 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2021) |
Mirage | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Dance-pop |
| Years active | 1983–1993 |
| Past members | Leroy Osbourne Roy Gayle Tracey Ackerman |
Mirage were a British dance/pop group active in the 1980s and specializing in medleys. They scored a string of hit singles and albums, and achieved particular success in 1987-8 with the "Jack Mix" series. [1]
Mirage had its origins in Enigma, a 1981 project created by Shakatak producer Nigel Wright to cash in on the success of Dutch medley group Stars on 45. Enigma's "Ain't No Stopping", a medley of disco hits played by session musicians, was released while "Stars on 45" was still climbing the charts. "Ain't No Stopping" peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and was followed up with "I Love Music", which peaked at number 25. [2]
Although the medley craze faded quickly, Wright continued to produce medleys, first under the name Mojo, before settling on Mirage.
The first Mirage medley to make an impact was the 1984 release "Give Me the Night", a medley of George Benson songs sung by Leroy Osbourne (of Sade) under the guise of Roy Gayle. Other single-artist medleys followed: "Let's Groove" (Earth, Wind and Fire), "Get Down on It" (Kool and the Gang) and the Tracey Ackerman-fronted "Into the Groove Medley" (Madonna). [3] Though popular in UK clubs, only "Give Me the Night" crossed over into the mainstream charts.
Mirage came to much greater prominence in 1987 when Wright spotted an opportunity in the new house music style which was beginning to enter the mainstream. In January 1987, Steve "Silk" Hurley achieved the first house music number one hit in the UK with "Jack Your Body". Wright quickly responded by releasing the 12" single "Jack Mix" under the Mirage name - a medley/montage of "Jack Your Body", "Showing Out (Get Fresh at the Weekend)" and "Axel F". Following positive response from the clubs, an expanded version was released, titled "Jack Mix II". This became the first UK-produced house record to reach the British top ten, peaking at number 4. [1]
Unlike most medleys, which typically used sections of individual songs presented sequentially with brief transitions between them, the "Jack Mix" series took a different approach, layering elements of different songs to produce a dense montage effect similar to a mashup.
Despite being reliant entirely on medleys of other people's material, Mirage was one of the most successful house acts in 1987-8, placing several more singles on the charts, including the number 8 hit "Jack Mix IV". [1] Several TV advertised albums also charted, with the most successful being Jack Mix '88 (actually released in 1987) and Jack Mix in Full Effect, both of which reached number 7. [1]
Mirage's popularity faded in 1988, as a large number of British house music acts started to produce original material and sample-based records using the original recordings rather than session remakes.
| Year | Album | UK [1] | Certifications | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Jack Mix | — | ||||
| Mix '87 (87 Hits of '87) | — | |||||
| The Best of Mirage: Jack Mix '88 | 7 | |||||
| 1988 | Jack Mix in Full Effect | 7 |
| |||
| Dance Masters | — | |||||
| 1989 | Royal Mix '89 | 34 | ||||
| 1990 | Latino House | — | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||||
| Year | Song | UK [1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | "Give Me the Night" | 49 | ||||
| "Let's Groove (Medley)" | 81 | |||||
| 1985 | "Into the Groove (Medley)" | 87 | ||||
| "Drugbustin' Music" | — | |||||
| "Get Down on It" | — | |||||
| 1987 | "Jack Mix" | 91 | ||||
| "Jack Mix II/III" | 4 | |||||
| "Serious Mix" | 42 | |||||
| "Jack Mix IV" | 8 | |||||
| 1988 | "Jack Mix V" | — | ||||
| "Jack Mix VII" | 50 | |||||
| "Pushing the Beat" | 67 | |||||
| "Pebble Mix" | — | |||||
| 1989 | "House Attack" | 84 | ||||
| "Latino House" | 70 | |||||
| 1991 | "Everybody Dance Now!" | — | ||||
| 1993 | "Reach for Your Dreams" | — | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||||
New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle, new jack swing was most popular from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. Its influence, along with hip hop, seeped into pop culture.
Black Box is an Italian house music group popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The group is a trio made up of club DJ Daniele Davoli, classically trained clarinet teacher Valerio Semplici, and keyboardist and electronic musician Mirko Limoni. French fashion model Katrin Quinol joined the act in 1989 and became the official face of Black Box, appearing on the cover of their single and album releases as well as in music videos, including the hit "Ride on Time", which was the highest-selling single of 1989 in the UK. The band's success waned when it was revealed that Quinol was lip-syncing to the vocals recorded by American singer Martha Wash, who sang the majority of the songs on the group's debut album, Dreamland.
Enigma was a musical project by British producer and musician Nigel Wright in the early 1980s. The recordings were by session musicians and singers who performed medleys of popular disco tracks. In 1981, the singles "Ain't No Stopping" and "I Love Music" reached #11 and #25 on the UK Singles Chart, respectively. They also released an album, Ain't No Stoppin', which reached #80 on the UK Albums Chart in September 1981. Their releases were under the Creole Records label.
Groove Armada are an English electronic music duo, composed of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay. They achieved chart success with their singles "At the River", "I See You Baby" and "Superstylin'". The group has released eight studio albums, four of which have charted in the UK Albums Chart top 50.
Farley "Jackmaster" Funk is an American musician, DJ and record producer of Chicago house and acid house music. He is notable for writing and producing a number of highly influential tracks in the mid and late 1980s.
Steve W. "Silk" Hurley, also known as J. M. Silk, is an American club DJ, pioneering house music producer, songwriter, and four-time Grammy Award nominee; two times as Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical, and twice for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.
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.
Club House were an Italian Italo house band formed in Italy in 1983. The group consisted of Carl Fanini, Gianfranco Bortolotti, Hidalgo Serra, and Silvio Pozzoli.
"Return to Innocence" is a song by German musical group Enigma. It was released on 4 January 1994 as the lead single from their second album, The Cross of Changes (1993). It became the project's most successful international single after "Sadeness ", reaching number one in over 10 countries, number three on the UK Singles Chart, and the top five in several countries, including Canada, Germany and New Zealand. It also reached the top 20 in France and number two on the Eurochart Hot 100. "Return to Innocence" was the project's biggest hit in the United States, reaching number two on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, number four on the Billboard Hot 100, and number six on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40.
"Stars on 45" is a song medley issued in January 1981 by Dutch studio group Stars on 45. In some countries, including the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, the band was credited as 'Starsound' and only the medley itself was named "Stars on 45".
Geraldine Carroll is an English singer. She had a string of hits during the 1990s, including the UK top ten singles, "It's Too Late" (1991), "Don't Be a Stranger" (1993), "The Perfect Year", (1993), and "Escaping" (1996). Carroll released two studio albums, So Close (1993) and Only Human (1996), both of which reached number two on the UK Albums Chart and were certified platinum. She won Best British Female Solo Artist at the 1994 Brit Awards.
"Respectable" is a song by English musical duo Mel and Kim from their only studio album, F.L.M. (1987). It was released on 18 February 1987 as the album's second single. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for one week in March 1987, becoming the second UK number-one single produced by Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), following Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round " (1985), and the first UK number one that the trio had written themselves. The single also topped the charts in Australia, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and West Germany.
Nigel Wright is a record producer from England. His career as music producer, orchestrator and songwriter has scored five number one singles, 31 Top 20 singles and a string of platinum albums with recording artists as diverse as Madonna, Shakatak, Mezzoforte, Barbra Streisand, Boyzone, Sonia, Take That, Sinitta, José Carreras, Robson & Jerome, Michael Ball, Sarah Brightman, The Texas Tenors, Cliff Richard, Connie Fisher, Paul Potts, Andy Abraham and Ray Quinn.
Raze was an American electronic dance music group by the multi-instrumentalist and producer Vaughan Mason. Raze also included the vocalists Keith Thompson, Wanda Sykes, Bobby Coleman and DJ Stephon Johnson.
"Hold Me Now" is a song by British band the Thompson Twins. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Alex Sadkin and the group's lead vocalist Tom Bailey. The song is a mid-tempo new wave song that uses a varied instrumentation, including keyboards, a xylophone, a piano and Latin percussion. It was released in November 1983 as the first single from their fourth studio album, Into the Gap.
"Ain't Nothin' Goin' On but the Rent" is a 1986 song by American singer Gwen Guthrie. It was released as the lead single from her fourth album, Good to Go Lover (1986), on Polydor Records. It became the biggest hit of Guthrie's career, and the song's title became a semi-popular catchphrase among many women throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. The single peaked at number five in the UK, but hit number-one in New Zealand, Zimbabwe and on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play. In 1993, it was remixed and again charted in the UK, peaking at number 42. In 2005, Blender listed "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On but the Rent" as number 339 on its list of "Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".
Tracy Ackerman is a British singer and songwriter. She works with several other British songwriters including Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson of Absolute and Mark Taylor.
"You Can Leave Your Hat On" is a song written by Randy Newman and appearing on his 1972 album Sail Away.
"The Official BBC Children in Need Medley" is a single by Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band. It is the official Children in Need Single for 2009, and was released on 21 November 2009. The song was shown for the first time on Children in Need 2009. The cover art is a parody of the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. The single has sold over 452,000 copies in the UK, earning it Gold status from the BPI.