Black box (band)

Black Box is an Italian house / eurodance project founded in 1989 by Valerio Semplici, Daniele Davoli (DJ Lelewel) and Mirko Limoni . Black Box's trademark are soulful female voices, piano melodies and powerful bass drums , which are accompanied by violins and brass sections.

history

The first albums were consistently sung by Martha Wash , a member of the Weather Girls (she also sang Gonna Make You Sweat from the C + C Music Factory in 1991 ). In the videos, however, was not Martha Wash, but the model Catherine Quinol to be seen. Blackbox's biggest hit Ride on Time (1989) is based on vocal samples by Loleatta Holloway (like Cappella's hit Take Me Away and Marky Mark's Good Vibration in 1991 ). Under the name Starlight, the trio released the single Numero Uno in 1989 , which reached chart positions in several countries.

In addition to Ride on Time , the debut album Dreamland included other top 10 hits: I Don't Know Anybody Else (1990), Everybody Everybody (1990) and Fantasy (1990). Fantasy is a cover version of the hit of the same name by Earth, Wind & Fire from 1977. Also high in the English charts was The Total Mix in 1991 , a megamix, followed by the song Ride on Time, renamed Bright on Time , as the second single to the second album Remixland .

Strike It Up , a top 10 hit in the US , and Open Your Eyes heralded the album All Mixed Up (1992). After a few months' break, Hold On , the last single with Martha Wash, was released in some countries as a promo press , but again not shown in the video.

1993 followed with a new singer hits like Rockin 'to the music (No. 1 in Finland, No. 39 in UK), 1994/95 Not Anyone (No. 31 in UK), 1996 I Got the Vibration (No. 21 in UK) and the Top 40 hit Native New Yorker from the album Positive Vibrations, which was particularly successful in Japan .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	IT
1990	Dreamland	DE36 (12 weeks) DE	AT14 (12 weeks) AT	CH9 gold (12 weeks)CH	UK14th gold (30 weeks)UK	US56 gold (61 weeks)US	IT22 (3 weeks) IT	First published: April 1990 Producers: Daniele Davoli, Mirko Limoni, Valerio Semplici

More albums

• 1995: Positive vibration

Compilations

• 1990: Remixland
• 1990: Mixed Up!
• 1992: Mixed Up '92
• 1997: Hits & Mixes
• 1998: Strike It Up: The Best of

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)							Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	Dance	IT
1989	Ride on Time Dreamland	DE5 (27 weeks) DE	AT8 (19 weeks) AT	CH5 (25 weeks) CH	UK1 platinum (22 weeks)UK	-	Dance39 (6 weeks) Dance	IT10 (18 weeks) IT	First publication: July 1989 Authors: Mirko Limoni, Daniele Davoli, Valerio Semplici with samples from Love Sensation by Loleatta Holloway , 1980
1990	I Don't Know Anybody Else Dreamland	DE12 (19 weeks) DE	AT10 (13 weeks) AT	CH3 (19 weeks) CH	UK4th silver (8 weeks)UK	US23 (14 weeks) US	Dance1 (16 weeks) Dance	IT12 (12 weeks) IT	First published: January 1990 Vocals: Martha Wash Authors: Mirko Limoni, Daniele Davoli, Valerio Semplici
	Everybody Everybody Dreamland	DE41 (9 weeks) DE	-	CH21 (5 weeks) CH	UK16 (6 weeks) UK	US8 (19 weeks) US	Dance1 (10 weeks) Dance	IT7 (28 weeks) IT	First published: May 1990 Vocals: Martha Wash Authors: Mirko Limoni, Daniele Davoli, Valerio Semplici with samples from (Hot Pants) I'm Coming by Bobby Byrd , 1971
	Fantasy Dreamland	DE16 (22 weeks) DE	AT4 (16 weeks) AT	CH26 (5 weeks) CH	UK5 (11 weeks) UK	-	-	IT17 (3 weeks) IT	First published: October 1990 Vocals: Martha Wash Authors: Maurice White , Eddie del Barrio, Verdine White Original: Earth, Wind and Fire , 1977
	Black Boxed Total Mix	-	-	-	UK12 (8 weeks) UK	-	-	-	First published: December 1990 Mix: Neil McClellan, Graeme Park
1991	Megamix	DE33 (11 weeks) DE	AT18 (8 weeks) AT	-	-	-	-	-	First published: January 1991 Mix: Matthias Hoffmann , Steffen Britzke , Sven Väth
	Strike It Up Dreamland	DE26 (11 weeks) DE	AT27 (2 weeks) AT	-	UK16 (8 weeks) UK	US8 (18 weeks) US	Dance1 (14 weeks) Dance	-	First published: February 1991 Vocals: Martha Wash, Rap: Stepz Authors: Mirko Limoni, Daniele Davoli, Valerio Semplici
	Open Your Eyes Dreamland	DE44 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	UK48 (4 weeks) UK	-	-	IT12 (12 weeks) IT	First published: November 1991 Vocals: Martha Wash Authors: Mirko Limoni, Daniele Davoli, Valerio Semplici
1993	Rockin 'to the Music Positive Vibration	-	-	-	UK39 (2 weeks) UK	-	-	-	First publication: August 1993 Authors: Daniele Benati, Mirko Limoni, Daniele Davoli, Valerio Semplici
1995	Not Anyone Positive Vibration	-	-	-	UK31 (2 weeks) UK	-	-	-	First published: June 1995 Vocals: Charvoni Woodson Authors: Daniele Benati, M. Limoni, D. Davoli, V. Semplici
	I Got the Vibration / A Positive Vibration Positive Vibration	-	-	-	UK21 (3 weeks) UK	-	-	IT13 (4 weeks) IT	First published: April 1996 Authors: Marilyn McLeod, Pam Sawyer, D. Benati, M. Limoni, D. Davoli, V. Semplici
1997	Native New Yorker Positive Vibration	-	-	-	UK46 (2 weeks) UK	-	-	-	First published: February 1997 Authors: Sandy Linzer, Denny Randell Original: Frankie Valli , 1977

More singles

• 1990: Bright on Time
• 1990: Get Down (feat. Stepz)
• 1991: Megamix N ° 2
• 1992: Hold On
• 1997: Fall into My Love
• 2009: Ride on Time 20th ( feat.Loleatta Holloway )
• 2014: Somebody Everybody (Hot Since 82 feat. Black Box)

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US1 US2 ; M&D chart archive. Musica e dischi , accessed on July 4, 2016 (Italian, paid subscription access; IT). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} gold / platinum databases: DE AT CH UK US

Web links

• Black Box at Allmusic (English)
• Black Box at Discogs (English)
• Fansite with pictures and texts, in English