Belle Epoque (band)
Belle Epoque , sometimes also La Belle Epoque , was a formation around the French singer , lyricist and composer Evelyne Lenton, born on December 16, 1945, and her brother, the producer , arranger and composer Albert Weyman.
history
Evelyne Lenton began her singing career in the early 1960s in Paris , where she performed under the stage name "Evy" and from 1963 onwards she released a few single records for the French record label Barclay, some of which were sung in Italian and Spanish in addition to her mother tongue . In 1966 she moved first to Rome , three years later to London and again to Rome in 1976 when her brother confronted her with the idea of playing the rock-pop classic Black Is Black by the Spanish group Los Bravos from 1966 with a contemporary arrangement in the just to reissue fully inflamed disco sound.
The single released in 1977 with the rhythmically spoken intro " We like the music, we like the disco sound, hey, black - is black " immediately became a hit parade . Almost everywhere in Europe it was able to place in the top ten, in Germany and the United Kingdom it came to number 2, in Australia it took first place a year later.
During Belle Epoque's most successful phase, Evelyne Lenton was accompanied on stage and on record covers by background singers Marcia Briscoe (* 1955, from Atlanta , Georgia , USA ) and Jusy Fortes (also Jusy Lisboa, * 1956, from the Cape Verde Islands ) .
The second single, Miss Broadway , was written by Lenton and Weyman. The rough voice of Lenton, this time without female background vocals, and the pulsating bass line , which is occasionally abruptly interrupted by a groaning male voice ( "uh-huh, I like it ..." ), make the song seem rockier than its predecessor. Rhythmically and in the instrumentation, especially through the economical but concise use of string instruments , mainly a single, unaligned viola , the arrangement shows clear parallels to the work of Sylvester Levay for the German disco formation Silver Convention .
Released on Carrere in Germany at the end of 1977 and distributed by Polydor , the song reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 , and appeared a year later on Big Tree / Atlantic Records , up to number 92 and became a club hit in the USA.
Evelyne Lenton has been working as a solo artist under her real name since 1983, but occasionally publishes new or newly mixed song material as Belle Epoque.
Discography
Albums
year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | AT | CH | UK | US | |||
1978 | Miss Broadway / Black Is Black (DE) |
DE40 (8 weeks) DE |
- | - | - | - |
First published: 1976
|
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
More albums
- 1977: Bamalama
- 1979: Now
Compilations
- 1979: Belle Epoque, Collection Double Album (2 LPs)
- 1997: Il meglio
- 2001: Dance, Dance, Dance
- 2006: Black Is Black
- 2006: Belle Epoque
Singles
year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | AT | CH | UK | US | |||
1977 | Black Is Black Miss Broadway |
DE2 (20 weeks) DE |
AT3 (16 weeks) AT |
CH6 (10 weeks) CH |
UK2
gold
(14 weeks)UK |
- | |
Miss Broadway Miss Broadway |
DE8 (18 weeks) DE |
AT13 (8 weeks) AT |
- | - |
US92 (4 weeks) US |
||
1978 | Bamalama Bamalama |
DE38 (7 weeks) DE |
- | - | - | - |
More singles
- 1978: Let Men Be
- 1979: Jump Down
- 1979: Com 'On Tonight
- 1979: Now
- 1994: Sunshine E.
swell
- ^ A b Günter Ehnert (Ed.): Hit-Bilanz, Deutsche Chart Singles 1956–1980 . Taurus-Press, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 26.
- ↑ everyhit.com, search mask: "La Belle Epoque"
- ↑ a b Chart sources: Singles Albums UK
- ↑ a b UK gold / platinum database
Web links
- Belle Epoque at Allmusic (English)
- Belle Epoque at Discogs (English)