Overground

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Overground, a boy group from Germany, was the result of the third season of the international television sensation Popstars - Das Duell, a precursor to the Idol shows.

History

Formation

Overground were formed in September 2003 in front of millions of viewers on the ProSieben programme Popstars - Das Duell (The Duel). The concept of the programme was to produce a boyband and a girlband who would be rivals and compete for winning the third installment of the reality television program. Following the success of the No Angels and Bro'Sis, 12,000 applicants attended auditions in five German megacities in hopes of being selected for the show. Judged by rapper Sabrina Setlur, choreographer Detlef "D!" Soost, and producer Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, twently-seven out of forty-six contestants made it from the local recall shows to Orlando, Florida to get trained in singing, dancing, and fitness.

While the judges continued eliminating two or three boys and girls each week, a small group of finalists remained, and in the end four boys were chosen to make the band: Ahmet "Akay" Kayed, Ken Miyao, Marq Porciuncula, and Meiko Reißmann eventually formed the Overground. While the show continued tracking the development and struggles of the new boyband and the final four members of Preluders, the judges decided to add a fifth member to both groups after failed recording sessions. Selecting from the group of semi-finalists, they chose Italian Fabrizio to 'complete' Overground – and their promotional debut single, a remake of Color Me Badd's 1991 hit "I Wanna Sex You Up".

After three weeks of touring and promotional appearances across Germany, the season's finale was held on Wednesday, November 3, 2003. However, the boys polled enough votes to won the competition.

Career

After weeks of recording Overground released their debut single, German-sung "Schick mir 'nen Engel" on November 10, 2003. Produced by Triple M, the song entered the charts at number one on the German, Austrian and Swiss singles charts and became one of the most successful (German-speaking) songs of 2003 there. Their debut album It's Done saw similar success, eventually receiving two platinum certifications.

In 2004 the group followed-up with "Der letzte Stern" and "Aus und vorbei", two further top 10 single releases. They also began recording their second album 2. OG, which spawned a collaboration with Montell Jordan and a remake of his 1995 hit "This Is How We Do It". Nevertheless both the single and the album failed to link on previous chart successes and the group received a release from its label Cheyenne Records, scorning the possibility to release another single.

After a longer absence the band returned in autumn 2005 with their fifth single "Hass mich".

After disbanding, Ken Miyao released a single Talk 2 Me with American rapper Fatman Scoop. However, it showed no success whatsoever, peaking at only #89 of the German charts.

Discography

Albums

• It's Done (2003) #1 GER
• 2. OG (2004) #41 GER

Singles

Awards

2003

• Bravo Otto (Gold) - "Best Newcomer Band"

2004

• Bravo Otto (Silver) - "Best Band National"

External links

• Official Website