John Rocca | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 23 September 1960 London, England |
| Genres | House, post-disco, freestyle, electro |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, record producer, remixer, recording engineer |
| Instruments | Vocals, percussion, synthesizer, computer programming |
| Labels | Beggars Banquet, Cobra, Vinyl Solution |
John Rocca (born 23 September 1960) [1] is an English dance music performer, remixer and record producer, most well known for his band Freeez. [2]
During the early 1980s, Rocca formed, played with, wrote for, produced and managed his first band, Freeez. After his entrepreneurial first self-funded and self-released effort, "Keep in Touch", became a No. 49 hit on the UK Singles Chart, his next effort, Southern Freeez , was a chart success in various countries in Europe and around the world, reaching No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart. Both singles were number one hits in the UK Blues and Soul charts. [3] [4]
During 1983, one of the first records to use digital sampling, "IOU", featured Rocca's falsetto voice and became one of the major dance successes of the 1980s electro music style. It scored number one in dance charts in Europe and the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play and had popular music chart success across the world, spending three weeks at number 2 in the UK. [5]
As a solo artist, Rocca scored number one again, this time with "I Want It to Be Real", on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart during 1984. [6] Further hit records followed in 1985 such as "Once Upon a Time" and "Move" both being hits in the Billboard US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. [6] As a producer, engineer and re-mixer John Rocca worked with bands as diverse as Bomb the Bass and General Public, also touring Europe and the Japan respectively with the bands
In the late 1980s after releasing a number of tracks under the Pseudonym Pink Rhythm such as "Melodies of Love" John began more experimental output. [3] First as on his own Cobra, Chemical and Who'd She Coo Record labels, and then in the early 1990s Rocca resurfaced with his Midi Rain project. Several Midi Rain singles were popular in the UK dance charts including "Eyes", "Always", and "Shine" - the latter reaching No. 1 on the Billboard US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1993. [6]
Rocca retired from the music business in late 1993 and after completing a 1st class honours degree at Middlesex University in 1995 he moved directly into IT and Telecommunications. [4] In 1997 Rocca became one of the founding members of the technology start up Intec Telecom Systems. [7] Intec Telecom Systems was successfully launched on the London Stock Exchange in 2001 (symbol: ITL.L).
| Year | Song title / Label | Peak chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [8] | US Dance [6] | US R&B [6] | ||||
| 1984 | "I Want It to Be Real" (Beggars Banquet/City Beat/Streetwise) | 94 | 1 | 55 | ||
| "Once Upon a Time" (Beggars Banquet/City Beat/Streetwise) | — | 72 | — | |||
| 1985 | "I Want You" (Beggars Banquet/City Beat/Streetwise) | — | — | — | ||
| "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" (credited as Pink Rhythm) (Metropolis) | — | — | — | |||
| "India" (credited as Pink Rhythm) (Beggars Banquet) | — | — | — | |||
| "Melodies of Love" (credited as Pink Rhythm) (Beggars Banquet) | — | — | — | |||
| 1987 | "I Want It to Be Real" (The Ultimate Mixes '87) (City Beat) | — | — | — | ||
| "Move" (Beggars Banquet/City Beat/Streetwise) | — | 11 | — | |||
| "Extra Extra" (City Beat) | — | — | — | |||
| 1989 | "X. Y. Zee" (Cobra Records) | — | — | — | ||
| "The River Must Flow" (Cobra Records) | — | — | — | |||
| 1993 | "Shine" Midi Rain (Vinyl Solution) | — | 1 | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||
Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio album, In the Garden, in 1981 to little success, but went on to achieve global acclaim when their second album Sweet Dreams , was released in 1983. The title track became a worldwide hit, reaching #2 in the UK Singles Chart and #6 in Australia, before hitting #1 in Canada and the US Billboard Hot 100. The duo went on to release a string of hit singles and albums, including "Love Is a Stranger", "There Must Be an Angel " and "Here Comes the Rain Again", before they split up in 1990.
Dead or Alive were an English pop band that released seven albums from 1984 to 2000. The band formed in 1980 in Liverpool and found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK Top 40 and three albums on the UK Top 30. At the peak of their success, the lineup consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Steve Coy (drums), Mike Percy (bass) and Tim Lever (keyboards), with the core pair of Burns and Coy writing and producing for the remainder of the band's career.
Timex Social Club is an American R&B group, formed in 1985 and best known for the 1986 hit single "Rumors".
Gregory Oliver Diamond was an American pianist, drummer, songwriter, and producer who was active in the jazz and disco music scenes of the 1970s.
John Benitez (born November 7, 1957), also known as Jellybean, is an American musician, songwriter, DJ, remixer and music producer. He has produced and remixed artists such as Madonna, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and the Pointer Sisters. He was later the executive producer of Studio 54 Radio. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked him as the 99th most successful dance artist of all-time.
Freeez were an English electronic music group, initially known as one of the UK's main jazz-funk bands of the early 1980s. Initiated by John Rocca, Freeez consisted of various musicians, originally with Rocca and others such as Andy Stennett (keyboards), Peter Maas and Paul Morgan or Everton McCalla (drums). They had an international hit with "IOU", and a UK top 10 with "Southern Freeez".
Jocelyn Lorette Brown, sometimes credited as Jocelyn Shaw, is an American R&B and dance singer. Although she has only one Billboard Hot 100 chart entry solely in her name, she has an extensive background in the music industry and is well known in the world of dance music. Brown sang on 23 hit singles from the Official UK Singles Chart, 8 of which have reached the Top 20.
Will to Power is an American dance-pop group that originated in South Florida in the mid-1980s founded by Miami producer Bob Rosenberg. The group recorded a number of hit singles on the Billboard dance and pop charts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, most notably "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley", a medley of 1970s hits by Peter Frampton and Lynyrd Skynyrd that reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1988.
Narcotic Thrust are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of producers Stuart Crichton and Andy Morris. The name Narcotic Thrust is an anagram of "Stuart Crichton".
"(Reach Up for The) Sunrise" is a song recorded by English pop rock band Duran Duran. It was released as the lead single from their eleventh studio album, Astronaut (2004) and their 31st single overall. It was the first single since "A View to a Kill" in 1985 to feature all five of the original members of the band. The song was sent to US radio on 30 August 2004 and was issued physically over the following few months.
The discography of American singer Diana Ross, the former lead singer of the Supremes, consists of 25 studio albums and 116 singles. Throughout her career, Ross has sold over 100 million records worldwide. Billboard ranked her as the 47th Greatest Artist of all time and the 11th Greatest Hot 100 Female Artist of all time. In 1993, Guiness World Records crowned Ross as the "most successful female artist in music history". Her 11th studio album "Diana" remains the best-selling album of her career, selling more than 10 million copies around the world.
Robert S. Nevil is an American pop singer, songwriter, producer, and guitarist who had five Billboard top 40 hits including his songs "C'est la Vie", "Dominoes", and "Wot's It to Ya".
"I.O.U." is a song from 1983 by British musical group Freeez, their most successful hit. The song was written and produced by Arthur Baker and remixed by Jellybean Benitez and Arthur Baker.
The discography of singles, promo singles, remixes and Latin tracks for Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine consists of 49 singles (solo), 18 promotional singles (solo) and eight other guest or special appearance singles as a solo artist. Although Miami Sound Machine was no longer featured in the credits from 1989 onwards, they remain Estefan's backing group until this day, though none of the original members remain.
"Pop Goes My Love"/"Scratch Goes My Dub" is a single recorded for Beggars Banquet Records by British group Freeez. It was produced by Arthur Baker and featured on the album Gonna Get You. The song reached #26 in the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, the single reached #47 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and #5 in the Hot Dance Club Play chart.
Swedish popular music, or shortly Swedish pop music, refers to music that has swept the Swedish mainstream at any given point in recent times. After World War II, Swedish pop music was heavily influenced by American jazz, and then by rock-and-roll from the U.S. and the U.K. in the 1950s and 1960s, before developing into dansband music. Since the 1970s, Swedish pop music has come to international prominence with bands singing in English, ranking high on the British, New Zealand, American, and Australian charts and making Sweden one of the world's top exporter of popular music by gross domestic product.
"Southern Freeez" produced by John Rocca was the first single released by British dance band Freeez from their debut album, also entitled Southern Freeez. The album was self-funded by member John Rocca and initially released on his Pink Rhythm record label before the group was signed to Beggars Banquet.
"Keep in Touch" is the debut single and first song by British jazz-funk/dance band Freeez. Self-funded and released, the idea for the song came from lead artist John Rocca, while playing with another informal group led by Jean-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick, who was then in between UK brit funk projects Light of the World and Incognito. Derived from the group, the personnel performing on the recording were Maunick (guitar), Peter Maas (bass), Paul Morgan (drums), Jason Wright (keyboards), and Rocca (percussion).
The discography of English rock band The Psychedelic Furs consists of eight studio albums, 22 singles, six compilation albums, and two live albums.
Prince released several hundred songs both under his own name and under pseudonyms and/or pen names, as well as writing songs which have been recorded by other artists. Estimates of the actual number of songs written by Prince range anywhere from 500 to well over 1,000. He has released 97 singles, 34 promotional singles, 21 internet singles, and eight internet downloads.
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
| Other | |
