Double You are an Italian Techno and Eurodance group founded in 1985 by vocalist William Naraine, keyboardist and producer Franco Amato and DJ Andrea de Antoni. By 1992, they had sold more than three million records. "Please Don't Go", a dance version of KC & the Sunshine Band's 1979 ballad, is one of their major hits.[1]
Double You | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | La Spezia, Italy |
| Genres | Eurodance, Italo dance, house |
| Years active | 1985–2011 |
| Labels | Azul Music, BMG, DWA Records, Indie Records, Panic Records, Polygram, Som Livre, Sony Music Brasil, Spotlight Records, Universal Music Brasil, Warner Music Brasil, ZYX Music |
| Members | William Naraine Gino Martini Gustavo Filipovich Paulo Soveral Missaka |
| Past members | Andrea de Antoni, Franco Amato |
Since 2013, they have been fronted by Naraine, Gino Martini, Gustavo Filipovich, Paulo Soveral and Missaka.
History
edit1990s
editDouble You formed in La Spezia. In 1991, they met with the producer Roberto Zanetti, who agreed on recording the band. In January 1992, "Please Don't Go", a dance version of the KC and the Sunshine Band song, was released, earning many gold and platinum records in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. The record also sold in North America (top ten maxi sales), Israel (#12) and in the UK (#2 on the Cool Cuts Chart)
The second single, "We All Need Love" (cover of Canadian artist Domenic Troiano from 1979) was recorded in June 1992 during a European tour and charted around the world. After this second single, their debut album We All Need Love followed, which put together songs such as "Who's Fooling Who" (cover of a One Way song and the third single) and "Why (Let's Make It Christmas)".[2] They performed the latter together with the original composer and singer of "Please Don't Go", Harry Casey, professionally known as "KC".
At the end of 1993, the recording of the second album, the Blue Album, started. These singles followed: "Missing You", "Part Time Lover", "Heart of Glass" and "Run to Me" (the song gave the group the possibility of starting their first tour in North America in 1995). They performed in such cities as Miami, Daytona, Orlando and other towns along the east coast.
The group performed in theatres and concert halls in Brazil, such as the Metropolitan in Rio de Janeiro and Olympia in São Paulo. In less than three months, the group performed 64 shows, attended by more than 350,000 people.
In 1995, a new single, "Dancing with an Angel" was released, featuring singer Sandra Chambers. A long Italian tour began, lasting eight months. The song was also a success in other countries such as Switzerland, Australia, Israel and Latin America. Another single, "Because I'm Loving You", was released in different versions. It was a big hit in Spain, Italy, Israel (where it reached No. 1) and Brazil and one of the most aired on European radios.
At the beginning of 1996, Andrea de Antoni left the group to undertake his own artistic career. In this period, Double You was in great demand in Brazil, so the new tour started. There they performed in the most important concert halls of the country. The group dedicated the album Forever to all their Brazilian fans. Half of this new album was produced in Italy and the rest in Brazil. It was released only in that country, selling 150,000 copies.
A single was released in the same year in Brazil only, under the label Spotlight, entitled "If You Say Goodbye".
William Naraine also took part in several DWA projects: Data Drama, Eclipse, Mission, Funkelectra, Infinity feat. Sense, Kaas, Pacific, Space Tribe, Time Machine, Toro, and Willy Morales. After a two-year rest and spending time in the studio to create new songs for their next album, in spring 1997, the new single "Somebody" was released. In 1999, another single was released, called "Desperado".
2000s
editIn 2000, Double You released a track called "Music (Is the Answer)" followed by a 2001 remix of the hit "Please Don't Go". A best of album called Studio Live was released the same year in Brazil. In 2002, Double You released a single entitled "Dance Anymore". He had worked with Memi P. and Ryo S., and produced and performed with other bands such as T-Factory. The same year, his voice was featured by Love Solution for the track "I'll Be over You".
In 2003, Double You did a remake of the Bryan Adams hit "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", and a cover of U2's "With or Without You" (which was not released as a single). The band toured in all the main Brazilian cities. In May, they did shows in the South and Southeast, including both a presentation at the Olympia of São Paulo and their playing at the Caipiriba Dance, in the city of Aparecida. Then they went to Belém, Macapá and Manaus.
In March 2004, William Naraine contributed to Vanni G's single "All My Illusion". In October, he appeared once again on the next single "I Say Yeah". He also took part on a remix of the single by Promise Land vs Netzwerk Memories, where he made a duet with Sandy. In 2005, Double You released with artist Don Cartel "Please Don't Go 2005" on Triple B Records. The single hit the Dutch Mega Top 100 chart at No. 40 and the Pepsi Chart at No. 38.[citation needed] In November 2007, a live DVD (shot during a concert in São Paulo) and a live CD were released, available in Brazil only.
Discography
editStudio albums
edit| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUT | GER | SWI | ||||||||||||
| We All Need Love | 24 | 58 | 12 | |||||||||||
| The Blue Album |
|
— | — | — | ||||||||||
| Forever |
|
— | — | — | ||||||||||
| Heaven |
|
— | — | — | ||||||||||
| Life | — | — | — | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
Compilations
edit| Title | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Why (Let's Make It Christmas)/Megamix/Megahits |
| |
| The Best Of |
| |
| Pérolas |
| |
| The Very Best of Double You |
| |
Remix albums
edit| Title | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Double Mix |
| |
| Megamix |
| |
| The Remixes |
| |
| The 12" Remixes |
| |
Live albums
edit| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUT | GER | SWI | ||||||||||||
| Studio Live |
|
— | — | — | ||||||||||
| Live In Brazil |
|
— | — | — | ||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
Singles
edit| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITA [3] |
AUT [4] |
BEL (Vl) [5] |
FRA [4] |
GER [6] |
NED [4] |
SWE [4] |
SUI [4] |
UK [7] |
EUR | |||||
| 1992 | "Please Don't Go" | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 41 | 3 | We All Need Love | ||
| "We All Need Love" | 8 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 33 | 7 | — | 15 | ||||
| "Who's Fooling Who" | — | — | 18 | 26 | 40 | — | — | — | — | 53 | ||||
| 1993 | "With or Without You" | — | — | 35 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Missing You" | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | The Blue Album | |||
| "Part-Time Lover" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1994 | "Heart of Glass" | 21 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 39 | |||
| "Run to Me" | — | — | 49 | — | — | 18 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1995 | "Dancing with an Angel" | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 23 | Forever | ||
| 1996 | "Because I'm Loving You" | 8 | 37 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 17 | |||
| "Send Away the Rain" (Brazil only) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "If You Say Goodbye" (Brazil only) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Gimme All Your Love" (Brazil only) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1997 | "Somebody" | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Single only | ||
| 1999 | "Do You Wanna Be Funky" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Heaven | ||
| "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Desperado" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2000 | "Music (Is the Answer)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Singles only | ||
| 2001 | "Please Don't Go 2001" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2002 | "Eazy 2 Luv" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Dance Anymore" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Please Don't Go 2002" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2003 | "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2005 | "You Are Everything" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Please Don't Go 2005" | — | — | — | — | — | 48 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2006 | "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" (NED only) | — | — | — | — | — | 66 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2008 | "You, My Love" (Brazil only) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2010 | "If I Could Fall" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Life | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
Promotional singles
edit| Year | Title | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | "Gonna Be My Baby" | Forever |
| 1999 | "You and I" | Heaven |
Collaborations
edit| Year | Title | Artist | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | "Rebel Rebel" | Double You feat. Ice MC | Single only | |
| 1995 | "Me and You" | Alexia feat. Double You | ||
| 2001 | "Message In a Bottle" | T-Factory feat. Double You | ||
| 2002 | "I'll Be Over You" | Love Solution feat. William Naraine | ||
| "What Is Love" | Brubaker feat. Double You | |||
| 2004 | "All My Illusions" | Vanni G feat. William Naraine | ||
| "I Say Yeah" | ||||
| 2005 | "Please Don't Go 2005" | Double You feat. Don Cartel | ||
| "Get Up" | DJ Ross vs. Double You | |||
| "Beat Goes On" | ||||
| 2006 | "Everything I Do" | Double You feat. Don Cartel | ||
| "The Volume" | GM feat. Double You | |||
| "What Can I Do" | ||||
| 2007 | "Planet Electro" | CN vs. Double You | ||
| "To the Beat" | DJ Ross vs. Double You | |||
| 2008 | "Change" | |||
| "Lose Control" | GM feat. Double You | |||
| 2009 | "Please Don't Go 2009" | DJ Ross vs. Double You | ||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Cataldo Verrina, Francesco (14 July 2015). The History of Italo Disco. ISBN 9781326355524.
- ^ Inc, Nielsen Business Media (1992-11-14). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.
{{cite book}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ "Italian Chart - Double You". Hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
- ^ a b c d e "Lescharts.com - Discographie Double You". Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
- ^ Belgian peaks Archived 2012-04-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "German peak positions". Musicline.de. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.