Cappella
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- This article is about a musical group. For the musical term, please see A cappella
Cappella were an Italian/English eurodance group that found international success mainly in the early 1990s.
The name Cappella was first used in the year 1987. The main man behind Cappella was the Italian producer Gianfranco Bortolotti of Media Records, with contributions from the likes of Michele Persona and Mauro Picotto. In 1988 the act debuted on the British charts with the song Bauhaus (Push The Beat) - and the following year with Helyom Halib which peaked at #11. At the time the act was fronted by the singer Ettore Foresti.
Some three years later Cappella returned with Take Me Away, sung by Loleatta Holloway who had also been the uncredited vocalist on the #1 hit Ride On Time by Black Box in 1989.
It wasn't until 1993 when Cappella managed to really gain momentum. After U Got 2 Know got to the heady heights of #6 in the UK, two permanent members were drafted in - Rodney Bishop (rap) and Kelly Overett as the lead 'vocalist', although it has since emerged that Kelly did not perform on any of the records.
U Got 2 Let The Music, Move On Baby and U & Me followed into the UK top ten as well as being pan-European hits. However, the group decided that they wanted a 'real' singer to replace Kelly so she was sacked and replaced by Allison Jordan (of "Boy from New York City" fame). By the time the group returned in the summer of 1995, Eurodance was rapidly going out of fashion so Tell Me The Way and the album War In Heaven were relatively unsuccessful.
The act continued to have minor hits in Europe for a while before resorting to remixes of previous big hits. In 2004, the act - now once again faceless, released a brand new track called Angel which failed to trouble the German or Italian charts but it is rumoured that new singers are being looked for to front a new Cappella in the near future. A best-of CD/DVD was released in August 2005.
Discography
See also
- 49ers - Gianfranco Bortolotti's other Italio-house act of the era.
- Media Records
- Nukleuz Records