Vengaboys
Template:Infobox musical artist 2
Vengaboys are a Dutch Eurodance group, though they described themselves as an international group with members from Brazil, Hungary, Trinidad and Tobago, the Netherlands, and Spain, that came to prominence in 1997. Some of their most successful singles include "Uncle John from Jamaica", "We're Going to Ibiza", "Boom Boom Boom Boom" and "We Like to Party". The V in their name is pronounced with a soft "B" sound, so that it is pronounced like "Bengaboys". A guest-singer from Spain, for the producer's previous project Nakatomi, kept repeatedly singing Venga in their songs, which means "come on" in Spanish. This led to the name Vengaboys as their following project.
Never critically acclaimed, the group continued making records that were distinctly Eurobeat (the music video of "Kiss" even features one of the dancers from ParaParaAllstars performing a Para Para dance), following in the footsteps of previous Dutch-Dance sensations 2 Unlimited. The ploy worked and by the beginning of the year 2000, the group had achieved four top 10 entries, including two number-one hits ("Boom Boom Boom Boom" and "We're Going to Ibiza"). The group's success continued throughout the beginning of the 21st century, with the The Platinum Album (their third album release) going top 10, spawning three big hits ("Kiss", "Shala Lala" and "Uncle John From Jamaica") and two lesser-known tracks ("Cheekah Bow-Bow (that computer song) which included their fifth cyber-member Cheekah, and the ballad "Forever As One," which gained more notoriety for its video, which was banned after the group used unlicensed pictures of them meeting pop group Westlife). By mid-2001, after nearly ten top 10 hits, the group partly disbanded and went back to working on the club scene.
Their American debut The Party Album peaked at #86 on the US Billboard 200 album sales chart. At the time, overall CD sales were at a highpoint in the USA, which played a role in the album going gold (500,000 units). This is significant as only a few European dance artists have attained similar success.
More recently the band are famous for performing often sold-out gigs at student venues across the United Kingdom. Recent performances have taken place in such notable clubs as City Edinburgh and G-A-Y.
Past members
- Robin Pors (Sailor outfit) (1997-1999)
- Roy Olivero-Den Burger (Cowboy outfit) (1997-2004)
Gossips & rumors
Since December 2007 several websites are claiming that there'll be a new album and new single in 2008. These facts are true look here http://living.scotsman.com/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=3498886
Media occurrences
- The song "We Like to Party" was played in Busch Stadium after the final out of the 2006 World Series, which was broadcast on Fox.
- The beat from the song "We Like to Party" was played in numerous ads for Six Flags.
- The song "Boom Boom Boom Boom" was the main song of Jeux Sans Frontieres 1999.
- For several seasons in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Arsenal Football Club were called the "Wenger Boys", a reference to the Vengaboys. In turn on the popular Sky Sports show "Soccer AM" whenever the reference was made it would be accompanied by two members of the crew dancing to the Vengaboys track "We Like to Party".
- Students at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick in Ireland spent all of their Rag Week allowance to have the Vengaboys perform for their 2007 Rag Week.
- The Vengaboys performed at Royal Holloway, University of London's Summer Ball on the 8 June and at Birmingham University's Freshers' Ball on the 28 September 2007.
- According to the website of the Danish annual town celebration, called "Høtte" in the city Vojens in Denmark, The Vengaboys had a come-back performance at the 25th of August 2007. See http://www.vojenshoette.dk/nyheder.0.html (Danish website).
- The Vengaboys performed at Fresher's Week at Strathclyde University Union on the 29 September, 2007.
- The Vengaboys performed at Liverpool Fresher's Festival at Liverpool University on 27 September, 2007.
Trivia
- Roy Olivero-Den Burger, who acquired a "cowboy" image for the work in the band, went on to become a Flight Attendant for KLM Dutch airlines after the band's breakup. A video [1] was posted on YouTube on October 16, 2006 showing Roy during safety instructional procedure before a flight from Amsterdam to London Heathrow. The person that recorded Roy and posted the video was not aware of his identity until around May 9, 2007 when comments pointing out it is the former Vengaboys member featured on the recording started coming in.
- Robin Pors is now a fitness instructor at the Nike European Headquarters, Hilversum, Holland
Similar artists
See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
Discography
Albums
Singles
Year | Single | Album | UK | NL | AUS | US | GER | PL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1997 | "Parade des Tettas" | Vengaboys | - | 14 | - | - | - | - |
1998 | "To Brazil" | Vengaboys | 97 | 22 | - | - | - | - |
1998 | "Up & Down" | The Party Album | 4 | 5 | - | - | 12 | 2 |
1998 | "We Like to Party" | The Party Album | 3 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 4 | 1 |
1998 | "Boom Boom Boom Boom" | The Party Album | 1 | 1 | 2 | 84 | 6 | 9 |
1999 | "We're Going to Ibiza" | The Party Album | 1 | 1 | 26 | - | 9 | 1 |
1999 | "Kiss (When The Sun Don't Shine)" | The Platinum Album | 3 | 2 | 17 | - | 10 | 1 |
2000 | "Shalala Lala" | The Platinum Album | 5 | 2 | 4 | - | 3 | 1 |
2000 | "Uncle John from Jamaica" | The Platinum Album | 6 | 7 | 45 | - | 12 | 8 |
2000 | "Megamix" | iTunes Download Single | - | - | - | - | 55 | |
2000 | "Cheekah Bow Bow (That Computer Song)" | The Platinum Album | 19 | 32 | - | - | 34 | 14 |
2001 | "Forever as One" | The Platinum Album | 28 | - | - | - | 79 | |
2008 | "Forever as One" | Unknown Album Name | 28 | - | - | - | 79 |