Fun Factory (band)

Fun Factory is a German eurodance group formed in 1992, originally consisting of founding members Balca Tözün, Rodney Hardison, Toni Cottura and Stephan Browarczyk. They have been nicknamed simply Balja, Rod D., Smooth T. and Steve. The group enjoyed massive success throughout the 90s.

Band history

1992–94: Formation, Nonstop and Balja's departure

The group was founded in 1992 along with four founding members Balca Tözün from Turkey, Rodney Hardison from America, Toni Cottura and Stephan Browarczyk from Germany. They released their first singles Fun Factory's theme and Groove me in 1992 and 1993. They shot a music video for Groove me. Fun Factory released their debut album Nonstop in 1994. Before their third single release Close to you in the late of 1993, lead singer Balca Tözün had been replaced with Marie-Anett Mey, an entertainer from Paris, France. With the second line-up the band gained massive success, though it has been later revealed, that Tözün kept providing vocals in the background for all their later releases until their disbandment in 1997 with Mey just lip-syncing and performing with the group on stage. Close to you became their first chart success peaking #1 at the Canadian Dance chart. Follow up singles were Take your chance and Pain being chart hits as well, peaking #18 and #24 in the German Single chart respectively.

1995–97: Fun-Tastic and disbandment

In 1995, the band released their singles I wanna B with U, Celebration and the Manfred Mann cover version retitled and shortened Do wah diddy, all chart hits, peaking #11, #12 and #6 in the German Single chart. The same year, Fun Factory released their second studio album Fun-Tastic. By this time they began to become more popular throughout Europe and even saw some of their songs to chart in the USA and Canada. The follow up single release was Don't go away becoming their yet last moderate chart success. Don't go away was also the last single to be promoted by the band as a quartet, when Cottura left the band. As a trio, the group released two more further singles, the ballad I love you and Oh yeah yeah (I like it). The first mentioned had been dedicated to the leaving member Cottura at the end of the music video, while the latter mentioned single didn't even received a music video, due to their sudden disbandment in 1997. That's why for the I love you single version, the first rap verse by Cottura, has been re-recorded by Browarczyk, which became his first and yet only solo rap verse in a Fun Factory single. In 1996, Cottura started releasing some solo singles and founded the hip-hop and R&B collective and record label, Booya Family, where he produced tracks for a variety of artists including Nana, Pappa Bear, Ray Horton, Jonestown, A.K. Swift and Alex Prince. He also produced tracks for the boy bands 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys. With these artists Cottura was most of the time featured as a guest artist. Cottura also collaborated with P. Diddy. In 1997, a Fun Factory Greatest Hits album has been released to end up the chapter. In 1997, Cottura has been featured on Daisy Dee's single "Hey you (Open up your mind)". When Hardison left Fun Factory to join Garcia in 1997, with whom he released three singles, the remaining two members Mey and Browarczyk were joined by the new member Ray Horton and planned to continue with a rebranded band name "Fun Affairs", but had no success with it and Fun Factory split up.

1998–08: Solo projects and Fun Factory spin-offs

In 1998, a Fun Factory spin-off came around with an all-new line-up, with rotating members, first comprising singer Lian Ross (Josephine Hiebel), rappers T-Roc/Tiger One (Terrance Lamont Croom), Alfonso Losa-Eser and Alexander Walser from Liechtenstein. In particular, for some of their releases they have been credited as The New Fun Factory^[1] though they have also been credited as Fun Factory for better sales for the Asian Market and shared the same logo design. The first studio album Next Generation, published on Marlboro Records, has been released in 1999 and sold over 100,000 copies, along with the singles Party with Fun Factory, Sha-La-La-La-La and Wish in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, Cottura produced for The Underdog Project and for Bro'Sis, while Mey released her first and only solo single Be the one. In 2002, New Fun Factory's studio album ABC of Music, published on Victor Entertainment, came up with the moderate success and the group was soon dissolved. In 2003, Cottura released his solo single "Fly". He also wrote "Bounce" for Sarah Connor's 2002 album "Unbelievable". In 2006, Cottura was featured on the single Quieres una aventura, a song by Romanian singer Corina and on Asja's single Party song. In 2008, a group with all new members, credited under the Fun Factory brand released their very first single titled Be good to me. They performed at "ZDF Fernsehgarten", where they also performed their unreleased song Fiesta de samba, at "We Love The 90's" and toured around Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Romania. Two more singles, I wanna B with U, a cover version of the original Fun Factory, and On top of the world has been released in 2009 and 2013 respectively. The Fun Factory spin-offs have been produced by Rekardo Heilig, since Cottura's departure of the group as a member.

2009–Present: Return of Balja and Comeback

In 2009, Cottura produced and has been featured on the single Horoz by Sedat, for his album Yeni hayatımın ilk günü. Meanwhile in December 2009, a promotional single titled Shut up has been released. The song marks the first song since 1995, where founding members Cottura, who co-wrote the song, and Tözün, who provided lead vocals, were involved, though they aren't featured on the cover arts. In 2013, three of four founding members, Tözün, Cottura and Browarczyk, reunited to perform their Fun Factory songs again. They were joined by new rapper Ski (Anthony Freeman) from New York City.^[2] They gave their first full concert, credited as The Originalz FF Members of Fun Factory due to lawsuit reasons, in Poland in October 26, 2013, where they also presented the new song Hands up (Give me your heart)^[2] at the end of the concert, a cover version of the pop duo Ottawan. In 2014, producer and owner of the brand Rekardo Heilig confirmed on the relaunched official website, that the group is performing as Fun Factory again.^[3] They are working on new material to be released sometime soon.

Members

Tözün left the band in 1993, and has been replaced by Mey, though it has been revealed, that Tözün kept providing vocals in the background for all their later releases until their disbandment in 1997 with Mey just lip-syncing and performing with the group on stage.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Promotional singles

Featured singles

Music videos

Featured music videos

Notes