Real McCoy (band)

Real McCoy
Origin Berlin, Germany
Genres Eurodance[1]
Years active 1988–2000, 2006-2009, 2016–present
Labels Phears Music/SME Records
Arista/BMG Records
Website www.facebook.com/realmccoymusic
Members Olaf Jeglitza
Karin Kasar
Past members Patricia Petersen
Lisa Cork
Vanessa Mason
Shampro

Real McCoy (originally known as MC Sar & The Real McCoy) is a German eurodance act that enjoyed worldwide popularity and success in the 1990s with their hit single "Another Night." The single became a Top-40 hit in multiple countries[2] and later grew to become one of the best-selling singles ever by a German dance music act in U.S. history.[3] Real McCoy is also famous for other major hits like "Run Away", "Automatic Lover (Call for Love)", "Love & Devotion", and a popular cover version of "Come and Get Your Love." During their long run, however, the act itself went through many noticeable changes in its lineup. Real McCoy also developed a pattern of sometimes being strictly a lip-syncing music act. This is due to the fact that the actual singing talent behind the act was not always credited or featured in Real McCoy's live shows, music videos or on the group's CD cover art.[4]

Group Origins (1988)

In the beginning, Real McCoy was known in Europe as "MC Sar & The Real McCoy" and only consisted of rapper Olaf "O-Jay" Jeglitza and an unknown session singer. Their first major breakthrough came in July 1988 when their cover of the Technotronic hit "Pump Up The Jam" called "Pump The Jam - Rap" became an unexpected No. 16[5] hit Germany. For their second single, "It's On You," singer Patricia Petersen was recruited into the act to provide singing vocals. When their record label wanted to produce a music video and put on live shows for "It's On You," a Frenchman of African-descent by the name of Shampro was recruited into the act to both star in Jeglitza's place and lip-sync his vocals. At that time, Jeglitza did not want to be the face of the group, so he remained in the background initially and provided only rap vocals.[6] Shampro was used as the frontman and face of M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy on a majority the group's early advertisements and CD/vinyl cover art. The group released three more singles ("Don't Stop", "Make A Move", "Let's Talk About Love", and "No Showbo") and an album called "Make A Move." All of these releases failed to achieve the same success of "It's On You" and "Pump Up The Jam - Rap".

Mainstream Success "Another Night" (1991-1996)

While working on their second album titled "Space Invaders" the group received a slight makeover. Jeglitza became the actual frontman and starred in music videos, performed live, and appeared on advertisements and cover art for the group's new records. However, the executives and the record label weren't happy with Petersen's singing vocals. Singer Karin Kasar was hired to provide the new vocals for the album. Petersen remained in the act as the frontwoman alongside Jeglitza, but was falsely promoted as the voice behind the group's biggest European hits ("Another Night", "Automatic Lover (Call For Love)" and "Run Away"). Petersen lip-synced Kasar's voice for all of the group's live performances and for all of their music videos. As a duo, Petersen and Jeglitza toured worldwide and appeared together on the cover art for the group's new records.[7]

American music executive, Clive Davis of Arista Records, took notice of their success and wanted to bring them to the American market in a similar fashion that he had done with Ace of Base. [7] For marketing reasons Arista decided to drop "M.C. Sar" from their group name and shortened it to "Real McCoy." Some new songs were recorded, but all of the female vocals were still done with Kasar. Arista also re-titled their "Space Invaders" album after their hit single "Another Night." During the promotion in America, another female singer named Vanessa Mason was added to the group making them now into a trio act. Mason had similar vocals to Kasar making their live performances more believable. Up until then, the group had always lip-synched in their live performances.[8]

"One More Time" Album (1997)

In 1997, Real McCoy returned with a new single and album called One More Time, this time with Mason and newcomer Lisa Cork. For this album Cork and Mason actually performed their own vocals on the songs. The album was co-written with American songwriter/producer Brent Argovitz, who had 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[9] 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[10]). 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.

New Real McCoy Lineup (1999-2009)

Although the group decided to stop recording together, a completely new line-up were hired to form a "new" Real McCoy in 1999. 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.[11] 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",[12] 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.[13] 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).[14][15]

Real McCoy Comeback (2016)

On their official Facebook page it was announced that the actual studio singer Karin Kasar had returned with O-Jay to perform as Real McCoy at '90s festivals.

Group Members

Producers

Discography

Albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
CAN[16] UK[17] GER[18] US AUS[19] NZ[20]
1990 On the Move!
  • Released: 1990
  • Label: Galaxis
  • Formats: CD, Cassette, Vinyl
1994 Space Invaders
  • Released: August 24, 1994
  • Label: Hansa Records
  • Formats: CD, Cassette, Vinyl
  • Re released in 1998 under the name "Love And Devotion"
65
1995 Another Night 20 6 13 6 1
1997 One More Time
  • Released: March 25, 1997
  • Label: BMG
  • Formats: CD, Cassette, Vinyl
55 79
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold)
Album
AUS
[19]
AUT
[22]
CAN
[16]
CAN
Dance

[16]
FRA
[22]
GER
[22]
IRL
[23]
NED
[22]
NZ
[22]
SUI
[22]
SWE
[22]
UK
[17]
US
[24]
US
Dance

[25]
1989 "Pump Up the Jam" 16 100 On the Move!
1990 "It's on You" 4 8 11 3 8
"Don't Stop" 19 41 18
1991 "Make a Move" 29 Singles only
1992 "Let's Talk About Love"
"No Showbo"
1993 "Another Night" 1 30 55 1 20 18 6 13 16 42 22 2 3 1 Another Night
1994 "Automatic Lover (Call for Love)" 18 9 38 20 44 32 19 58 52 3
"Run Away" 4 24 33 10 22 5 38 6 25 11 6 3 3
1995 "Love & Devotion" 7 16 37 16 26 28 16 11
"Come and Get Your Love" 18 42 4 53 22 37 8 19 19 1
"Sleeping with an Angel/Ooh Boy" 101 19
1997 "One More Time" 3 8 1 85 81 27 14 One More Time
"I Wanna Come (With You)" 82 12 105
"(If You're Not in It for Love) I'm Outta Here" 102
1998 "Pump Up the Jam '98" Singles only
1999 "It's on You '99" 14
2000 "Hey Now"
2006 "Follow My Heart"
2007 "People Are Still Having Sex"[29]
2009 "Two Hearts"
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

See also

References

  1. Balls, David (15 June 2009). "Whatever happened to... The Real McCoy?". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  2. "An Interview with Real McCoy rapper Olaf Jeglitza". digitalspy.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  3. "Allmusic.com Biography on Real McCoy". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  4. "Billboard.com Biography on Real McCoy". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  5. Chart progression of the single "Pump Up The Jam - Rap": in Germany provided by musicline.de
  6. "Eurokdj.com Biography on Real McCoy". Eurokdj.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  7. 1 2 "An Interview with Real McCoy singer Lisa Cork-Twiss". poptasticconfessions.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  8. "MTV Bio on Real McCoy". MTV.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  9. Chart Listing of the single "One More Time" for the week of Jul 19, 1997
  10. Chart Listing of the single "If You're Not in It For Love (I'm Outta Here)" for the week of Nov 08, 1997
  11. Billboard Article May 18, 2006
  12. Real McCoy "People Are Still Having Sex" CD-single
  13. The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs by Billboard Magazine
  14. Facebook event invite by DJ Bobo
  15. Pictures of Real McCoy at DJ BoBo and Friends concert - August 1, 2009
  16. 1 2 3 http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=p7j5erbb6tjvfp6a8kmmotb5f6&q1=real+mccoy&q2=&interval=20
  17. 1 2 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 452. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  18. "Real McCoy - German albums chart history". offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  19. 1 2 "Real McCoy - Australian chart history". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 24 May 2009.
  20. "REAL MCCOY IN NEW ZEALAND CHARTS". Charts.org.nz. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  21. Music Canada: Certifications
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lescharts.com International peak positions
  23. Search for Ireland peak position
  24. Billboard Hot 100 peaks
  25. Chart Listing of the Real McCoy singles on USA Billboard Charts
  26. French certifications + sales See: "Les Ventes" => "Toutes les certifications depuis 1973" => "MC SAR & REAL McCoy" Infodisc.fr (Retrieved January 12, 2009)
  27. UK certification
  28. Australian certification
  29. Registration of "People are still having sex" (Real McCoy) in the catalog of the national German Music Archive
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Ivan & Delfin
with "Czarna dziewczyna"
Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest
2006
(with Ich Troje)
Succeeded by
The Jet Set
with "Time To Party"
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