One Hit Wonders

Divinyls (often incorrectly referred to as “The Divinyls“) are an Australian rock music band. The core of the band is and has been vocalist Christina Amphlett (born Christine Amphlett and affectionately known as ‘Chrissy’) and guitarist Mark McEntee. Amphlett had impeccable pop credentials, being the cousin of Sixties Australian pop icon Little Pattie and closely related to pioneer Aussie rocker Col Joye and his brother, leading promoter Kevin Jacobsen. In her autobiography “Pleasure and Pain” Chrissy talks of the early days, when she was breaking into the music scene, of being arrested for busking when a teenager travelling in Spain, and how her act drew upon childhood pain.

The duo formed after meeting at a Sydney Opera House concert in 1980, and for the first two years they performed in pubs and clubs in Sydney’s Kings Cross. They provided the soundtrack for the movie Monkey Grip with Amphlett also acting in the film. She received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Australian Film Institute for her performance and the group had two hit singles, “Boys In Town” and “Only Lonely” from the soundtrack.

Original bassist Jeremy Paul (ex Air Supply) left the group in 1982. He was replaced by Rick Grossman (ex Matt Finish), who left in 1987 to replace Clyde Bramley in Hoodoo Gurus.

In 1991 they released the single “I Touch Myself” which became their only Australian number one single, and it reached number 4 in the US, and number 10 in the UK. A disagreement with their record company in the US stifled their future development, however in Australia they continued to release popular albums, and to achieve several more hit singles (”Love School”, “Make Out Alright”, and “I’m On Your Side”). During the 1980s and 1990s Amphlett began to collaborate as a songwriter with such artists as Chrissie Hynde and Cyndi Lauper, and she and McEntee worked on solo projects.

As their record company was quick to capitalize on their success by releasing the Essential collection of hits from the first three albums, and the Divinyls Live authorized bootleg in 1991, the band did not rush to put out new studio material. In the early 1990s they recorded a series of cover songs for various movie soundtracks, including the Young Rascals’ “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore” for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Wild Ones’ “Wild Thing” for Reckless Kelly, and Roxy Music’s “Love Is The Drug” for Super Mario Brothers.

From the late 1990s, Amphlett and McEntee have concentrated largely on solo projects and their collaborations with other artists. Nonetheless Divinyls, as a recording and performing entity, has never been officially disbanded.

In June 2006, the band were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

A brand new career spanning best-of collection is due to be released by EMI Music Australia in August 2006.

Source: Wikipedia

Kris Kross was a young rap duo of the early 1990s most famous for wearing their clothes backwards. The two members of Kris Kross were Chris (Mac Daddy) Kelly (born 1 May 1978 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA) and Chris (Daddy Mac) Smith (born 10 January 1979 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA).

They were found in 1991 performing at Lenox Mall in Atlanta, Georgia, by Jermaine Dupri. The duo’s album, Totally Krossed Out, was released in 1992 and sold more than four million copies. It included the hit single “Jump“, which stayed at number one on the Billboard charts for eight weeks. This landed them a spot on Michael Jackson’s European tour that year as well as a cameo appearance in Michael Jackson’s “Jam” video.

It became a short-lived fad for youth to wear their pants backwards.

During 1992, at the peak of their popularity, a video game was released starring the pair entitled Kris Kross: Make My Video. It was released on the Sega CD system, and consisted of the player editing together the groups music videos to a few of their hit songs using portions of the original music videos, stock footage, and general video animation effects. Players were prompted before each edit session to make sure to have certain footage compiled into the video. The game was released in the US only to very lackluster sales figures and dismal reviews. It was ranked 18th on Electronic Gaming Monthly’s list of the 20 Worst Games of All Time [1].

Released in 1993, a second album, entitled Da Bomb failed to match their early success. 1996 saw the release of their final album Young, Rich & Dangerous which was also a commercial disappointment. By the end they stopped wearing their clothes backwards.

A curiosity of Kris Kross’ career was a television commercial they starred in to advertise the soft drink Sprite in 1992–93.

After the group’s demise, Kelly and Smith began writing and producing albums.

Featured in the Jermaine Dupri Top 25 Countdown on BET. Ranked as #25.

In 2003 both Smith and Kelly announced plans to come back into the “rap game” hitting heavier and harder than they ever had. Nothing has come of this announcement, however.

Source: Wikipedia

Mr. President is a well known German euro-dance group, most known for their hit Coco Jamboo in 1996 which made them famous all over the world. The band was originally called Satellite One.

Real McCoy, originally known as MC Sar & The Real McCoy, was a German Eurodance group, who had a hit in the 1990s.
Real McCoy was the brainchild of German rapper and producer Olaf “O-Jay” Jeglitza. After having released a few limited edition 12″ singles in Germany under the name “The Alliance” with friends Frank “Quickmix” Hassas and Jay Wind, their first major breakthrough came in December 1989 when a cover of the Technotronic hit “Pump Up The Jam” got to #16 on the German singles chart.

At this point, the act was faceless so for the second single, the original track “It’s On You“, singer Patsy Petersen and ‘rapper’ Shampro were enlisted to join the group. O-Jay felt uncomfortable being the frontman so Shampro mimed O-Jay’s raps. The single, on its release in 1990, climbed to #11 in Germany. An album On The Move was also released.

At the semi-final Eurovision Song Contest 2006, O-Jay represented Poland with the band Ich Troje and the song “Follow My Heart”. It did not qualify for the grand final.

It has been rumoured since 2005 that Real McCoy has been re-formed with new members Marcel Brell and Trixie; a new version of the group which does not include any of the original Real McCoy members.

Source: Wikipedia

John Paul Larkin, (March 13, 1942 — December 3, 1999), better known as Scatman John, was a famous stuttering jazz musician who invented a unique fusion of scat singing and disco, best known for his 1995 hit “Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)“. As he liked to say, this was a process of “turning my biggest problem into my biggest asset.” Born in El Monte, California, he suffered from a severe stutter “since [he] started talking”, which led to an emotionally traumatic childhood. In 1995, at age 52, he became a worldwide star. Sales of his debut single were slow at first, but the song gradually took off to massive proportions, reaching #1 in nearly every country it was released in and selling over 6 million copies worldwide. Even at the peak of his success in 1995, journalists reported that during interviews he “hardly finishes a sentence without repeating the phrase at least six or seven times”. He received 14 golds and 18 platinums for his albums and singles. He was also the recipient of the Annie Glenn Award for his outstanding service to the stuttering community, and was also inducted to the National Stuttering Association’s Hall of Fame. He died of lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles, California at the age of 57.

Technotronic is a studio-based Belgian house music project formed by Jo Bogaert (a.k.a. Thomas De Quincey) in 1988. Together with Ya Kid K (born Manuela Kamosi born in 1973 in Zaire), he produced the hit single “Pump Up the Jam” which was originally intended as an instrumental. Bogaert and Kamosi parted ways shortly after recording the song, and an image for the act was put together utilizing Zairian-born fashion model Felly as its album and single cover art and “singer” in the music video.

Pump Up The Jam” became an unexpected international smash, eventually hitting #2 on the Hot 100 in late 1989/early 1990, becoming the first major house music record to break through to the pop mainstream. This success led to the debut of Pump Up The Jam - The Album, which featured tracks by Ya Kid K and MC Eric (born Eric Martin, Wales) as well as a live opening-act slot for Madonna and appearances on Saturday Night Live, The Arsenio Hall Show, and It’s Showtime At The Apollo, among others. It was at this time that Kamosi stepped forward as Technotronic’s real singer.

Source: Wikipedia