History
Oscar, an early acid house enthusiast, was active in the Scotland club scene. He released three of the first ten Soma tracks. Kasper, who is Danish and classically trained, came at music from quite different beginnings. He wrote a film score at age 13, secured a position in a radio orchestra at age 14, and kept on playing. He drummed for Teddy Pendergrass and Terry Riley in New York, and has released several solo projects. The two ostensibly met through their actress girlfriends and became friends and collaborators. [2]
After building the Mish Mash parties - an avant-garde roaming club with widely varied musical styles, the two encountered an old friend Louise Norbye who started freestyling over an old disco track at a Paris concert they were hosting. The trio then founded Mish Mash the group.
The act was primarily one of creative enjoyment for the three.
"The only rule," laughs Kasper, "was to go really overboard, that there was to be no turning back. It had to be fun and put a smile on your face..." "But we wanted it to be quite dirty as well," interjects Oscar. "The re-emergence of that New York disco sound was perfect: there had to be a darkness to it. We wanted it to be big - big strings, dramatic all with a dirty groove." "Chic was an inspiration," recalls Kasper. "And Studio 54." [2]
The act's initial album, Speechless, was chosen by Data Records to mark their 100th release. [5] One review said of the group, "Looks like they’re having a stab at the hit parade. Provided they’ve got a video that includes semi-naked women prancing around in a badly choreographed routine, it’s safe to say they’ve got a hit on their hands." [6]
Gloria Gaynor is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), "Let Me Know " (1979), "I Am What I Am" (1983), and her version of "Never Can Say Goodbye" (1974).
Birgit Dieckmann, known professionally as Billie Ray Martin, is a German singer and songwriter, known for her single "Your Loving Arms", which reached the top 10 of both the UK Singles Chart (#6) and the Irish Singles Chart (#8) in 1995, and reached number one on the US Dance Club Chart. She was also one of the vocalists on the S'Express UK top 10 hit single "Hey Music Lover" (1989), and had UK top 40 hits as lead vocalist of Electribe 101 with "Tell Me When the Fever Ended" (1989) and "Talking with Myself" (1990), and as a solo singer with "Running Around Town" (1995) and "Imitation of Life" (1996).
Javine Dionne Hylton, often known simply as Javine, is an English singer and songwriter. She represented the UK at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv with "Touch My Fire". Hylton has also had a string of singles in the UK. Javine's cover version of "You've Got a Friend" was the theme music to Garfield: The Movie in 2004.
"Love Hangover" is a song by the Motown singer Diana Ross, recorded in 1975 and released as a single on March 16, 1976. It rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot-Selling Soul Singles. It also hit number one on the Record World disco charts. * The original single peaked just 3 months before the first publication of Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart, yet, in an ironic twist of fate, a remixed version by Eric Kupper, known as "Love Hangover 2020", was the last song to hit number one on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart in March 2020 before the chart was suspended.
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.
Martha Elaine Wash is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as half of the Two Tons O' Fun, who sang backing vocals for the disco singer Sylvester including on his signature hit "You Make Me Feel ". After gaining their own record deal, they released three consecutive commercially successful songs which all peaked at number two in the dance charts. The duo was renamed The Weather Girls in 1982 after they released the top-selling single "It's Raining Men", which brought them to mainstream pop attention. The Weather Girls released five albums and were heavily featured on Sylvester's albums.
The Source was originally an alias for the songwriting team of Anthony B. Stephens, Arnecia Michelle Harris and John Bellamy.
"I've Got a Life" is a song released by the British pop music duo Eurythmics. It was released as a single in 2005, in order to promote their second greatest hits compilation, Ultimate Collection. It was written by band members Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart and produced by Stewart. It was the duo's final single to date, becoming their fourteenth UK Top 20 hit, and also topped the US Dance Chart.
"You Got the Love" is a song by British songwriting team The Source featuring American singer-songwriter Candi Staton. Originally released in 1986, the song was remixed and re-released in 1991, 1997, and 2006. It reached number three on the UK Singles Chart, number two on the UK Dance Singles Chart and number one on the UK Club Chart.
"Disco Inferno" is a song by American disco band the Trammps from their 1976 fourth studio album of the same name. With two other cuts by the group, it reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in early 1977, but had limited mainstream success until 1978, after being included on the soundtrack to the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, when a re-release hit number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Tracey Elizabeth McSween, better known by her stage names Shèna and Shèna Winchester, is an English Disco and house singer, known for featuring on Michael Gray's song "The Weekend".
"We've Got It Goin' On" is the debut single of American boy band Backstreet Boys. It was released on September 11, 1995, as the lead single from their self-titled debut album. The song was recorded at Cheiron Studios in Sweden during a week in June 1995. It was written and produced by Max Martin and his then-mentor Denniz Pop, with extra writing from Herbert Crichlow and was later included in the US album and achieved success worldwide. The single peaked at number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 20 weeks on the chart. It was released across Europe, where it reached the top five in several countries, including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. On the Eurochart Hot 100, the song reached number five.
The Players Association was a New York based studio group, put together by drummer/arranger Chris Hills and producer Danny Weiss in 1977 on Vanguard Records.
"(You've Got Me) Dangling on a String" is a 1970 soul music song by the Chairmen of the Board. The single reached No. 38 on the US Billboard Hot 100, No. 19 on the US Billboard R&B chart, and No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was written by Ronald Dunbar and Edythe Wayne.
Steve Smith is an English singer and musician, best known as the vocalist for the house music group Dirty Vegas and as the percussionist for the new wave band Squeeze. He has recorded albums and played concerts for alternate rock band Portugal the Man since 2008.
"Loverboy" is Billy Ocean's second single from his 1984 album, Suddenly. It was produced by Keith Diamond and reached number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 as well as hitting number 20 on the soul chart, and number 15 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1985. It also reached the top spot of the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in the U.S., in an extended version. The track was released on the Jive label under the catalogue reference, JIVE 80. The song was played in the first episode of the long-running BBC One medical drama Casualty on 6 September 1986.
"Playing with Knives" is a song by British electronic dance music group Bizarre Inc. It was their second single released through Vinyl Solution, as well as their second single to be written and produced as a trio. It is also the first single from their debut full-length album, Energique (1992). The song originally reached number 43 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1991. It was re-released later the same year and peaked at number four in the UK charts. In 1999, the song was released for a third time, charting at a peak of number 30.
American recording artist CeCe Peniston entered the music industry as a backup vocalist on the Overweight Pooch's album Female Preacher, released in July 1991 on A&M Records. Shortly before that, she was featured on the B-side to 12-inch single "I Can't Take the Power" by male rapper Marvelous JC. Besides her vocal performance on the Pooch's only charting track, "I Like It", she was given a credit for co-writing two compositions; "Kickin' Da Blues" and the titular "Female Preacher". Soon after, the singer pursued a solo career. By now, Peniston has released four studio albums including one as a member of The Sisters of Glory, two remix collections, one live album, four compilations and one live extended play (EP). Her singles discography features twenty-nine physical releases, twenty-one digital-only, seven promotional recordings and twenty-six other appearances; regardless of their format. She has also been included on one video album and has made fourteen music videos.
Pure Energy was an American disco and post-disco music group best known for their various club hits such as "You've Got the Power", "Breakaway" and "Love Game". The band comprised Curtis Hudson, Lisa Stevens, Raymond Hudson, and Wade Hudson.
"Stand Up" is a song written and originally recorded in 1996 by the American house music studio group Love Tribe, featuring American dance songstress Latanza Waters. The original version, notable for using the keyboard sampling from Machine's 1979 disco hit "There But for the Grace of God Go I", became their only chart-topper on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart, reaching number one on August 31, 1996 for a one-week stay, as well as a number 89 placement on the Hot 100 chart in January 1997. It reached No. 23 on the UK Singles Chart in July that same year.
