Mona Q - Unleashed (2001)

After seeing Mona Q (more commonly known as Mon A Q) mentioned in last week's edition of my current fave web column, Bottom Feeders: The Ass End Of The 90's, I had to download the song mentioned, "Stay In Love".  I instantly fell in love, and somehow the song sounded familiar.  I quickly realized that it was remade in 2002 by a fave diva, Nicole J McCloud, on her So What? album.  The song is an electro-house/freestyle hybrid and thus satisfies everything I love in a song.  So I immediately ordered the album as well, and happily it is much of the same.  In 1995, producer Randy Lance, who was in Tampa, Florida, working on a TV show, had started recording as KromOzone and had gotten some local radio play.  After hearing his work, two guys who were recording as Back To Basics approached Randy to produce a bunch of songs for them.  Only one stood out to him, and that was "Stay In Love", though it was then a ballad.  It was sung by Monique Smith, a jazz singer originally from Los Angeles who had recently moved to Florida.  Randy ended up reworking the whole song, adding an electro beat and chopping and speeding up the vocals.  He claims to have also renamed Monique 'Mon A Q' in the process, by pronouncing her name phonetically.  Back To Basics asked if they could use his mix as a B side and that was the last Randy heard from them.  They took Mon A Q's new name as their new moniker, since Back To Basics was already taken by someone else, and released the song the following year.  By the end of 1997 it had hit the Billboard Maxi-Singles Chart and ended up reaching #120 just outside of the Billboard Hot 100.  Due to this success, and having been excluded from its release, Randy released his own version as The KromOzone Project in 1998, and another version produced by Adam Marano was also released under the name Mona Lisa that same year.  Mon A Q laid low until 2000, when two singles were released, "Feel The Rhythm" and "I Want You For Myself", the latter featuring the production of house masters The Berman Brothers, who were behind acts like Real McCoy, Amber and Isle postees She Moves.  The album Unleashed followed, and it included a totally reworked version of "Stay In Love".  At this point Monique took the moniker as her own, and she alone was Mon A Q (changed briefly to Mona Q for the album and a couple of singles).  Two more singles were released from the album, "Here Comes The Sun" and "Do You Wanna Roll". She's released only three more songs in the following years: "It's My Turn" in 2006, "Daydreamin'" in 2007 and "How Long" (a remake of the 1974 soft rock hit by Ace) in 2010, all on Tone 1 Records, and has also been a featured vocalist on several tracks.  She continues to perform and record, and the new year will likely see new material from this perseverant diva.

Download Unleashed

1		What's My Name
2		Love's No Guarantee
3		I Want You For Myself
4		Do You Wanna Roll?
5		Stay In Love
6		Feel The Rhythm
7		Ask My Heart
8		Here Comes The Sun
9		Ready To Love
10		I Want To Remember
11		I Want You For Myself (Tingo's Progressive Mix)
12		Rhythm (DJ Gemini Style)

Doubleplusgood / Subliminal NY / La Casa / Jose & Luis - New Faces (1993)

So it's time to share my first compilation.  To be fair, it's actually a showcase for just four acts that were signed to Sire Records in the early 1990s.  But these acts are pretty obscure, and none managed a full album, so they're perfect for this blog, and I know you'll all love them!  Plus, three of the four have interesting connections.  The first is Doubleplusgood, which was musician and producer Ted Ottaviano and vocalist Basil Lucas.  Ottaviano was then well-known for his work with awesome new wave group Book Of Love, who had several dance hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including "I Touch Roses" and "Pretty Boys And Pretty Girls".  When Book Of Love broke up in 1993, Ottaviano had already been working on Doubleplusgood tracks.  The group name was taken from George Orwell's book 1984.  Ottaviano wanted to explore world music sounds, using mostly African tribal music with a house beat and Lucas' tribal-like chants.  It was very similar to the sound Dr. Alban had already had success with.  Their first single, "Conga Té", was a hit on the Billboard Dance charts, reaching #12 in 1993.  An album was recorded, but for some reason was ultimately not released.  Another track that was not on this compilation, "The Winding Song", appeared on the Just Say Roe compilation in 1995 (which is where I first heard of the group).  It was released as a single and ended up hitting #2 on the Billboard Dance charts in 1996.  One other track, "Boogala", appeared on the German Maximum Dance 5 compilation in 1997, and that was the last that was heard from the duo.  Next up is Subliminal NY, a Latino new jack swing quartet, for which I can find no info except that they were masterminded by producers Chris Champion and Eric Sadler.  They released one single, "Loungin'", that failed to make any impact and an album never surfaced.  The next act on the compilation was also not successful, but its founders were.  La Casa was formed by pop singer Tommy Page and freestyle diva Safire after both of their solo careers had stalled.  Interestingly, they chose to remain in the background as producers and songwriters and hired two singers to front the group, Dacia Palmer and Allan Edwards (though both Tommy and Safire do add some backing vocals).  Perhaps this was due to the racy nature of the songs and the fact that the songs were house music, a genre that Tommy and Safire were not known for. La Casa released one single, "Get To You", that gained only minimal support on dance floors, and again, an album never surfaced.  The last act was likely the most notorious, in no small part due to the participation of Madonna herself.  Jose & Luis were Jose Guiterez and Luis Camacho, two of Madonna's dancers on her Blonde Ambition tour who were immortalized in her documentary Truth Or Dare.  They came from the "ballroom" community that was primarily responsible for the "vogue" movement.  They were recruited by Madonna to choreograph and appear in her "Vogue" video, and ended up getting nominated for an MTV Video Award for their efforts.  This led to their choreographing much of the Blonde Ambition Tour.  They and most of the other dancers from the tour were soon let go by Madonna, but the boys planned on capitalizing on their new found fame.  They enlisted popular producer Junior Vasquez (then also a friend of Madonna) to produce some vogue-worthy house tracks.  They even managed to rope Madonna in for a cameo appearance and some backing vocals for their first, and only, single, "Queen's English".  While it was an underground success, it didn't lead to an album deal.

This whole compilation is an amazing time-capsule of the early 1990s club sound, and this is the only place that most of these songs are available.  While none of the acts were successful enough to get a full album release, most of the people involved have continued to work in the entertainment field, though to be honest, this compilation was released at the tail end of their heydays. 

Video for Queen's English

Download New Faces

1		Doubleplusgood - Conga Té
2		Doubleplusgood - Theme From Doubleplusgood
3		Doubleplusgood - Sunny Day
4		Subliminal NY - Loungin'
5		Subliminal NY - Don't Make Me Wait Too Long
6		Subliminal NY - Twice As Cruel
7		La Casa - Show Me The Way
8		La Casa - Get To You
9		La Casa - Dance To My Music
10		Jose & Luis - Do It To The Rhythm
11		Jose & Luis - You Want To Touch Me
12		Jose & Luis - Queen's English

Véronique Béliveau - Borderline (1987) & Véronique (1989) DOUBLE POST!!

Before there was Celine Dion, there was
Véronique Béliveau!  I have had several requests for Véronique's English albums over the years, and thanks to the always wonderful eurodanceboy, I now have them and can finally share them with you.  Véronique was born Nicole Monique in Montreal in the 1950s.  She began performing under the name Véronique Béliveau when she was 17, and was soon touring with French Canadian star Réne Simard.  She then took on several hosting and performing gigs on television in Quebec, and also acted in the film Parlez-nous D'amour.  She released her first album, Prends-moi Comme Je Suis, in 1977.  Her next album, Véronique Béliveau, was released in 1980 and she finally had a hit in French Canada with "Aimer".  In 1983 she changed up her sound from balladry to pop rock and dance pop, and released Transit, which gave her her biggest French hit, "Je Suis Fidèle".  The song was a remake of Sheena Easton's "She's In Love (With Her Radio)", which is an appropriate choice as Véronique's voice, look and style were extremely similar to Sheena's.  After releasing several other successful singles, the album won the 1985 Pop Album Of The Year trophy at the Félix Awards, which is the Quebec equivalent of the Grammy's.  That same year she released the album Cover Girl (Cache Ton Coeur), and the title track was another big hit for her.  Her success led to her appearance on the Canadian Africa relief single "Tears Are Not Enough", and she was the only French chanteuse to be invited.  It was only natural that this success in French Canada would lead to a pursuit of fame in English Canada, and she began work on her first English album, Borderline, with producer John Dexter, who has produced other Isle postees like West End Girls and A Perfect Day.  Her first English single, "Make A Move On Me", managed to make a small impact.  Three more singles - "Borderline", "Love You Like A Fire" and "I Can't Help It" - were released to lesser success.  However, that same year she had another French hit with a duet with Marc Gabriel, "Jérusalem".  Her talents ended up attracting none other than Richard Carpenter, one half of 70's pop superstars The Carpenters.  Though he rarely ever worked with other artists, he decided to produce her next English language album.  The first single was the ballad "House Of Love", a remake of my fave song by Isle postee Maria Vidal.  The song attracted only minor attention, however.  The following year a last ditch effort was made for a hit, with the release of a hip hoppy remix of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", which was a remake of the song made most famous by Diana Ross & The Supremes with the Temptations.  It wasn't a hit for Véronique, however, and she has not released an album, in English OR French, ever since.  Though she has appeared in some musicals in France and has done occasional backing vocals since then, it is difficult to uncover what else Véronique has been up to recently, though I have a feeling eurodanceboy could fill us in, as he seems a huge fan.  Check out his Youtube page for many more Véronique performances and songs, as well as vids by many other Canadian acts, some whose albums he has generously shared with me and I may feature in the future.  (P.S. Please don't get this Véronique confused with the OTHER Veronique posted on the Isle. ;)

Live performance of Make A Move On Me

Live performance of Borderline

Live performance of Love You Like A Fire

Download Borderline

1		Do You Still Want Me
2		Borderline
3		I Can't Help It
4		I Can't Hold Back
5		Take A Chance
6		Make A Move On Me
7		Love You Like A Fire
8		What I Want
9		Lost In Love

 
Download Véronique

1		I'm Gonna Make You Love Me
2		House Of Love
3		Just Another Dream
4		All My Tomorrows
5		I Want To Get Close To You
6		One Of Us
7		A Touch Of Paradise
8		Falling In Line
9		What Kind Of Love?
10		Angel In My Eyes
11		All Those Years Ago

Scandal'Us - Startin' Somethin' (2001)

I had considered posting Scandal'Us' only album some time ago but didn't, but a request from Enjoykitten put a fire under my ass, so here it is! ;)  Scandal'Us were the winners of the second season of the Australian Popstars television show.  The group consisted of Jason Bird, Daniela Scala, Tamara Jaber, Simon Dicham and Anna Belperio.  Like most contestants in the Popstars series, the five grew up exploring their love of music and dance, and most also went to school to pursue a career in something unrelated to music.  Popstars was their first step into the national spotlight.  After the five were chosen out of 36 finalists to be part of Scandal'Us, they quickly got to work on their debut album.  Their first single, "Me Myself & I", was a smash out of the gate, and like their predecessors in Australia's Popstars, Bardot, they debuted at #1 in Australia.  The song stayed at #1 for three weeks, which was an Australian record for a debut single.  Their album debuted at #2 on the Australian charts.  Despite this instant success, for some reason their next single, "Make Me Crazy", only managed to reach #30 on the charts.  Like most Popstars groups from around the world, they never got the chance to record a follow-up album, since they decided to split the following year.  Also like most of the winners of the Popstars series, the individual members have pretty much faded into obscurity since.  The member with the highest profile since is Tamara Jaber, as she released two singles in 2005 as Tamara, "Ooo Aah" and "Hard For Me", that both managed to reach the Australian Top 40.  In 2007 she formed the duo (originally a trio) Scarlett Belle with Reigan Derry, and they were signed in America to Def Jam Recordings and worked with several popular American artists.  In 2010 they released two singles that made the Australian Top 40, "Closure" and "Freak Tonight".  A third single, "Lover Boy", failed to chart and they split before an album could be released.  That same year Tamara appeared in Dancing With The Stars and was the runner up.  Tamara has been pursuing a solo career ever since and released an album on Cleopatra Records at the end of 2012 entitled Felt...Not Heard.  As for the rest, Jason Bird appeared on So You Think You Can Dance in 2010 and is a choreographer, Anna Belperio is part of a wedding band with her husband called Pearl, Daniela Scala pursues songwriting, and Simon Ditcham started his own swing band and now records as Some Egyptian. 

Video for Me Myself & I

Video for Make Me Crazy

Download Startin' Somethin'

1		Me Myself & I
2		History
3		Think Again
4		Make Me Crazy
5		Be That Way
6		You Bring Me Love
7		Startin' Somethin'
8		High On Your Love
9		Love You To (Be My Baby)
10		Hand On Your Heart
11		I'm Not Gonna Cry (Na Na Na)
12		Now That You're Gone

Mary Zilba - Out Of The Blue (1999) & Fly (2003) DOUBLE POST!! + 1

I have long been a casual fan of American/Canadian pop singer Mary Zilba.  However, I must confess that I never followed her career too closely, and I lost touch with her goings-on somewhere in the mid-2000s.  So not only was I surprised when, late in 2011, it was announced that there would be a Canadian version of the Real Housewives franchise (one of my fave series), but also that Ms. Zilba herself would be one of the "housewives"!  I must admit, I didn't hold out much hope for the show, as most Canadian versions of American shows are embarrassingly weak and uninteresting copies of the American versions.  But soon after The Real Housewives Of Vancouver began, I was hooked, and it has since become one of my faves of the series.  Who knew Canadian women could be SO bitchy!?  Mary is portrayed as the sweet, innocent one who is basically the punching bag for the other ladies, and it seems to reflect her true nature, though this season it appears she may be a little more calculating than she at first appeared...  Anyway, the show renewed my interest in Mary's music, so I dragged out my copy of her first album and was reminded how talented a singer she is and how fun her music can be.  Her story is easy to find on the internet - born in Ohio, Mary sang throughout school and joined a band called Junkyard.  Discouraged by the Ohio music scene, she went to college and got a degree in Journalism.  She worked as a reporter and TV host, and in 1986 (or 1987, depending on the source) she won the Miss Ohio crown, and won the talent portion of the Miss America competition, but not the title (incidentally, she and her sister Juliana are the only sisters to ever have competed in the Miss America pageant - and her sister won the talent portion as well in 1981).  Soon after, Mary moved to Florida and created and hosted a travel show called Eye On Fort Lauderdale.  But her true passion was for music, so she moved to Los Angeles to pursue it and scored a music deal with an indie label.  There she hooked up with popular pop producer Ian Prince (who also worked with previous Isle postees Elisa Fiorillo, Starleana, Adele Bertei, Stacy Earl, Kiara Hunter and Sheree Jeacocke) and released her self-titled album in 1998.  Though it went unnoticed in the US, interest was brewing in Canada, where the album was re-released as Out Of The Blue the next year.  Mary moved to Vancouver to pursue this Canadian interest, and she had three Canadian Top 40 hits off of the album - "Seduction", "Do Me Right" and "See You Again".  Her next album Fly was released in 2003 and produced only minor hits with "Put Your Arms Around Me", "Whatever" and "Give It Up".  Left with no album deal, Mary continued to perform and also pursued acting and philanthropy.  She did release a 'best of' entitled Flashback Fast Forward in 2009 to appease her fans, and it included seven new tracks - "Little Miss Reckless", "Unconditional", "Too Many Times", "This Is Me", "I Will Never Have You", "Delusion" and "Afterglow" (should you wish, you can download the collection HERE. ;)  With her interest in music still strong and a desire to promote it, Mary soon applied for the Real Housewives Of Vancouver and got the gig.  Though the show has increased her profile in Canada and given her a minor hit with a song she wrote and performed on the show, "Hero", it remains to be seen if the show will give her the music success she still craves.  But she has used the abuse that she has received on the show to her and others' advantage, as she is now involved in anti-bullying campaigns, in addition to work for PETA, Tuberous Sclerosis and Epilepsy.

Video for Seduction

Video for See You Again

Video for See You Again (Remix)

Download Out Of The Blue

1		See You Again (Radio)
2		Do Me Right
3		Seduction
4		Runaway
5		Groovin
6		The Question Of You
7		All I Wanna Do
8		Right Back In Love
9		Did You Know
10		Big Time
11		Lately
12		Try Again
13		See You Again
14		Runaway - Outro
15		See You Again (Extended Mix)
16		Seduction (Dance 12 Inch Edit)
17		Do Me Right (House Mix Extended)

Video for Put Your Arms Around Me

Video for Whatever

Download Fly

1		Fly
2		All Out Of Love
3		Tell Me, Tell Me
4		Give It Up
5		Put Your Arms Around Me
6		Whatever
7		Everything
8		Last Night
9		All Out Of Love (Remix)

Claudya - Straws & Candy (1990)

So, Adriana never fails to please, and this week she sent me the only album by Claudya, an artist I have never heard of but most definitely enjoyed.  As always, I am intrigued by these obscure ladies and I just HAD to find out more.  I immediately went to Discogs, which gave me nothing as per usual (though I was sure to update her page there after I did my research. ;)  A little poking around revealed that Claudya is Claudia Soumeru, an Indonesian lovely from The Netherlands.  While I can't find out much about her beginnings, at some point she was signed by Indisc Benelux.  In 1989 she released her first maxi-single, the dance-poppy "Saturday Night", which also included the ballad "Let's Not Begin".  Her oddly titled album appeared the following year and followed the same dance-pop formula.  One other single was released, the mid-tempo "I Wanna Go There", but neither the singles nor the album were a success.  It seemed that was the last of Claudia, but in 1994 she teamed up with two other Dutch-Indonesian ladies, Selina Loupatty and Tosca Aijal, to front the group Clau-Dya's.  They had some local success with their first single, "Tudeletutu (Wish We Were Lovers)", and released their second, "Round & Round", in 1995.  In 1996 the ladies competed in the Dutch Nationaal Songfestival, the preselection competition for the Eurovision Song Contest, where they performed a few other songs, but apparently they broke up after they weren't selected for Eurovision.  Claudia mostly left music to pursue stage production, but in 2002 she rejoined former Clau-Dya's producer and bandmember Michiel Eilbracht to form funk-metal band Bagga Bownz.  The group released their debut album Done With The Pain in 2008 and continue to record and perform.  You can download some of their tracks for free at their Bandcamp page should you wish.  Thanks again to Adriana for the album, especially since I enjoy hunting down such obscure artists on the internet (when I have the time!) and discovering that they are still alive, well and making music! :)

Download Straws & Candy

1		Don't Push Me
2		Back To The Beat
3		Everything In Me
4		Anywhere You Go
5		Let's Not Begin
6		I Wanna Go There
7		Always Be Waiting
8		Good Side
9		Tell Me Baby
10		Saturdaynight
11		Saturdaynight (Extended Dance Version)

Ann Lee - Dreams (1999)

Isle visitor Agus recently asked for Ann Lee's debut album, and luckily I ran across it yesterday while looking for something else, so I thought I'd share it with everyone!  Annerley Gordon has had a long and varied career in dance music.  She was born and raised in the UK, but in the late 1980s she moved to Italy, right when Italo-disco and Italo-house were exploding worldwide.  Though she never set out to be a singer, a talent scout heard her singing in a club and snatched her up.  Italian producers were drawn to Annerley's sweet, girlish voice, and she was soon snatched up by A.Beat-C. Records.  She released her first single in 1990, "Sexy Boy-Sexy Toy".  The following year she released two similar sounding singles also using her full name, "Donna" and "Hot 'N' Ready", as well as "Bad Love" under the moniker Annalise.  She would release several more singles on the label using both names over the next few years, and also for different labels under the name Charme, most notably on releases by Lee Marrow such as "Try Me Out" (which she co-wrote).  Italian producers were notorious for using the same vocalists on several tracks, but releasing the tracks under different aliases and using models to lip sync and pose for covers (Black Box is perhaps the most famous example), likely to give the illusion of a new artist yet maintain a familiar sound.  Annerley, along with vocalists like Sandy Chambers and Giovanna Bersola, was one of the most sought after.  During the same time she was releasing solo material, her voice was behind tracks by artists such as Ally & Jo, Go Go Girls, Groove Twins and Lolita.  It was also widely rumoured (and fairly evident) that she was the voice behind Whigfield, who had a worldwide smash with "Saturday Night", though Danish beauty Sannie Carlson appeared in the video and on record covers.  Further proof is that Annerley co-wrote Whigfield's next big hit, "Another Day" (Carlson has since taken over vocal duties, however).  An even bigger success for Annerely as a writer at this time was her having co-written the huge 1993 worldwide hit "Rhythm Of The Night" by Corona.  She continued to have huge success as a writer and vocalist throughout the 90's, so it was only natural that she would want to focus on a solo career.  She got together with renowned Italo-disco producer Larry Pignagnoli, who was behind much of the work she had done behind the scenes, and they concocted the eurohouse song "2 Times".  She released it in 1998 under her shortened name, Ann Lee, and it became an instant success in Europe, hitting the top 10 in most European countries, including her native UK, where it hit #2.  It managed to hit the Canadian top 20 singles chart as well.  An album and second single, "Voices", were released soon after, but to lesser success.  Two more singles also failed to hit, a remake of Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell" and "So Deep".  A new single, "No No No", was released in 2003, but Ann then went back behind the scenes until 2007, when she finally released a second album, So Alive, though this time it was on an indie label and only available digitally (except in Mexico, where it saw a CD release).  "Catches Your Love" and an update of "2 Times" were released as singles, but Ann soon disappeared again.  Since then, she has only appeared on former collaborator Benassi Bros.' Pumphonia album on a remix of "No No No", and as a featured vocalist on Favretto's "I Get The Feeling", both in 2009.  But I get the feeling, given her amazing musical history, that we'll see Ann back on the charts soon.

Video for 2 Times

Video for Voices

Video for Ring My Bell

Download Dreams

1		2 Times
2		Smooth & Sweet
3		Voices
4		Ring My Bell
5		In You
6		I Love You So
7		Come To Me
8		So Deep
9		Helpless
10		Looking For
11		Top Of The World
12		2 Times (Snapshot Mix)
13		2 Times (Master Boy Club Version)