Representative Albums: "Strike It Up: The Best of Black Box," "Dreamland," "Hits & Mixes"
Representative Songs: "Ride on Time," "Everybody Everybody," "I Don't Know Anybody Else"
Biography
Leaders of the Italian house music movement of the late '80s, Black Box was primarily comprised of club DJ Daniele Davoli, computer whiz Mirko Limoni and classical clarinetist Valeric Semplici, a trio of studio musicians known collectively as the Groove Groove Melody production team. Acclaimed among the most successful producers in all of Italian dance music, Groove Groove Melody helmed dozens of singles each year at their peak; in 1989 they teamed with singer and model Katrin (born Catherine Quinol) as Black Box, debuting with the single "Ride on Time." Not only was the record a huge hit at home, but it soon crossed over into the British pop charts, landing at the number one spot for six consecutive weeks despite the controversy which erupted in the wake of the discovery that it included uncredited samples of Loleatta Holloway's disco single "Love Sensation." A series of Black Box hits followed, among them "I Don't Know Anybody Else" (a Top Ten smash in the U.S. as well) and "Everybody Everybody," which featured vocals by Martha Wash; the group's debut LP, 1990's Dreamland, was also a success. They returned in 1991 with "Strike It Up," another American Top Ten entry, as well as the Mixed Up! collection; additionally, the Groove Groove Melody team scored with material recorded under a variety of other aliases, among them Starlight ("Numero Uno") and Mixmaster ("Grand Piano"). After a long hiatus, Black Box returned in 1996 with the album Positive Attitude, which went largely unnoticed. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Black Box (later Blackbox) was a house music group popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The members of the group included a trio made up of a club DJ (Daniele Davoli), a classically trained clarinet teacher (Valerio Semplici), and a keyboard and electronic music "wiz" (Mirko Limoni). The three had previously joined to form a group called Groove Groove Melody, producing dance music under names such as Starlight (who had a UK Top 20 hit in January 1990 with "Numero Uno") and Wood Allen. They went on to record music under many other aliases, most notably the alias Mixmaster, which scored a UK #9 hit in November 1990 with the song "Grand Piano".
In 1989, the trio teamed up with singer/modelCatherine Quinol (a.k.a. Katrin) and formed Black Box. By early 1990, Martha Wash was engaged to perform vocals on a number of tracks which, Ms. Wash was apparently told, were for club consumption and were not for mass-release. One would be "Everybody Everybody" which would become one of their two top-ten hits in North America. The album Dreamland was released.
The first single "Ride on Time" was an international hit, making Top 10 in many countries and No. 1 in the UK, soon becoming the UK's best-selling single of 1989. The song heavily sampled "Love Sensation" by Loleatta Holloway, a 1980 disco hit. The Black Box title is derived from a misunderstanding of the lyrics "Cause you're right on time".[1]
Dan Hartman, writer and producer of "Love Sensation", was not sought for permission to sample his song, and soon after the international success of "Ride on Time," questions arose as to the true vocalist on the song. Legal proceedings ruled that Loleatta Holloway was the actual singer on "Ride on Time" (albeit by means of the "Love Sensation" vocal samples) and Black Box surrendered a large percentage of the royalties from the song to Hartman and Holloway. The song eventually did make it onto the Dreamland album when it was released later in 1990 as well as the Hits and Mixes compilation, and numerous other compilations. A new version of the track with vocals by Heather Small appeared solely as a single. Subsequent releases, as well as the album tracks, also featured a then-uncredited Martha Wash as vocalist. Quinol lip-synched the vocals in "live" performances and in music videos. Martha Wash sued Black Box, RCA and then C+C Music Factory for performing vocals on their respective songs and not receiving due credit. These legal actions led to the legal recognition of vocalists who perform songs for other artists, including samplings. Wash received full vocal credit upon the single release of "Strike It Up", but the music video still featured Quinol lip synching the lyrics.
A megamix featuring cuts already released and entitled "The Total Mix" performed well in the charts towards the end of 1990. Various minor hits followed in the UK throughout the decade. In America, they are best remembered for their early '90s singles "Everybody Everybody", "I Don't Know Anybody Else", and "Strike It Up", their biggest hit in the United States, where all three of their hits are still heard on rhythmic radio and in clubs on a fairly regular basis to this day.
Black Box remain one of the few piano-house groups to achieve mainstream success in America. Dreamland earned a gold disc in both the UK and the US and achieved double-platinum status in Australia where it spent eight weeks at #1 during early 1991. Along the way, it also spawned six massive hit singles, both on the mainstream charts and in the clubs.
