Paris By Air (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paris By Air was one of the architects of the Latin Freestyle movement that became Miami Freestyle. Unlike many of the scene's vocal artist performers, Paris By Air was unique in that the trio wrote their own songs, played their own instruments and incorporated live musicianship into their energetic stage show.
The band was formed in the summer of 1985 and taken under the wing of famous Miami producer Lewis Martinee. Rick Munarriz, Willie Cleer and Haydee Rivera were eventually signed to Columbia Records in 1987 and released their first single -- Voice in Your Head -- on July 3, 1989.
The eclectic dance single, warning about the "archer's skill to catch you" raced up to 14 on Billboard Club Play chart. The archer was cupid, in this case. Columbia then released a second single in March of 1990, C'mon & Dance With Me. The infectious groove, making "neo romantics" a clubland slang staple, peaked at 35 on the Billboard Club Play chart.
Columbia approved a full-length CD. Unfortunately, the 1990 recession took its toll on the label. While Paris By Air had released a popular seasonal song in "It's Another Holiday" for the "Christmas in the City" compilation, Columbia let many of the artists on its Epic and Columbia labels go. Paris By Air was one of them.
Haydee moved to New York, forcing Rick and Willie to find a new singer. Haydee was the only singer the guys had auditioned. Teri Gil was the second. She assumed the role at the helm in 1991 and a year later, Lewis Martinee's studio released "I'm Serious" independently. It was the only release not written by the band. Billboard gave a raveyard remix by Rick and Willie some praise, claiming that it could "open new doors" for the band. Unfortunately, Hurricane Andrew destroyed Martinee's recording studio.
Martinee, Munarriz, Cleer and Gil weathered the storm. In 1995 the band released "All Around the Sound" which was picked up by YYZ Records in Germany and became a significant European dance hall hit.
The band eventually released a full-length CD after spending the first half of the 2000s amassing nearly 500,000 streams and downloads on MP3.com.
