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57-482: When Fun Factory split up in 1997, a new group formed in the late of 1998, first comprising singer Lian Ross (Josephine Hiebel), rappers T-Roc/Tiger One (Terrance Lamont Croom), Alfonso Losa-Eser and Alexander Walser from Liechtenstein, who were the first of several spin-offs of the successful group Fun Factory . In particular, for some of their releases they have been credited as The New Fun Factory though they have also been credited as Fun Factory for better sales for

114-459: A Fun Factory spin-off was introduced with an all-new line-up, with rotating members, first comprising singer Lian Ross (Josephine Hiebel), rappers T-Roc/Tiger One (Terrance Lamont Croom), Alfonso Losa-Eser and Alexander Walser from Liechtenstein. On some of their releases they have been credited as The New Fun Factory . The first studio album Next Generation , published on Marlboro Records, was released in 1999 and sold over 100,000 copies, along with

171-470: A career in German television as a host for N-TV respectively. In the meantime, also Losa-Eser launched his solo career and released the singles Te quiero and Too late (...to be two strangers) in 2000 and 2001. Croom later joined Romanian band K1, with whom he released songs such as Ma luai or Plangeam in noapte . In 2005, a group with all new members, now made of Diana, Jenna, DGS and Douglas, credited under

228-641: A cover version of the original, and "On Top Of The World", were released in 2009 and 2013 respectively. In December 2009, a promotional single titled "Shut Up" was released, which marked the first song since 1995 where founding members Cottura and Tözün were involved. In 2013, three of four founding members, Tözün, Cottura and Browarczyk, reunited for performances. They were joined by new rapper Ski (Anthony Freeman) from New York City. They gave their first full concert, credited as 'The Originalz FF Members of Fun Factory', in Poland on October 26, 2013, where they also presented

285-631: A dance-party TV show broadcast nationally in English and French versions. Beginning in mid-1992, Eurodance began to dominate the RPM dance chart in Canada, with acts such as 2 Unlimited , Snap! , Captain Hollywood Project , Culture Beat , Haddaway , Whigfield , each reaching number-one. From approximately 1992 to 2000, Canadian acts such as Capital Sound , Love Inc. , Jacynthe and Emjay had success with

342-469: A drum machine clap beat. Sometimes non-rap vocals are used. Eurodance often carries a positive, upbeat attitude; the lyrics usually involve issues of love and peace, dancing and partying, or expressing and overcoming difficult emotions. The early to mid-1990s Eurodance vocals were frequently done by a solo vocalist or a mixed rapper-vocalist duet such as the male–female duets of 2 Unlimited , La Bouche and Magic Affair . Many groups used variations of

399-513: A huge number of records) he decided to take the label into other markets and set up a UK office in the UK. Run by Peter Pritchard and featuring many records by Stu Allan's British Eurodance act Clock , this record company would eventually turn into hard house label Nukleuz (known for its DJ Nation releases). As Media turned into Nukleuz, it would fall to All Around the World Productions to be

456-402: A song in 2011, called Trendsetter , a collaboration with the singer Joelina Drews. In 2011, Walser released his single Drunk, Drunk, Drunk . In 2012, the band consisted of Crash, Ela, Lisa and Dominique. In 2013, Crash has been replaced by Wyll. In 2013, the song On top of the world has been released. In 2014, their last single "B'Bang Bang" was released. In the same year, it was announced that

513-459: Is heavily influenced by the use of rich vocals, sometimes with rapped verses. This, combined with cutting-edge synthesizers, strong bass rhythm and melodic hooks , establishes the core foundation of Eurodance music. Eurodance music originated in the late 1980s in central Europe, especially in Germany, where rave parties were becoming popular. By 1987, a German party scene was started, based on

570-476: Is typically around 140 beats per minute , but may vary from 110 to 150. Most Eurodance is very melody -driven. Most Eurodance songs are in minor keys , similarly to techno . This, along with positive lyrics, helps contribute to the overall powerful and emotional sound of Eurodance. Besides the contribution of the female or male vocals, there is often a noticeable use of rapid synthesizer arpeggios . Eurodance music videos were often seen with dance acts by

627-520: The Party with Fun Factory and Wish single releases, the group has been promoted as simply FF and Sha-La-La-La-La as The New Fun Factory . Party with Fun Factory peaked #1. Still in the band on a short break, Walser released a solo song Just for you , a contribution for the Eurovision song contest 2000. In 2002, New Fun Factory's studio album ABC of Music , published on Victor Entertainment, along with

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684-581: The '90s. The group was founded in 1992 with Balca Tözün from Turkey, Rodney Hardison from America, and Toni Cottura and Stephan Browarczyk from Germany. They released their first singles "Fun Factory's Theme" and "Groove Me" in 1992 and 1993. Fun Factory released their debut album Nonstop! The Album in 1994. Before their third single release " Close to You " in late 1993, the group reported that lead singer Balca Tözün had been replaced with Marie-Anett Mey , an entertainer from Paris, France. " Close to You " became their first chart success, peaking at number 1 on

741-659: The 1980s and 1990s. By the end of the 1990s, however, some of the later acts such as Italian group Eiffel 65 and Danish group Aqua did receive extensive airplay. Despite lack of widespread radio play, many Hi-NRG and Eurodance songs are popular at professional sporting events in the United States, especially ice hockey and basketball. Compilation albums, such as the DMA Dance: Eurodance series of compilation albums (1995–1997) from Interhit Records and Dance Music Authority magazine, were popular and helped to define

798-662: The Asian Market and shared the same logo design. Other variations were Fun Factory #2 , FF , New Fun Factory or Fun Factory Next Generation . The first single Party with Fun Factory , which samples J. Geils Band 's song " Centerfold ", has been released under the FF logo in 1998. Before their first studio album Next Generation , published on Marlboro Records, which has been released in 1999, lead singer Hiebel had been replaced with Annett Möller, an entertainer from Germany, though it has been later revealed, that Hiebel kept providing vocals in

855-759: The Canadian Dance chart. Follow-up singles were " Take Your Chance " and " Pain ", which peaked at 18 and 24 respectively on the German Singles Chart. In 1995, the band released their singles " I Wanna B with U ", " Celebration " and the Manfred Mann cover version " Do Wah Diddy ". They were all chart hits, peaking at nos. 11, 12 and 6 on the German Singles Charts. The same year, Fun Factory released their second Studio Album Fun-Tastic . By this time they began to become more popular throughout Europe ,

912-467: The Dutch techno dance project L.A. Style received quite a bit of airplay early on. The more Hi-NRG -oriented artists were typically played only during special "mix" shows, and it was often necessary to go to a club to hear Eurodance music. While Eurodance did become popular with club DJs in the United States, radio stations were cautious about playing anything that sounded too much like disco during most of

969-534: The Eurodance sound. The Toronto sound was more pop-oriented, while the Montreal one was more house-oriented. While Eurodance is well known in major metropolitan areas such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami, Eurodance did not make as big of an impact in the rest of the country. Exemplifying this is the Eurodance classic " Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop) ", by Scatman John , an American artist; despite topping

1026-454: The Fun Factory brand released the single Ilarie , which has been surfaced as a Fun Factory-credited single, along with the group, the credit has later been changed to Fun Factory presents Buttons and finally shortened to a solely band name becoming the group Buttons . In 2007, Walser released his single titled African queen featuring the rapper Que. In 2008, the band's single Be good to me

1083-573: The German charts. A few Eurodance artists including 2 Unlimited , Haddaway , La Bouche and Ace of Base made the Rhythmic Top 40 , Top 40 Mainstream and the Billboard Hot 100 during the early to mid-1990s. However, the sound tended to be more house and the rap-oriented artists received airplay. For instance, the German hip-house project Snap! , the Belgian hip-house project Technotronic and

1140-476: The German charts. Therefore, in the second half of the decade the popularity of Eurodance started to decline. " Scatman's World " by Scatman John was the last major hit of the original Eurodance sound in the Eurochart Hot 100 , being number 1 for 3 weeks between late August and early September 1995. Just before that, La Bouche released " Be My Lover ", which has sold six million copies worldwide to date. In

1197-726: The Jam " was released. It reached number one in Belgium and Spain, and it popularised the house variant called hip house in Europe. On 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell; free underground techno parties mushroomed in East Berlin, and a rave scene comparable to that in the UK was established. East German DJ Paul van Dyk has remarked that the techno-based rave scene was a major force in re-establishing social connections between East and West Germany during

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1254-539: The Jam 's music video is described as having a "colour scheme of brilliant reds, greens and purples in a staggering array of chequered backdrops [...] [It is] a great insight tot the power of music videos on party wardrobes". Bright, sometimes over-saturated colour schemes were used, with contemporary party clothing or outfits referring to space-age , with videos that were fully or in part using computer-generated imagery elements and effects. Large, sometimes digitally multiplied, dance troupes also frequently featured. As

1311-476: The Netherlands and Italy. From 1992 until the genre's decline in popularity after 1995, the sound became increasingly NRG-oriented, leading to songs raising in B.P.M. up to 150. Some of the genre's defining songs in this period, dubbed as the "golden era" of Eurodance, are " It's My Life " by Dr. Alban in 1992 (number 1 in 8 countries), " No Limit " by Dutch group 2 Unlimited in 1993 (number 1 in 14 countries, it

1368-535: The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and it helped to raise awareness of the genre within Europe. In the following years, other Eurodance acts formed in Frankfurt, including Jam and Spoon , Intermission and Culture Beat . After the breakthrough single " Rhythm is a Dancer " by Snap! in 1992 (number 1 in 12 countries), new groups started to appear all over Europe, mainly in Belgium,

1425-437: The United States, and Canada. The follow-up single release was " Don't Go Away ", becoming their last chart success. Following the release of "Don't Go Away", Cottura left the band. As a trio, the group released two more singles, "I Love You" and "Oh Yeah Yeah (I Like It)". For the single version of "I Love You", the first rap verse by Cottura was re-recorded by Browarczyk. In 1996, Cottura started releasing solo singles and founded

1482-476: The World (La La La La La) " by German group ATC in 2000. Basshunter , Scooter and Cascada saw significant success during the 2000s, however, by the early 2010s, popularity waned, and by about 2012, Eurodance music disappeared almost completely from the majority of European radio airplay. The term "Eurodance" gradually became associated with a specific style of European dance music. During its golden years in

1539-514: The background for all their later releases until their disbandment in 2001 with Möller just lip-syncing and performing with the group on stage. Also Losa-Eser left the band in 1998, leaving them as a trio. The album Next Generation has been released in the Asian market and sold over 100,000 copies. The album spawned two more singles, Sha-La-La-La-La and I wish , shortened and retitled Wish , which samples Michael Jackson 's " Human Nature ", in 1999. For

1596-452: The background for all their later releases until their disbandment in 2003 with Möller just lip-syncing and performing with the group on stage. Fun Factory (band) Fun Factory is a German eurodance group formed in 1992, originally consisting of founding members Balca Tözün, Rodney Hardison, Toni Cottura and Stephan Browarczyk. They have been nicknamed simply Balja, Rod D., Smooth T. and Steve. The group enjoyed success throughout

1653-445: The chart at the end of May 1995. Technotronic from Belgium had hits with "Pump Up the Jam" and "Get Up" (featuring Ya Kid K). By 1996, the popularity of this genre had started to decline. From then, the classic Eurodance sound gradually morphed into progressive house . By 1997 and towards the end of the millennium house and trance music increased popularity over Eurodance in Europe's commercial, chart-oriented dance records. In

1710-634: The charts in multiple European countries and reaching number 3 in the United Kingdom, it only reached as high as "number 60" on the US Hot 100 . Another notable example is the Life in the Streets album, a combined Eurodance music project from American rapper Marky Mark and Caribbean reggae vocalist Prince Ital Joe , which was not released in the United States, but was a huge success in several European countries including singles like "Happy People" and " United " that topped

1767-487: The early 2000s, the mainstream music industry in Europe moved away from Eurodance in favour of other styles of dance music such as nu-disco , electro house , dance-pop and R&B . After Cappella's Gianfranco Bortolotti set up Media Records in Brescia, northern Italy to release his 'commercial European dance music' (a set-up which included fifteen studios featuring various production teams working almost non-stop on

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1824-422: The emerging trance music scene. Representatives of Eurodance such as Starsplash and Mark 'Oh are sometimes regarded as forerunners of hands up. The biggest commercial success was the music until the mid-2000s. The synthesizer melodies are often catchy and simple. Often the vocal melody is accompanied by a synthesizer. In contrast to techno, short, high-pitched synthesizer tones are used. Hands up does not rely on

1881-484: The genre as well as to make it accessible in the U.S. and Canada. Hands up (also known as handz up! (stylized as HandzUp!) or dancecore in Eastern Europe ) is a style of trance music , and a derivation of Eurodance. The genre comes from its name, meaning music that requires listeners to "put their hands up", as well as fitness and danceability. The genre developed in Germany in the mid- to late 1990s as part of

1938-568: The genre's popularity also expanded further to East Asia, in nations such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan; towards the end of the golden era also in Russia. By 1995, Eurodance dominated European charts with 5 singles in the top 10 of the singles charts. Despite its success, many observers within the music industry said that the Eurodance sound had to change or die, and Eurodance producers and singers started to follow different paths and different sounds, such as happy hardcore and house music, but not all

1995-404: The groups followed this trend immediately. Notably, the group 2 Unlimited wanted to remain within Eurodance sounds in order to remain chartbusters, although the producer De Coster predicted a retreat from a pop-like to a more club-like sound. After a string of successful Eurodance hits, the producer Nosie Katzmann called angrily the record label because one of the songs dropped at number 26 in

2052-408: The label in the 21st Century which was more likely to release Eurodance tracks in the UK than other, with its Clubland TV music channel still having regular blocks of Eurodance videos in 2020 (though extending its scope to include hits by David Guetta as well as Cascada and Scooter ) During the 1990s, Eurodance became popular in Canada, which produced its own variant called Candance (although it

2109-427: The late 1990s Eurodance productions. The Swedish group Rednex also introduced American country music elements into the sound. Eurodance lyrics are almost always sung in English, regardless of the artist's nationalities. However, there are cases like in the Belgian group's Paradisio where Spanish lyrics are used along with latin music elements. Almost all Eurodance emphasizes percussion and rhythm. The tempo

2166-567: The late 1990s, the classic Eurodance sound gradually morphed into progressive house . Notable examples of successful Eurodance songs of this era are " Coco Jamboo " by German band Mr. President in 1996, " Freed from Desire " and " Let a Boy Cry " by Italian singer Gala , " This is Your Night " by Amber and " Bailando " by Paradisio in the same year, " Barbie Girl " by Danish-Norwegian group Aqua in 1997, " Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!! " by Dutch group Vengaboys in 1998, " Blue (Da Ba Dee) " by Italian group Eiffel 65 in 1999 and " Around

2223-449: The main vocals of the songs (or models ad-libbing), often dancing in bright-coloured infinity cove studios or wide, urban spaces (stations, parking garages) with high visual contrast, or in empty nature scenes. Electronicbeats describes the cliché Eurodance music video as having "strobe-lit rave scenes, pixelated ‘90s computer graphics and, of course, an urban montage: cue the subway stations, streetlights and business commuters". Pump up

2280-482: The majority of the original members of Fun Factory from 1993 - 1997 would be returning to performing. They first returned under the name "Fun Factory: The Originalz" due to avoid confusion and legal issues with New Fun Factory, but later performed under "Fun Factory" after the cease of operations of New Fun Factory. No music has been made since. Hiebel left the band in 1999, and has been replaced by Möller, though it has been revealed, that Hiebel kept providing vocals in

2337-446: The mid-1990s, it was referred as "Euro-NRG"; in Europe it was often called "dancefloor". While some use a much broader definition of what is considered "Eurodance", over time, the term particularly came to refer to an NRG-based genre from the 1990s which included a solo vocalist or a rapper/vocalist duet. Most Eurodance is characterized by synthesizer riffs, one or more vocals with simple chorus, one or more rap parts, sampling and

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2394-456: The music is largely electronically generated, shots of artists in studios or playing at concerts, frequent in videos of other genres, were infrequent. From the early to mid-1990s, Eurodance was popular in Europe; the style received extensive airplay on radio stations and television shows, resulting in many singles appearing in the charts. For example, in Italy there were seven singles in the top ten of

2451-532: The new song "Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart)". In 2014, the group began performing as Fun Factory again. On August 7, 2015, the single "Let's Get Crunk" was released. On July 15, 2016, "Turn It Up" was released, followed by the group's third studio album, Back to the Factory , in August. In February 2021, the group released "Memories", which went on to be their last single. In July 2021, the band announced they were leaving

2508-560: The project and a cast for the new members was following. Balja, Toni, Steve and Anthony still perform together under "S.T.S.B. fka Fun Factory". After over a year of inactivity, Fun Factory resurfaced with a new line up of Douglas, DGS, and Jasmin, the former two being former members of the New Fun Factory project that was active during Fun Factory's first hiatus. In July 2023, the group released their newest single, "Uh La La". Current Lineup: Douglas, DGS, Jasmin (2023–present) Tözün

2565-714: The rapper-vocalist theme, such as a German rapper with American singers ( Real McCoy ), or the use of reggae rap as in Ice MC and Fun Factory , or combination of rapper and reggae vocalist like in the Life in the Streets album, or scat singing as in Scatman John . Solo singing artists such as Alexia , Whigfield and DJ BoBo also contributed to the genre. Some acts like the Swedish dance-pop originated group Ace of Base use more pop vocals rather than rap/soul vocals along with Eurodance sound. Pop vocals were particularly popular in

2622-452: The record label Booya Family, where he produced tracks for a variety of artists including NANA , Marky Mark , 'N Sync , and Backstreet Boys . In 1997, a Fun Factory Greatest Hits album was released. Hardison left Fun Factory in 1997; the remaining two members Mey and Browarczyk were joined by the new member Ray Horton and planned to continue with a rebranded band name "Fun Affairs", but saw little success and Fun Factory split up. In 1998,

2679-422: The singer Jermaine Jackson . The Fun Factory spin-offs have been produced by Rekardo Heilig. In October 2010, Ross has uploaded three songs to her YouTube account, titled Self Control , Crazy and Let it happen , all of them already had been previously recorded for the 2002 album ABC of Music . She herself labeled them as "Fun Factory & Lian Ross" for a better recognition. Also, Walser produced and released

2736-715: The single Tam tam taram tam , came up with the moderate success in the Asian market and the group was soon dissolved. On live performances they also covered and performed songs from the original Fun Factory . On December 21, 2002, they performed their very last concert at the In Club Gallery in Frankfurt, Germany before parting ways in early 2003. Each member has started solo careers, Walser back in California, USA, Croom back in Romania releasing his solo album in 2002 Tiger style under his name Tiger 1, and Möller retired from music, started

2793-569: The singles "Party With Fun Factory", "Sha-La-La-La-La" and "Wish" in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, Mey released her first and only solo single, "Be the One". In 2002, New Fun Factory's studio album ABC of Music , saw moderate success and the group was soon dissolved. In 2008, a group with all new members, credited under the Fun Factory brand released their first single titled "Be Good To Me". They performed at ZDF Fernsehgarten and toured in Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Romania. Two more singles, "I Wanna B With U 2010",

2850-557: The streets in Berlin . It was conceived as a political demonstration for peace and international understanding through love and music. On 19 July 1989, Black Box 's single " Ride on Time " was released. The song spent six weeks at No. 1 in the United Kingdom and it was the UK's best-selling single of 1989. It contained the Korg M1 's "house piano" which can be found in many Eurodance releases. On 27 September 1989, Technotronic 's single " Pump Up

2907-625: The structure of tension build-up, but rather is based on the typical verse-chorus pop music scheme. The main elements are the bassline , drums and a catchy lead sound. A typical stylistic device of hands up is pitched female or resulting feminine vocals, but male vocals are also common. In addition, distorted, autotuned, chopped and repeated spoken phrases are common characteristics. DJs & groups such as Manian , Rob Mayth, Rocco & Bass-T, DJ Gollum, Scooter , ItaloBrothers , Klubbingman , Discotronic , Ma.Bra., and Megastylez etc. are representative figures of this subgenre in both Germany and around

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2964-542: The unification period. In the same year, German producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti (under the pseudonyms Benito Benites and John "Virgo" Garrett III) formed the Snap! project in Frankfurt. Snap! songs combined imported hip hop and soul vocals adding rhythm by using computer technology and mixing electronic sounds, bass and drums, mainly house music . By doing so a new genre was born: Eurodance. Snap!'s first single, " The Power ", released in 1990, reached number one in

3021-603: The well established Chicago house sound and Belgian new beat . The following year saw acid house making a significant impact on popular consciousness in Germany and central Europe as it had in England. In 1989, German DJs Westbam and Dr. Motte established the Ufo Club , an illegal party venue, and co-founded the Love Parade . The parade first occurred in July 1989, when 150 people took to

3078-409: Was Europe's biggest-selling song for 1993), " What Is Love " by Haddaway in the same year (number 1 in 13 countries), " Mr. Vain " by Culture Beat also in the same year (number 1 in 13 countries), " Cotton Eye Joe " by Rednex in 1994 (number 1 in 12 countries) and " Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop) " by Scatman John in the same year (number 1 in 9 countries). In the same period,

3135-480: Was mostly referred to as "Eurodance" or "dance music"). Eurodance received significant airplay on radio stations in the Greater Toronto Area such as Power 88.5 , Energy 108 and Hot 103.5 . Montreal was also a major Eurodance market, with MC Mario 's famous radio show on Mix 96 , called "Party Mix" and Bouge de là , a popular TV show on MusiquePlus . Eurodance featured prominently on Electric Circus ,

3192-416: Was released. They performed at "ZDF Fernsehgarten", where they also performed their unreleased song Fiesta de samba , at "We Love The 90's" and toured around Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Romania. The single, I wanna B with U , a cover version of the original Fun Factory has been released in 2009 with an all new line-up respectively. In 2009, Walser released his single Living your dream , a collaboration with

3249-552: Was said to have left the band in 1993 and was replaced by Mey, however, Tözün continued to provide uncredited vocals for all their later releases until their disbandment in 1997 with Mey serving as a visual, lip-syncing and performing with the group on stage. Eurodance Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG ) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe . It combines many elements of rap , techno and Eurodisco . This genre of music

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