Thursday, January 26, 2006

Lois - I Just Wanna Make Love 2U

This next track is a bit of a rare one. I don't know much about the band at all apart from the fact that they were 4 girls: Georgia Lewis (lead vocals) and Jan Mayo, Michelle DuVerney and JJ Kundi. "I Just Wanna Make Love 2U" was one of the 8 finalists in The Great British Song Contest in 1996, which as we all know was won by Gina G. Sadly, Lois' song failed to qualify from the semi-final, which was a shame as it's a very good dance number reminiscent of Livin' Joy and Alex Party who were very big on the dance music scene around that time. Maybe the fact that the lead singer had a scary haircut put off the televoters.

The track was co-written by Mike Connaris who went on to write Cyprus' Eurovision entry in 2004, Lisa Andreas' "Stronger Every Minute", and he has also competed a few other times in the British National Final. JJ from Lois was a dancer for Louise on her tour way back in 1997, but apart from that I don't know what else happened to the girls.

Sadly I don't have a pic of Lois, so one of the cover of the CD single will have to do!

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Cher - The Look

Cher is one of pop's biggest icons. She's been making music for just over 40 years and is still going strong. I've been lucky enough to see her in concert twice and she always puts on a fantastic show - especially her wigs and costumes!

She has gone through many musical changes from her days with Sonny Bono, through her understated 70s period (Dark Lady is a classic), 80s stadium rock through to her dance reinvention of the late 90s and early 2000s, which rejuvinated her career, with hots such as "Believe", "Strong Enough", "All Or Nothing" and "The Music's No Good Without You". Cher recently toured the world with her Farewell Tour which seemed to go on forever! I wouldn't put it past her touring or releasing music again...

The track I have chosen is taken from the Japanese version of Cher's 2003 album Living Proof. "The Look" has more of a latin vibe to it (reminds me a bit of Santana) than the dance feel the rest of the album has, so maybe that's why it was left off the UK/US release, but it's still a fabulous track, complete with key change!

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Lola - No Strings

25 year old Lola Zaidline-Delon is from the city of Paris in France who moved to the bright lights of New York City when she was 20. In the past, Lola has worked with artists sich as Snyder's Market anmd After landing a deal with Warner Bros., Lola released her first single in the US in November 2005. The original version of "No Strings" the song is a slow R'n'B ballad, but it was thanks to the dance remixes that has helped the song become an underground club hit in the US, peaking at #2 on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. This was no doubt helped by the song's risqué lyrics about the pleasures of getting right down to "it"!

Lola's debut album "Take It Like I Give It" is due out sometime in 2006, and "No Strings" has become one of those songs that people either love or hate. The version I have posted is the dance mix by Peter Presta, also featured in the video. Maybe the track will become a hit in the UK this year. Who knows?....

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Kym Sims - Take My Advice

Kym Sims comes from Chicago in the US, and enjoyed a brief spell in the UK charts in 1991 and 1992. Her biggest hit was the massive "Too Blind To See It" which was released in December 1991 and peaked at #5. The track also made #31 in the US. This was followed by "Take My Advice", and "A Little Bit More" which reached #30 in June 1992. Kym's debut album, also called "Too Blind To See It", peaked at #39 in April 1992. Kym's hits were very representative of dance music at the time, with her biggest hits being produced by Steve "Silk" Hurley who has also produced for many other successful artists, including Dannii Minogue's "Baby Love".

After the relative success of her debut album, Kym released a further few singles, "I Must Be Free" in 1995, "We Gotta Love" and "Keep On Keeping On" in 1996, but none of these were chart hits. A new track "Just Can't Get Enough" appeared on Mp3.com in 2000, but since then, Kym's been quiet!

"Take My Advice" was the Kym's second single in the UK, and was almost like "Too Blind To See It" Part 2! Whilst not matching the success of her debut single, it was still a moderate hit, reaching #13 in March 1992.

It's been a while since Kym released any music, but continues to perform across club venues across the US today...