Overground

This article describes the German boy band Overground. For the rapid transit network of the British capital, see London Overground .

Overground
General information
Genre (s)	Pop , R&B
founding	2003
resolution	2008
Last occupation
singing	Ahmet "Akay" Kayed
Vocals, guitar	Ken Miyao
singing	Marq Porciuncula
singing	Meiko Reissmann
former members
singing	Fabrizio Levita

Overground was a German boy group that emerged in 2003 from the third season of the ProSieben singing competition Popstars - Das Duell . The four band members were Ahmet "Akay" Kayed , Ken Miyao , Marq Porciuncula and Meiko Reissmann . Fabrizio Levita was also part of the band for a short time . Levita was offered a solo record deal as part of the show. In the same season of the show Popstars , the girl group Preluders was cast.

history

After a two-year break, the Munich-based production company Tresor TV and ProSieben started broadcasting the third season of Popstars in August 2003 . Here, based on the British model, the concept of a duel, a contest between a boy group and a girl group , was incorporated into the series for the first time . In the course of the restructuring, the rapper Sabrina Setlur and the producer Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen took their places in the jury alongside Detlef Soost . Artemis Gounaki stayed with the ensemble as a singing teacher.

Within five large city castings, over 12,000 young women and men applied for a place in the two bands. A total of 46 candidates sang and danced to take part in the decision-making show at Düsseldorf Airport; 27 immediately traveled to Orlando ( Florida ), where the participants rehearsed choreography and singing in four weeks. After the end of the workshop, the jury decided that Ahmet “Akay” Kayed , Ken Miyao , Marq Porciuncula and Meiko Reissmann formed the boy band Overground; Tertia Botha, Miriam Cani , Anh-Thu Doan and Rebecca Miro formed the girl group Preluders . After studio recordings were unsatisfactory for the producers, Anne Ross and Fabrizio Levita were later joined by other members of the bands; The latter, however, left Overground only a little later in favor of a solo career.

The two groups then advertised themselves and the promo singles published in advance in McDonald's restaurants during a three-week club tour through Germany . On November 3, 2003, the Preluders emerged as intermediate winners in the finale moderated by Arabella Kiesbauer with their top- selling cover version of the REM hit Losing My Religion , but in the final decision, Overground could claim victory after the telephone voting .

Like the No Angels and Bro'Sis , Overground then landed with their debut single Schick mir 'nen Engel and the accompanying album It's Done! at number 1 in the German, Austrian and Swiss single and album charts. In 2004 Overground released two more top 10 singles with The Last Star and Aus and over . With The Last Star , Overground entered Germany 12 Points! on, the German preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 , where they took fourth place.

As a pre-single for the second album, Overground released a remake of his hit This Is How We Do It in collaboration with Montell Jordan . With the second album, however, the quartet did not manage to build on the success of their debut, which meant that the record deal with Cheyenne Records was dissolved. After a longer chart break, the song Hass mich was released on a new label . In March 2006, Overground visited the Far East at the invitation of a Japanese fan club, the appearances there were partly organized by Miyao's Japanese father Takeshi Miyao and accompanied by ProSieben. At the end of July 2006, the band last presented an English-language song as part of the ZDF television garden , Never an Easy Way . The band then took a break, and since then various members have tried their hand at solo careers. In 2008 the band finally broke up.

Timeline: band members

member		2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
	Ahmet "Akay" Kayed (2003-2008)
	Ken Miyao (2003-2008)
	Marq Porciuncula (2003-2008)
	Meiko Reissmann (2003-2008)
	Fabrizio Levita (2003)

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	AT	CH
2003	It's done!	DE1 platinum (8 weeks)DE	AT13 (6 weeks) AT	CH1 (9 weeks) CH	First published: November 17, 2003
2004	2nd Floor	DE41 (1 week) DE	-	-	First published: November 8, 2004

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	AT	CH
2003	Send me an angel It's done!	DE1 gold (12 weeks)DE	AT1 (15 weeks) AT	CH1 (15 weeks) CH	First published: November 10, 2003
	Do They Know It's Christmas? The Ultimate Christmas Album	DE3 gold (7 weeks)DE	AT28 (5 weeks) AT	CH32 (5 weeks) CH	First release: November 24, 2003 with TV Allstars
2004	The last star, It's Done!	DE9 (11 weeks) DE	AT30 (8 weeks) AT	CH27 (7 weeks) CH	First published: March 1, 2004
	Out and over, 2nd floor	DE10 (9 weeks) DE	AT39 (7 weeks) AT	-	First published: July 5th, 2004 Prod. By Mark Joker feat. Deema
	This Is How We Do It 2nd floor	DE19 (8 weeks) DE	AT53 (2 weeks) AT	-	First release: October 11, 2004 feat. Montell Jordan
2005	Hate me single track	DE35 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: October 7, 2005

Promo single

• 2003: I Wanna Sex You Up ( available from McDonald’s for a limited time )

Sampler

• 2004: Driving Home for Christmas ( The Ultimate Christmas Album - TV Allstars)
• 2004: Stay Another Day ( Your Stars for Christmas )
• 2004: When Will I Be Famous ( The History of Popstars )

Other works

• 2004: With a Little Help from My Friends (cover by Paul McCartney ; with Bro'Sis and the Preluders )

Awards

• Bravo Otto Gold (Best Newcomer Band 2003)
• Bravo Otto Silver (Best Band National 2004)
• Golden Tuning Fork (Shooting Star 2004)
• Golden Penguin (Best Newcomer 2004)

swell

1. ↑ Eurovision.de Overground
2. ↑ YOU Berlin 2005: Overground ( memento of the original from November 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Popstars: What happened to Overground?
4. ↑ ^{a b} chart sources
5. ^ With a Little Help from My Friends

Web links

• Overground at laut.de