Eiffel 65 is an Italian Eurodance group who was formed in 1997 in the studios of the Turin record company Bliss Corporation, consisting of Jeffrey Jey, Maurizio Lobina, and formerly Gabry Ponte. They gained global popularity with their singles "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" and "Move Your Body" from their 1999 debut studio album Europop. The singles reached number one in many countries, while the album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 chart. Their following two albums, Contact! (2001) and their 2003 self-titled album did not gain international success, but still managed to gain success in Italy.
Eiffel 65 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Eiffel 65 in 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Turin, Italy |
| Genres | |
| Years active |
|
| Labels | |
| Spinoffs | Bloom 06 |
| Spinoff of | Bliss Team |
| Members | |
| Past members | |
| Website | eiffel65 |
Throughout their career, the group won a World Music Award in 2000 for the World Best Selling Italian Group, and a B.M.I USA in Los Angeles, rewarding the most-broadcast song on radio in the United States. They were also nominated at the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording for "Blue (Da Ba Dee)".[4]
Eiffel 65 also produced remixes of numerous popular songs, and they recorded "One Goal", one of the official songs of the UEFA Euro 2000, and "Living in My City" for the 2006 Winter Olympics. With more than 20 million copies sold[5] and many gold, platinum and diamond records, it is one of Italy's most popular electronic groups.
In 2005, Ponte focused on his solo career, and then Jey and Lobina collaborated as a duo called Bloom 06. In 2010, the original group reunited, though Ponte no longer participates.
History
edit1992: Formation
editRandone, Ponte and Lobina met at Bliss Corporation, which was founded in 1992 by Massimo Gabutti. A computer chose the name Eiffel randomly from a group of words the three had selected but the number 65 was added to it by mistake: the producer had written a phone number on a piece of paper and two digits of it ended up on the label copy. The graphic artist who received it assumed that it had been added afterwards so he just fused it to the band name for their first release.[6]
1992–2000: Breakthrough with Europop
editEiffel 65 became famous for their international chart-topping hits "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" and "Move Your Body". Both songs were featured singles on their debut album Europop, which was released on 22 November 1999.
The band achieved considerable success in Italy and the rest of Europe,[7] in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.[8] Europop peaked in the top five on the Billboard 200[9] and on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart.[10] "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100,[11] reached No. 1 in the UK[12] and in Germany[13] and number 3 in Italy.[14]
2001–2005: Follow-up albums
editTheir second album, Contact! was released in 2001, with "'80s Stars" peaking at No. 9 in Italy. A self-titled album was released in 2003.
Eiffel 65 also remixed, between 1999 and 2002, other artists' tracks like the Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch",[15] Nek's "La vita è", S Club 7's "Reach"[16] and in early 2005, a remix of Yo Yo Mundi's "L'ultimo testimone".[17]
2005-2010: Bloom 06 and Crash Test 01
edit
In early March 2005, the group's DJ, Gabry Ponte, went on to focus on his solo career. On 16 May 2005, the other two members, Maurizio Lobina and Jeffrey Jey, decided to leave Bliss Corporation to continue with their own production company. Since the name "Eiffel 65" was a property of Bliss Corporation, the duo decided to continue under a new name, as announced in June 2005, Bloom 06.
Eiffel 65's long-anticipated fourth album, under the working title Crash Test, had already finished production by the time of Maury and Jeffrey's departure from Bliss Corporation. It was renamed Crash Test 01 and was released by Bloom 06 on 13 October 2006. The album contains lyrics in English and Italian.
2010-present: Reunion and recent work
edit
Bliss Corporation confirmed that a new Eiffel 65 lineup would make their debut in the summer of 2007 but the debut was postponed. In 2009, Bliss Corporation began to promote work from older bands by subtitling music videos and releasing "unseen" video footage from Eiffel 65. In June 2010, it was announced on the Bloom 06 website that Eiffel 65 would reunite once again to produce new music as well as touring.[18] In an April 2012 interview, Jeffrey Jey commented on the progress of the new album:
The progress is slow because we work in three different place and of all the demos probably two, maybe three of these songs are what we call "the candidates" for our new single. We're not able to get a unanimous decision on one song, so that is what's making the release continuously slide. It's really hard to say when we will release a new song. Hopefully within the next two or three months we will be fixing the songs that we think are the good candidates and putting them online.[19]
In the meantime they toured Europe with their New Planet Tour, a multimedia show with wide screens and in the summer of 2012, they announced a mini tour in Australia on their site.
On 2 April 2016, a demo of Eiffel 65's new single "Panico" was posted on Bliss Corporation's YouTube channel.[20] "Panico" and its English version "Critical" were officially released on iTunes on 1 June 2016. However, their fourth album release date is still unknown.
In late February 2023, the group appeared on the list of artists who will compete in Una Voce Per San Marino, a song contest where the winning song will represent San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool.[21]
In May 2024, they released a new single "Bestiale" with Italian singer Loredana Bertè.[22]
Zorotl
editZorotlekuykauo "Zorotl" Sushik IV [23] is a character created by the Bliss Corporation and featured in the videos of "Blue (Da Ba Dee)", "Move Your Body" and "Lucky (In My Life)". Zorotl was supposed to be a malicious character but since he was designed with a funny round body, the authors of the "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" video decided to portray it as tender, changing the script and giving it a happy ending.[24] In 2000, Bliss Corporation made a video for the unreleased Eiffel 65 song "I Wanna Be". An alpha version of the video appeared as enhanced content for Eiffel 65's single "Too Much of Heaven". The song is credited to Zorotl even though it was recorded by members of Eiffel 65, so Zorotl is considered a virtual group.
Members
edit- Jeffrey Jey (Gianfranco Randone) – vocals, producer (1997–2005, 2010–present)
- Maury Lobina – producer, keyboards, keytar, piano (1997–2005, 2010–present)
- Gabry Ponte – DJ, producer (1997–2005, 2010–2014)
Discography
edit
Awards and nominations
edit| Award | Year | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BMI Pop Awards | 2001 | Award-Winning Song | "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" | Won | [25] |
| Grammy Awards | 2001 | Best Dance Recording | "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" | Nominated | [26] |
| World Music Awards | 2000 | World's Best Selling Italian Group | Themselves | Won | [27] |
| Hungarian Music Awards | 2000 | Best Foreign Dance Album | Europop | Won | [28] |
| International Dance Music Awards | 2000 | Best HiNRJ 12' | "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" | Won | [29] |
| RSH Gold Awards | 2000 | Best Dance Act | Themselves | Won | [30] |
| Smash Hits Poll Winners Party | 1999 | Best Dance Choon | "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" | Won | |
| The Record of the Year | 1999 | Record of the Year | "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" | Nominated | [31] |
References
edit- ^ "Eiffel 65". Bliss Corporation. Archived from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
- ^ "Eiffel 65 on Apple Music". Apple Music. Archived from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
- ^ "Eiffel 65". CoastMagazine.it. Archived from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
- ^ "Rock On The Net: 43rd Annual Grammy Awards - 2001". Rockonthenet.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
- ^ "Eiffel 65: revival dance a "Zarro night"". Milano.corriere.it. 4 June 2016. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ^ "Eiffel 65 Are the Fathers to Your Style Even If You're Too Much of a Dick to Admit It". vice.com. 3 March 2014. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- ^ Hung, Steffen. "lescharts.com - Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee)". Lescharts.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ Hung, Steffen. "australian-charts.com - Discography Eiffel 65". Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "Eiffel 65 Europop Chart History". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "Eiffel 65 Europop Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 5 June 2018.[dead link]
- ^ Billboard.com - Artist Chart History - Eiffel 65
- ^ "blue (da ba dee) | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". OfficialCharts.com. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ GmbH, musicline.de / PhonoNet. "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche - musicline.de". Musicline.de (in German). Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "Hit Parade Italia - Indice per Interprete: E". Hitparadeitalia.it. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "The Bloodhound Gang* - The Bad Touch (Remixes)". Discogs.com (in Italian). Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "S Club 7 - Reach". Discogs.com (in Italian). Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Yo Yo Mundi (24 August 2007), Yo Yo Mundi (remixed by Eiffel 65) - L'Ultimo Testimone, retrieved 5 June 2018
- ^ "bloom06.com". bloom06.com. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
- ^ "IlTedesco, Eiffel65's forum Mod, made an interview with Jeffrey Jey". Bliss Corporation. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Eiffel65 - "Panico" ( Rough Mix Demo Version) [Lyrics Video]". YouTube. 2 April 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
- ^ "San Marino: Una Voce Per San Marino 2023 semi-finalists announced". 20 February 2023. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ "Eiffel 65 & Loredana Berté Join Forces On Danceable New Single 'Bestiale'". Culture Fix. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
- ^ "Zorotl Official Website". zorotl.com. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
- ^ Gianotti, Celestino. "Zorotl Official Website". Zorotl.com. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
- ^ "BMI's Pop Awards 2001 Song List | Press". Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ "Eiffel 65". GRAMMY.com. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
- ^ "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 10 June 2000. Retrieved 25 April 2020 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Nyertesek 2000". www.fonogram.hu. 12 August 2016. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
- ^ "31st Annual International Dance Music Awards - Winter Music Conference 2017 - WMC 2017". 4 July 2017. Archived from the original on 4 July 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
- ^ "Startseite". Archived from the original on 27 June 2015.
- ^ "BBC News | ENTERTAINMENT | Westlife win song award". news.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
External links
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