Real McCoy (band)

Real McCoy, originally known as M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy, is a German musical group, best known for their '90s singles "Another Night" and "Run Away", which were both Top 10 hits worldwide.

Biography

Formation

Real McCoy is the brainchild of German rapper and producer Olaf "O-Jay" Jeglitza.^[1] After having released a few limited edition 12" singles in Germany under various project names (e.g. The Alliance,^[2] The Admirers)^[3] on his own label "Freshline Records" (founded 1988 by Frank "Quickmix" Hassas & O-Jay^[4]), their first major breakthrough came in December 1989 when a cover of the Technotronic hit "Pump Up The Jam" went to No. 16^[5] on the German singles chart. Juergen Wind joined the production team before the single was released.

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 No. 11^[6] in Germany. An album On The Move was also released.

"Another Night"

They released 4 more singles ("Don't Stop", "Make A Move", "Let's Talk About Love", and "No Showbo") but none was able to achieve the same success of "It's on You" or "Pump Up The Jam - Rap". So things went a little quiet for a while until they hooked up with David Brunner, Head of A&R at Hansa Records, in 1992. Their production company "Freshline" signed an exclusive contract with Hansa at the end of 1992. Brunner was impressed by a song called "Another Night" but was dissatisfied with Petersen's vocals.

Convinced he had a hit on his hand, Brunner persuaded Freshline to let Hansa release a new version of "Another Night" with Petersen (miming Karin Kasar's vocals) and O-Jay to become the male part of the duo "M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy". Another Night was a No. 18 hit in Germany in 1993 and all over continental Europe, followed by the album Space Invaders but then Clive Davis at Arista Records in the US showed some interest. He had already had success taking Ace of Base to the States and now wanted to do the same with a re-branded Real McCoy.

A new video was made, another singer Vanessa Mason was found to form a trio and the single shot to No. 3^[7] on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1994, also reaching No. 1^[8][9] on Radio & Records magazine's CHR/Pop Airplay chart. It was also re-released in the United Kingdom, where it had only reached No. 61 the previous year. This time it was far more successful and within three weeks had climbed to No. 2, selling more than 312,000 copies and also reached No. 1 in Australia. The follow-up, "Automatic Lover", reached No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 58 in the UK.. "Run Away" became the follow-up single to "Automatic Lover" (in North America, it was the second single, following "Another Night"); it got to No. 3 in the U.S. in early 1995 (and No. 6 in the UK). A freshened-up U.S. album called Another Night was released, with some new tracks, also with vocals by Karin Kasar, and Real McCoy were awarded Best New Act at the American Music Awards in 1995.

"Love and Devotion" was a No. 11 hit in the UK in April of that year, and "Come and Get Your Love", a cover of the 1973 hit by Redbone, peaked at No. 19 on both sides of the Atlantic ending a great year for the act. Shortly afterwards, Petersen left the act and was replaced by Lisa Cork.

The album "Another Night" is an adaptation of the German release "Space Invaders" but with fewer Eurodance tracks (which were completely left unfeatured) than the original German album and a few new down-tempo tracks such as "If You Should Ever Feel Lonely [Deep in the Night]", and the singles "Come And Get Your Love" and "Sleeping with an Angel".

Two of those tracks "Streetfighter" and "Je Suis Amoreux" can be found on the Canadian release of "The Remix Album".

One More Time

In 1997, Real McCoy returned with a new single and album called One More Time, this time with Mason and Cork actually performing on the record. The album was co-written with American songwriter/producer Brent Argovitz who brought Cork into the band. The single itself was released in many nations around the world on vinyl and CD-maxi singles with a total of 18 remixes among all the releases. "One More Time" (the single) peaked at No. 27^[10] on the Billboard Hot 100. It became a Top 20 hit on both Rhythmic/Dance format radio and on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. However, "One More Time" completely missed the UK Singles Chart. A few other singles were released such as a cover of the Shania Twain hit, "If You're Not in It For Love (I'm Outta Here)" and "I Wanna Come With You" (which "Bubbled Under" the Hot 100^[11]). The album also featured a track penned by Billy Steinberg, and Chris Kusch provided the piano melody on the album track "Take A Look at Your Life". Unfortunately One More Time (the album) failed to replicate the success of "Another Night". Before long the group disbanded.

Since the split

Although the group decided to stop recording together, a completely new line-up were hired to form a "new" Real McCoy in 1999, much like the producers of 2 Unlimited had done a year earlier. Jason, Gabi and Ginger recorded a brand new version of the 1990 hit "It's on You" still featuring O-Jay's raps in an updated form, which was released only in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2000, they also released a new song titled "Hey Now", the first Real McCoy tune to feature a rap not using O-Jay. Both singles failed to chart.

O-Jay went on to produce and re-mix for several German artists such as Yvonne Catterfeld, B3, Daniel Küblböck and ATC.

In 2003, O-Jay released a solo CD single under the A45 record label (Germany) with several mixes of his winning eurodance formula called "Nite to Remember", a song very reminiscent of the Real McCoy tracks with his rap and female vocals.

Several "greatest hits" compilations have been issued in recent years, and O-Jay started his own weblog in 2004, in which he finally revealed that the group's biggest hits had in fact been performed by Karin Kasar. He has also speculated that yet another Real McCoy group was being lined up without his permission, but so far they have not been launched. O-Jay still performs under the name Real McCoy and collaborated with Ich Troje to represent Poland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006.^[12] The song, "Follow My Heart", failed to qualify for the grand final.

In early 2007, O-Jay started a new record label, Phears Music, with a distribution partnership with SonyBMG in Germany. He also released a brand new physical and digital single "People Are Still Having Sex",^[13] a cover of LaTour's 1991 hit, in anticipation of a new album and tour for Real McCoy.

In July 2008, "Another Night" was listed on place 91 in "The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs" list.^[14] In late 2008, O-Jay signed a new exclusive deal with Sony Music Germany for Real McCoy.

In July 2009, Real McCoy performed in Halifax, Canada and Toronto, Canada with the band formation of O-Jay, Debbie, and Gemma. This was their first set of performances in over a decade and also used live vocals on backing instrumental tracks. The setlist consisted of "One More Time", "Run Away", "Come And Get Your Love", "Two Hearts" (the new single), and "Another Night".

In August 2009, Real McCoy performed in Engelberg, Switzerland (DJ BoBo and Friends concert).^[15][16]

Band members

• Olaf "O-Jay" Jeglitza - all male lead vocals (1989–present)
• Shampro - performer (1990–1992)
• Patricia Petersen - lead female vocals for several tracks of the "On The Move" Album and the "No Showbo" Single. Since 1993 just lipsyncing (1990–1996)
• Yvonne "Sunday" Parker - lead female vocals for several tracks on the "On The Move" Album and the "Don't Stop" Single. (1990–1991)
• Karin Kasar - lead female (uncredited) vocalist on all tracks from the Another Night Album. (1992–1994)
• Robert Kirby - vocals (1992 - 1996)
• Vanessa Mason - vocals (1994–1998)
• Lisa Cork - vocals (1997–1998)
• Gabriele "Geby" Koopmans - vocals (1999–2000)
• Ginger Maria Kamphuis - performer (1999–2000)
• Jason Ammon - male vocals (1999–2000)
• Debbie Butts - vocals (2009–2010)
• Gemma Sampson - vocals (2009–present)

Producers

• Olaf "O-Jay" Jeglitza
• Frank "Quickmix" Hassas
• Berman Brothers (producers)
• David Brunner
• Juergen Wind
• Douglas Carr
• Per Adebratt
• Tommy Ekman
• Billy Steinberg
• Rick Nowels
• Shep Pettibone
• Tony Moran
• Brent Argovitz

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References

External links

• Real McCoy information page from the website dance artist info
• List of releases from the online music database Discogs
• All about the recording artist Real McCoy Real McCoy official site