Cascada

Cascada
Natalie Horler, lead vocalist of Cascada, live in concert.
Background information
Origin	Bonn, Germany
Genres	Pop, eurodance, electronic
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Zooland, UMTV/AATW (UK), Robbins Entertainment (US)
Associated acts	Akira, Diamond, Siria, 2 Vibez, Tune Up!
Website	Official Cascada Site
Members
Natalie Horler DJ Manian DJ Yanou

Cascada (pronounced /kæˈskɑːdə/^[1]) is a German eurodance group active since 2004. They are most famous for their hit singles "Everytime We Touch" which won them a World Music Award in 2007 as well as becoming the group's first number one single, "What Hurts the Most" which stormed the charts in 2008, and "Evacuate the Dancefloor" which recently became a UK number one. So far the group has sold an estimated 13 million copies of their three albums worldwide. Cascada consists of the German-born English singer Natalie Horler, and Record producers DJ Manian and Yanou.

Group members

Natalie Horler

Natalie Horler was born on September 23, 1981. As the front line singer, she is often presented as Cascada, as opposed to the entire band. When she was 16, she worked for a number of various DJs. She provided vocals for dance act 2 Vibez with their song "Sometimes", which was released on October 8, 2004. Eventually, she met Yann Peifer and Manuel Reuter. Horler was born in Bonn, Germany. Horler's parents are English; therefore, she speaks fluent English without a noticable German accent.

Manian

Manuel Reuter, known professionally as DJ Manian, is a German producer, trance DJ, label owner of Zooland Records. He works alongside fellow DJ Yanou to produce the music and create the sounds. DJ Manian has produced a number of singles under various pseudonyms, and maintains a number of different musical projects, including Tune Up! (with Yanou, now defunct), Spencer & Hill (with producer Manuel Schleis), Bulldozzer, M.Y.C., Ampire, Liz Kay. Manian's songs often feature on the infamous Clubland compilation CDs. He is well known for his track "Welcome To The Club". Manian stated on his twitter that he is working on his upcoming album and single "Ravers Fantasy" in the UK.

Yanou

Yann Peifer, known professionally as Yanou, is a German producer. He collaborated with DJ Sammy on the chart-breaking hit "Heaven" with vocalist Do. He produces music for Cascada alongside DJ Manian and Horler. He is known for his 'Candlelight Mix" of 'What Hurts The Most' 'Everytime We Touch' and 'Draw The Line'. The arrangements consist of orchestral instruments; piano, strings, woodwinds and light percussion. It gives the original dance songs a completely different colour of laid back ballads. The tempo of the arrangements are slower, and Natalie Horler's vocals are sung in a more relaxing and emotional tone.

Music

Everytime We Touch (2004–2007)

Cascada experienced mainstream success in the United Kingdom and the United States almost a year after releasing their second American single, "Everytime We Touch", which interpolates the chorus of a 1992 Maggie Reilly song of the same name. In total, eight singles were released from the album. "Everytime We Touch" rose to the number one spot when it was released, in various countries, including the US Dance Chart. It remained at number one in Ireland for several weeks. "Everytime We Touch" became the best selling dance song of 2006. Despite receiving a number of negative reviews, the follow up single "Truly Madly Deeply" also fared well in the charts. The third release was "Miracle", which became another number one hit for the group in some areas of Europe and received mainstream chart success in the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]}

Cascada became the 4th best selling group of 2007, and were only beaten by global successes Leona Lewis, Amy Winehouse and KT Tunstall.^{[citation needed]}

Perfect Day (2007–2009)

Horler first announced that Cascada was working on its second album during a Japanese interview in July 2006, which was posted on their blog on MySpace.^[2] The worldwide lead single, "What Hurts the Most", was released in late 2007 and early 2008, along with its B-side, a cover of Wham!'s "Last Christmas". It became Cascada's second best selling single in the United States, certifying gold. On June 30, 2008, it was announced that the second single for the United States and Canada was "Faded" which appeared only on the North American version of Perfect Day. "Because the Night" became available as a digital download on this date as well in Europe, and received a physical release on August 4, 2008. "Perfect Day" was released as last single from Perfect Day as a CD maxi single in North America on February 17, 2009.

In the United Kingdom, a platinum edition of Perfect Day was set to be released on October 20, 2008, which was to feature the American tracks and a DVD with live performances from Clubland Live 2008, Horler's favorite Cascada music videos, an exclusive interview with her, a photo gallery and an acoustic performance of "Another You" in the studio with Yanou on piano. There was no further word about the album being released, and it was later canceled.

Evacuate the Dancefloor (2009–present)

On April 10, 2008, Horler announced that work on the third album would soon commence and that the album would be released in 2009. Jo Whiley announced on her Radio 1 show that Coldplay's Chris Martin would work with Cascada, but this was later denied by Horler. Producer Yanou confirmed that the single and album would be released around June and also stated there would be no cover versions on the album. Evacuate the Dancefloor was released on July 6 in the United Kingdom and Germany. The lead single and title track of the album "Evacuate the Dancefloor" was released on June 29, 2009 in the United Kingdom, where it become the group's first number-one single. The single went on to achieve worldwide success. In the United States it was certified platinum with sales of over one million.

On May 28, an album launch party was held in London where Horler performed, previewing tracks off the new album: "Evacuate The Dancefloor", "Breathless", "Draw the Line" and "Dangerous". The album was initially released in the United Kingdom on July 3, 2009, and was released in other countries across the world in the following months. Horler made appearances in nightclubs across the world to promote the release of the album. It has a greater variety of sounds than the previous two albums, introducing different basslines and new instrument sounds in contrast to the traditional "hands-up" style of Cascada which was the only styling used on previous albums. On July 17, it was announced that Cascada would be the opening act for Britney Spears' The Circus Starring: Britney Spears tour, at the O₂ World in Berlin, Germany on July 26, 2009.^[3] "Fever" became the second single from the album in most countries including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and was released in early October. Cascada's United Kingdom label AATW decided to release "Dangerous" in the UK and Ireland as the second single instead; it was released as a two track CD Single and digitally on October 12, 2009^[4]
"Fever" was released as a digital single in the UK on December 21, 2009, and released digitally in the US on January 26, 2010.^[5]

Appearances in media

Before Cascada's third album, Horler didn't receive much media attention. However, following the success of Evacuate The Dancefloor, she has become, in the words of Digital Spy, a 'Star'.^[6] Her face has appeared in many daily newspapers such as 'The Sun' and the 'Daily Star'.

In the autumn of 2006, Horler made her first foray into television as the guest host of the viewer request show Back @ Ya on bpm:tv, a Toronto-based cable channel that broadcasts all across Canada and some parts of the United States. bpm:tv specializes in playing dance and electronica music videos. That same year, she appeared on Live with Regis and Kelly to promote Everytime We Touch.

Horler has also presented 'The Clubland Top 50' on the UK music channel 4Music, as well as the 'MTV Dance Top 50'. She has performed on various television shows, mainly in Europe. Among them is UK breakfast show GMTV: in December 2007, she performed "Last Christmas" live there to promote the UK version of Perfect Day; on July 28, 2008, she performed "Because the Night" live; and on July 3, 2009, she performed "Evacuate the Dancefloor" to promote its namesake album. On 18 September 2009 she appeared on the UK EuroMillions lottery performing "Dangerous".

Discography