Sector7seven
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Sector7seven was an dance act consisting of Ricard Jensen (born 13 November 1980 in Malmö, Sweden), Anders Swartz (born 14 March 1980 in Lund, Sweden) and Cecilia Mörnhed (also born in Malmö, Sweden). The group was originally formed as a production duo consisting of Jensen and Swartz, with Cecilia joining as a vocalist later on. The trio was best known for their song "Don't Follow the Stream", which was the winning track in the 2001 eJay contest ran by the European version of MTV. Following a number of temporarily splits and failed attempts to release "Don't Follow the Stream" as a single, the group split up permanentely in the Autumn of 2006.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early days
Anders Swartz and Ricard Jensen formed Sector7seven as a production duo in 1999. For the first year working together the duo had made 'fast-tracker' tracks with no real purpose, lacking a vocalist and thus the ability to make a popular song, and so in 2000 the two decided to look for a vocalist.
They found one in Cecilia Mörnhed, a girl who had just finished school, becoming impressed with her vocal range and abilities. They immediately began to record the group's first serious tracks, with Cecilia doing most of the songwriting and the two producers doing all of the production on the track. The acquisition of a vocalist paid off, as in the Summer of 2000 the song "Don't Follow The Stream" was recorded and published on the internet, to positive feedback.
Although the track had originally been named "Don't Follow The Stream" it was, in its early days online, posted around the internet as "The Summer". At the time of recording the track the group had become involved with an un-named German who promoted the track, claiming credit for it in some cases. He had renamed the track when entering it, without Sector7sevens permission, into a new "Dance eJay of the Week" competition being ran by MTV Europe. He had claimed that the track needed a shorter name as his reason for renaming it, although it is not known whether this is true.
The first Dance eJay competition was set to be a large one, ultimately featuring all of the greatest tracks created over time with the popular eJay software. Although Sector7seven hadn't actually made their track in the software, instead using more upmarket options, they entered the competition and won, resulting in the track being played on MTV across Europe in 2001.
The German who had entered the track into the competition continued to promote the group for some time, although due to some major differences between him and the group, he gradually discontinued his involvement with Ricard, Anders and Cecilia before ending his involvement with the group altogether.
[edit] Post-MTV success
After the airplay on MTV, interest in the relatively unknown group soared for a short time, with the track being posted on many internet websites and forums, others asking about the track having seen it on MTV. This would've been seen by many as the ideal time to release the track, but while there were offers of a record deal to release the single from Germany, the group was not satisfied and opted to reject all of the offers.
Over time interest in the group dropped, despite the release of a new track, "Stay Forever", to the web. Other tracks such as "Take Control" and "I'm Your DJ", the latter featuring male vocals as opposed to Cecilia's, were made but ultimately failed to match up to the success of Don't Follow, which proved to over time fall into decline with both the interest in and availability of the track very low by the end of 2002. Some interest in the track, however, was sparked at this time due to fellow dance group Flowparty performing it on tour. Their performing the song without Sector7seven's annoyed the band, and as a result of the tour some believe that the song was originally Flowparty's.
Gradually the Sector7seven project also fell into decline, the members losing interest due to other aspects of their life. The great record deal offer had not yet come, and at around the start of 2003 the group had dis-banded and gone their own ways. Ricard opted to work on other projects, such as SilverBEAT Productions, whereas Cecilia pursued a solo career by attending a Swedish music school.
[edit] Re-formation, new material and split
Over time the group had become less and less well known, resulting in their music being forgotten about and remaining only on the surviving websites which it had been distributed to two years earlier. However, in the middle of 2004 interest in the groups music suddenly returned, with radio stations in the United Kingdom in particular showing a sudden interest in their major hit "Don't Follow The Stream". After two years of not making much material at all Jensen, Swartz and Mörnhed got back together to, on the back of a new set of fans, record new material.
The results of the re-formation of the group were two new tracks. The first of these was "Life Is Brighter Than Light", a track unlike their others in that it was rather slow, with an instrumental part resembling the 1998 hit "World Cup Samba" by Dario G. The second was "Don't Wanna Lose This Feeling", a breakbeat track with a quick beat. The new music had changed the group's sound slightly, but kept the same winning formula of their early work. The result was increased publicity, and UK airplay.
Interest from record labels returned, but despite the new music the interest was in releasing the now three-year old "Don't Follow The Stream", which had withstood the test of time and become the groups 'trademark song'. Although multiple offers were made from various different countries, the group finally agreed to release the song on the new, Dutch record label Xing Records. The group, however, pulled out of the deal after numerous delays and disagreements with Xing. They are now unsigned again, and as things stand, are not discussing a new deal.
Despite the strengths of the original Don't Follow track and the band's intentions to release it as the main track on their first single with Xing, the record company insisted on releasing the single as a set of remixes, without the original version of the song. This caused a huge conflict between the band and Xing, reportedly resulting in the disagreement which saw the two separate. Although the single has not been released under Xing, it was expected to be a minor hit in the Netherlands, where it was set to be released, again, in late April 2006. The single would have featured two remixes by the Norwegian producer Torstein Nicolaysen, one remix by the German production duo TbO and Vega and one remix by the group themselves.
After leaving Xing Records, Ricard Jensen began working with one or two other vocalists, due to Cecilia's commitments to her own solo career. Despite producing some demo material with the new vocalists, Jensen never produced any further complete Sector7seven tracks. In mid-2006 the group confirmed that they had split up again, partially due to the interest in their music dying down, partially due to the lack of a record label, and partially due to other commitments.
Ricard Jensen and Anders Swartz have moved onto new projects, whereas Cecilia is still pursuing a solo career.
[edit] Cecilia's solo career
Along with her work with Sector7seven, vocalist Cecilia Mörnhed is currently pursuing a solo career. Having written and performed all of Sector7seven's most popular material, Cecilia decided to move away from the group's sound, instead opting to delve into the soul genre. She recorded an album worth of material in 2004 at the Swedish Academy of Music, selling the pop track "U Wanna Dance With Me" to an Italian group, and generating interest from several record companies. However, despite contact with major record label BMG about signing an album deal with them, Cecilia remains unsigned and it is not sure whether she intends to continue to pursue a career in music.
Cecilia also made a promotional visit to the UK in September of 2004, being interviewed and promoted by her then-publicist Kev Atkinson, resulting in further interest from record companies around the UK in addition to airplay on various North East radio stations. Mörnhed received promotion on the popular Metro Radio show Nightowls, presented by Alan Robson, where he played her soul-influenced offering "Too Late For Me". This gave Cecilia new exposure and publicity, and created further interest from record companies. After the end of her promotional visit in 2004, Mörnhed lost contact with Atkinson and he ceased to promote her in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Notable tracks
- Don't Follow The Stream (2000)
- Stay Forever (2000)
- Take Control (2000)
- Life Is Brighter Than Light (2004)
- Don't Wanna Lose This Feeling (2004)
[edit] Discography: Singles
- Don't Follow The Stream (remixes) (2005)
[edit] External links
- Sector7seven's free-to-download music on IC-Musicmedia
- News story on eJay of the Week competition's launch (in German)
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