — | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | C'est la Vie | ||
"Fire in Your New Shoes" (Kaskade featuring Dragonette) | 2010 | 69 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dynasty | |
"Hello" (Martin Solveig featuring Dragonette) | 8 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 46 | Smash | |||
"Animale" (Don Diablo featuring Dragonette) | — | 2 | — | 33 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||
"The Best" [68] (LENNO featuring Dragonette) | 2015 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"Pride of Lions" [69] (Joey Stylez featuring Dragonette) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Grey Magic | |||
"One Night Lover" [70] (Paul Harris featuring Dragonette) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||
"Leave a Light On" [71] (Plastic Plates featuring Dragonette) | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"Rich Girl" [72] (DJ Licious featuring Dragonette) | 2018 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"Unicorn" (Yash featuring Dragonette) | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"Slow Song" [73] (The Knocks with Dragonette) | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | History | ||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Title | Year | Album |
---|---|---|
"Come On Be Good" [74] | 2009 | Fixin to Thrill |
"Merry Xmas (Says Your Text Message)" [75] | 2012 | Non-album single |
Title | Year | Album |
---|---|---|
"Can't Stop" (with Martin Solveig) | 2011 | Smash |
"Get Some Freedom" (Big Data featuring Dragonette) | 2015 | 2.0 |
"Neck and Neck" [76] (Zeds Dead featuring Dragonette) | 2016 | Northern Lights |
Title | Year | Director(s) | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
"I Get Around" | 2007 | Wendy Morgan | [77] |
"Jesus Doesn't Love Me" | Pablo Ros-Cardona | [78] | |
"Take It Like a Man" | Ben Taylor | [79] | |
"Competition" | 2008 | Jeff Scheven | [78] |
"Fixin to Thrill" | 2009 | Wendy Morgan | [80] |
"Boys & Girls" (Martin Solveig featuring Dragonette) | Tristan Séguéla | [81] [82] [83] | |
"Pick Up the Phone" | Drew Lightfoot | [84] | |
"Easy" | 2010 | ||
"Fire in Your New Shoes" (Kaskade featuring Dragonette) | Chic & Artistic | [85] | |
"Let It Go" | 2012 | Drew Lightfoot | [78] |
"Live in This City" | Wendy Morgan | [86] | |
"Run Run Run" | 2013 | Drew Lightfoot | [78] |
"Giddy Up" | Jeff Scheven | [78] | |
"Pride of Lions" (Joey Stylez featuring Dragonette) | 2015 | Alison Honey Woods | [87] |
"Let the Night Fall" | Justin Broadbent and Vinit Borrison | [78] | |
"Lonely Heart" | 2016 | Sammy Rawal | [88] |
"Body 2 Body" | 2017 | [89] |
Martina Sorbara is a Canadian singer-songwriter and frontwoman of the band Dragonette.
"I Get Around" is the debut single by Canadian electronic music band Dragonette, released on April 30, 2007 from their debut studio album, Galore (2007). The track first appeared as an early working on Dragonette's self-released 2005 eponymous EP.
Galore is the debut studio album by Canadian electronic music band Dragonette, released on August 6, 2007 by Mercury Records. The album contains a mix of newly recorded tracks and reworked songs which had featured on their independently released Dragonette EP, which was available through the band's website two years earlier.
Fixin to Thrill is the second studio album by Canadian electronic music band Dragonette. The album was released on September 25, 2009 by Universal Music Canada.
Cuban-American rapper Pitbull has released twelve studio albums, four compilation albums, one soundtrack album, four official mixtapes, over 300 singles, over 1,000 songs, and over 200 music videos.
"Fire in Your New Shoes" is the second single from Dynasty, an album by American house DJ Kaskade. It features the lead singer from Dragonette, Martina Sorbara. It was released digitally on April 13, 2010.
"Hello" is a song performed by French DJ and record producer Martin Solveig and Canadian synth-pop band Dragonette, taken from Solveig's fifth studio album, Smash (2011). The song was released as the album's lead single on 6 September 2010 by Mercury Records.
"Boys & Girls" is a song recorded by French DJ and record producer Martin Solveig featuring Canadian synthpop group Dragonette. It was released on 28 September 2009 as the first single from the reissue of Solveig's third studio album, C'est la Vie (2008), subtitled the Definitive Edition (2009). The song also appears on Solveig's fourth studio album, Smash (2011), and as a bonus track on the Australian edition of Dragonette's second studio album, Fixin to Thrill (2009).
Smash is the fourth studio album by French DJ and record producer Martin Solveig. It was released on 6 June 2011 by Mixture Stereophonic and Mercury Records. The album's lead single, "Hello", was released on 6 September 2010 and became a worldwide hit, topping the charts in five countries. "Ready 2 Go" was released as the album's second single on 28 March 2011 and features English singer Kele Okereke.
"Big in Japan" is a song performed by French DJ and record producer Martin Solveig and Canadian synthpop band Dragonette from Solveig's fifth studio album, Smash (2011). It features vocals from Japanese girl group Idoling!!!. The song was written and produced by Solveig, and released as the album's third single on 24 October 2011. "Big in Japan" has charted in Belgium, Canada and the United Kingdom.
"Pick Up The Phone" is an electropop/new wave song performed by Canadian band Dragonette. The song was written and produced by Dragonette for their second studio album Fixin to Thrill (2009). It serves as the album's third single, released two days before the album. The song peaked at #28 on the Canadian Hot 100.
"Let It Go" is an electropop/new wave song performed by Canadian band Dragonette. The song was written and produced by Dragonette for their third studio album Bodyparts (2012). It was released as the album's lead single in April 2012.
Bodyparts is the third studio album by Canadian electronic music band Dragonette, self-released on September 22, 2012 by Dragonette, Inc.. The album was nominated for Dance Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2013.
"Live In This City" is an electropop/new wave song performed by Canadian band Dragonette. The song was written and produced by Dragonette for their third studio album Bodyparts (2012). It was released as the album's second single in August 2012.
Magic! is a Canadian reggae fusion band from Toronto. Based in Los Angeles, the band comprises lead vocalist, guitarist/producer Nasri Atweh, guitarist/keyboardist Mark "Pelli" Pellizzer, and bassist Ben Spivak. Active since 2012, the band is signed with Latium, Sony, and RCA Records, releasing their debut studio album Don't Kill the Magic in 2014, their second studio album Primary Colours in 2016, and their third studio album Expectations in 2018. They are best known for their hit single "Rude", which charted at No. 1 in several countries worldwide, including the US and UK.
"Outlines" is a song recorded by Dutch record producer and DJ Mike Mago and Canadian synthpop group Dragonette. It was released as a single on 29 August 2014 by Spinnin' Records.
Pharmacy is the debut studio album by Swedish electronic music act Galantis, released on 8 June 2015. The album features six singles.
"Peanut Butter Jelly" is a song by Swedish electronic music duo Galantis featuring uncredited vocals from Martina Sorbara of Dragonette. It was released on 20 April 2015 as the fourth single from their debut studio album Pharmacy (2015). It became available on 4 April 2015 upon pre-order of the LP. It heavily features a sample of the 1974 single "Kiss My Love Goodbye" by Bettye Swann.
Royal Blues is the fourth studio album by Canadian electronic music band Dragonette, released on November 18, 2016 by their independent record label. The album received minor success in Canada, peaking at 100 on the Canadian Albums Chart in December 2016. Royal Blues features production collaborations with musicians such as Matt Schwartz, xSDTRK, Mike Mago, Davey Badiuk, and Sam Willows.
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