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La Bouche   (Germany)

EuroDance group
Added : 24/01/2000
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Latest La Bouche news

24/04/2023 : Hypaton and David Guetta did a 2023 mix for La Bouche's hit Be My Lover

19/01/2023 : La Bouche's hit Sweet Dreams was covered by Arress

22/07/2022 : La Bouche and Bandido released a 2022 version of the hit Be My Lover

18/07/2021 : Timi Kullai will perform as a vocalist for La Bouche live shows

18/12/2020 : La Bouche teamed with S-Project to release a Christmas single entitled Ringing The Bells of Christmas.

20/09/2020 : La Bouche's new song Rhythm of Love will on out on December 22nd and the cover art was painted by Lane McCray himself. It will feature official female vocalist Sophie Cairo, but also Imre Czomba, Alec Be, Uberdrive and G Ferenzi.

04/08/2020 : RealThing did a eurodance remix for La Bouche's current single One Night in Heaven

More news

La Bouche albums

	Sweet Dreams/The Album (North American Version)	1995	BUY X
	Sweet Dreams	10th Jul 1995	BUY X
	All Mixed Up	16th Dec 1995	BUY X
	A Moment Of Love	1997	BUY X
	SOS	16th Jun 1998	BUY X
	The Best Of La Bouche (feat. Melanie Thornton)	29th Apr 2002	BUY X
	Greatest Hits	13th Oct 2006	BUY X

La Bouche singles

	Sweet Dreams	9th May 1994	BUY X
	Do You Hear What I Hear	Nov 1994	BUY X
	Be My Lover	6th Mar 1995	BUY X
	Fallin' In Love	12th Jun 1995	BUY X
	I Love To Love	27th Nov 1995	BUY X
	Forget Me Nots	1996	BUY X
	Megamix	17th Jun 1996	BUY X
	Bolingo (Love Is In The Air)	14th Oct 1996	BUY X
	You Won't Forget Me	26th Sep 1997	BUY X
	A Moment Of Love	27th Mar 1998	BUY X
	SOS	15th Feb 1999	BUY X
	All I Want	2nd Jun 2000	BUY X
	In Your Life	25th Nov 2002	BUY X
	Raise The Bar (Never officially released)	2016	BUY X
	Sweet Dreams 2017	22nd Sep 2017	BUY X
	Night After Night	14th Aug 2018	BUY X
	One Night In Heaven	21st Apr 2020	BUY X
	Rhythm of Love	22nd Sep 2020	BUY X
	Ringing The Bells of Christmas (with S-project)	16th Dec 2020	BUY X
	Be My Lover 2022 (feat. Bandido)	22nd Jul 2022	BUY X

La Bouche remixes

	Sweet Dreams	1994	BUY X
	Be My Lover	1995	BUY X
	Fallin' In Love	1996	BUY X
	Bolingo (Love Is In The Air)	1997	BUY X
	One Night In Heaven	28th Jul 2020	BUY X

Featurings and collaborations

Hypaton x David Guetta - Be My Lover

21st Apr 2023

BUY X

La Bouche biography

Producers : Frank Farian with Ulli Brenner and Amir Saraf

La Bouche, featuring Melanie Thornton and D. Lane McCray Jr., fueled for the 90s with their own brand of pop, dance, and a twist of R&B. Melanie's voice was discovered by the FMP Studios team in Germany, and she was undoubtedly the perfect singer for their long dreamed of project, La Bouche. Lane, whom she had recently met and began performing with in a band called Groovin' Affairs, had the talent and striking looks to compliment Melanie's diva-powered vocals and sultry beauty, thus completing the concept of La Bouche. She recalled "although we just began working together, the chemistry was perfect!".

The single that started it all was Sweet Dreams. At that time, Melanie was still hesitating between the 2 projects : la Bouche and Le Click. Le Click's Tonight Is The Night ranked #4 in Europa single dance charts in 1994. But the success for Sweet Dreams was massive : #3 in Israel, #1 in Italy, Canada and Spain, #8 in Germany, #8 in Australia, #8 in France, #5 in Switzerland and Japan, top 30 in the UK, # 13 in the USA Billboard Hot 100 (where it stayed not less than 33 weeks !). It eventually topped Europa radio dance plays charts the same year.

The next single to be released was Be My Lover in 1995, becoming an instant hit once again : #8 in Israel, #6 in the USA Billboard Hot 100 (it sold gold there), #1 in Germany and Spain, top 10 in Holland, Austria and Belgium, #3 in Australia, #2 in Canada, #2 in Italy, #3 in France, #5 in Switzerland, and #25 in the UK. And finally, it was their second #1 in Europa radio dance plays charts.

After two gold singles in Germany, both of which had topped the European charts and gained massive radio play throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States, La Bouche unleashed their debut album Sweet Dreams, which brought them to the forefront of America's pop market to become the new sensation of the 90s. The album sold twice Platinum in the US. Two video clip versions of both Be My Lover and Sweet Dreams were shot. The newer versions were made in and for the US.

With single Be My Lover, La Bouche earned numerous awards, including Echo award for Dance Song of the Year (the German Grammy) in 1995 and Golden Europa for Best Duo or Group in 1995. They were nominated for Best Dance Video at the second annual MTV-Europe Music Awards and for three awards at the MTV VMAs in 1996. They also won award for Best Dance Group in France in 1995 and 1996.

Then came a remixed version of Fallin In Love. In the US there was new radio mix (made by by AME, Florida) which went #16 on the America Top 40 radio charts. This new version, 3:49 long, was preferred to the Original slow version. But it was a radio station DJ only CD : people could not buy it in a store or anywhere. Despite the change of the style, it was their thirdy single at #1 Europa radio dance plays charts in 1995.

The gorgeous I Love To Love followed. It went #1 in Hungary, #2 in Canada, #6 in Australia, #1 in Europa Radio Dance Plays charts in 1995 and #1 in Czech Dance Charts during 2 weeks. A Megamix was finally released in 1996 as a conclusion to this first album. A remixes album entited All Mixed Up came out in December.

Afterwards, there was quite a long pause. Melanie explains : "Frank Farian held pretty much total control of the project and he had, since the beginning of La Bouche, picked up a whole lot of other projects. We'd been put on the backburner until he'd finished producing No Mercy (and others). ". No Mercy released a cover of La Bouche's album track Where do you go. They performed the La Bouche remix on MTV Europa summer hits in 1996. This song probably contributed to the boys band's breakthrough on the global scene.

In fact, The La Bouche project was also a remixers team since we can find many "La Bouche mix" for many eurodance singles : for example, Full Speed's Star or Le Voyage's I Need A Love.

Song Forget Me Nots was released as a single in Holland and Denmark only. He stayed a few weeks on their dance charts. Then it appeared #23 in Czech dance charts.

Then in October came a new single called Bolingo. Melanie explained : "that was supposed to be the introduction of our second album, but it didn't work that way. It was like six months after the end of our first album and like a year before the actual release of the second album. It wasn't supposed to be that way, but it's just the way it happened. Basically it was just waiting on Frank Farian. First to be ready to start producing and then, second, to be satisfied with the work. There were also power struggles going on there. I would have to say a lot of it was disagreements between Frank and the labels".

Bolingo was in a completely different style from the previous releases. It was the group's response to the changing marketing market. It went #10 in Europa radio dance plays charts and in #10 in Czech dance charts in 1996. It entered Top 20 in several countries : #19 in Austria, #15 in Switzerland and Finland, # 4 in Dancehouse charts in Netherlands and Belgium.

After almost one year of silence La Bouche released a single called You Won't Forget Me in October 1997 and on the 17th November the long-awaited new album A Moment of Love was released. The new album contained 9 new songs, most of them being uptempo dance tracks, 3 remixes and, of course, Bolingo and You Won't Forget Me. One of the 9 new songs was not completely new...

A bonus track on European version, a gospel cover version of the Elton John song Candle in the Wind, featured guest vocalists Joan Faulkner, Christin Sargent, Freda Goodlett, Rejime, The Jackson Singers, Ma Belle and No Mercy. All artist and composer royalties and production company profits from sales of the song Candle In The Wind'97 were donated to the "Mother Teeresa Foundation, India".

Videoclip for You Won't Forget Me was directed by Andras Mahr and shot in NYC. Germany was the first country where You Won't Forget Me was launched : they performed it on TV shows ZDF Wintergarden and for the new year on Sat.1. It was nominated as best single of the year 1997 in Germany and its remix-pop version was nominated in October 1998 in the USA. Single stayed on the first for 2 weeks at #1 position in the Germany Internet charts. Remix single for You Won't Forget Me was nominated for the eurodance song another year in America in October 1998. It charted #9 in US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play, #21 Rock on The net USA, #48 US Billboard. It also went #3 in Czech republic, #3 on Dancehouse Belgium, #80 in Austria, #20 in Hungary and #35 in Slovakia.

Despite this very honorable success, it was somehow considered as a failure. It was also a fact that MTV Europe never adverstised nor played this new single. And that particular single had to fight for the first place around the world with very strong competition from the newly established Swedish bubblegum groups such as Aqua and Daze. Anyway, in Central and Eastern Europe, La Bouche still had a lot of fans waiting for new dance songs.

But La Bouche's second album (released in 1998 under title SOS in the US) didn't have the success expected. The continued dispute between producer Frank Farian and BMG has stifled relationships and the future of the group. The BMG group has focused on the presentation of other bands. The music market has changed, eurodance songs have stopped being interesting and supported by radios. Music stations also preferred slower four songs in pop tones. As the sale of the album was over, BMG decided not to promote the La Bouche brand in such a big splash.

In March 1998 La Bouche released slow pop ballad A Moment of Love as a single. It premiered on TV in Germany in December 1997 during Patrick Lindner Show, then was performed on Charts Attack. It went #10 in the Czech Republic and #18 in Finland, but did not went higher than position #100 in Germany. It was completely unnoticed in other countries. This worsened relationships between BMP and Frank Farian.

We had to wait more than one year to hear the following single : SOS. It was released first as a slow version in the US, then as a fast version in Europe. Bit at that time, every radio and television station turned away from eurodance and broadcasted only pop-rock songs. So it failed to enter the charts in the US. It also did poorly in Germany where it entered at position #78, staying during a few weeks only, but was #4 in Czech Republic, and topped Eurohit top 40 in Eastern Europe, where they reached #1 in March 1999, staying there during 20 weeks showing that La Bouche were still popular in this part of Europe. It was even covered by Serbian pop-dance project Duck under titled Varana Janković. In Germany, Lane and Melanie performed SOS in TV show Musik für Sie - Das MDR Wunschkonzert.

2000 : after 2 years, La Bouche finally released some new material ! This new single was entitled All I Want. Melanie, who started her solo carreer, had left and was replaced by Natascha Wright. She had been a background singer for MC Hammer, DJ Bobo and some others, and also released some solo eurodance singles. Lane McCray remained a part of the group.

A brand new album was scheduled for September 2000 as well as a follow-up to All I Want. Album would be produced as usual by Frank Farian and his team (FMP), and Lane McCray would be producing 3 tracks too. Lane was also planning a new solo record in the next 18 months. But nothing came out...

November 2001 : Melanie Thornton died in a plane crash.

2002 : A best of album released in April included the hits of La Bouche, the solo hits of the late Melanie Thornton, a videoclip of Sweet Dreams and two previously unreleased tracks of La Bouche. In Slovakia, it was at #25 position in sales charts. Because of the tragic death of Melanie, we could think that La Bouche definitely belonged to the past. Lane McCray was working on his debut solo album, Naked Songs In The Key Of Love, which was planned for late summer (but finally never came out). Lane also felt in the wake of Melanie's death there would be no more La Bouche : "The magic died with her and cannot be recreated".

But on November 25th the team finally decided to release a single. The release date was chosen because it was the first anniversary of Melanie's death. Entitled In Your Life, this very nice eurodance song was an unreleased track composed by Melanie Thornton herself. It also included a B-side called Take Me 2 Heaven 2 Night. There was even a video (a sort of summary of the glorious years). In Your Life reached the top #5 in US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play and entered the World Singles Official Top 100 at #15. It was also #31 in Eurohit top 40, #98 in Europe's singel charts Top 100.

2003 : La Bouche did a tour in support of In Your Life, beginning on the 6th April of 2003. Lane McCray brought his smooth dance, vocal and charisma to the stage. A new face joined Lane on stage : former Le Click voice Kayo Shekoni. Lane and Kayo announced that together they would continue the sounds, songs and style that would always remain La Bouche. In Your Life reached #9 in the USA Billboard dance chart. The same year, Sweet Dreams was covered by a project called M-Express. Kayo was then replaced by Natascha Wright.

2006 : songs from La Bouche's first album went #1 in USA Retro dance charts, which relied on a database of tracks played between 1992-2017. A new best-of album was released in October. According to an interview that Natascha gave, Lane had moved back to Washington D.C., while Natascha went back to a solo carreer. It seemed to be the end of La Bouche...

2007 : Lane actually never left La Bouche, and the project hasd a new frontwoman called Dana Rayne. The groups kept on touring in Europe. They did a concert at the beginning of September at a big 90's-party at Docken in Copenhagen.

2008 : a 2008 version of Sweet Dreams was released by Recover Project, with a videoclip. The same year, Anthem released a cover of Be My Lover. Songs from the second La Bouche album ranked #1 in USA Retro Dance charts.

2009 : Greenpower released a cover of Sweet Dreams. 2 amazing unreleased La Bouche tracks entitled In My Position and Rhythm Of Love were revealed to the public.

2011 : Мята (Myata) released a cover of hit Be My Lover.

2014 : La Bouche could be back soon with a brand new single entitled Raise The Bar, featuring original member Lane McCray and new female vocalist Dana Rayne. But single was postponed several times... Finally, Dana left the project and after 11 years, Kayo Shekoni was back to tour with Lane McCray as a member of La Bouche.

2015 : a new female singer now shared the stage with Lane McCray during La Bouche's concerts : vocalist Sophie Cairo aka Zsófi Farkas

2016 : a brand new single was planned under DMN Records label, an unreleased song re-recorded by Lane and new female vocalist Sophie. Slovakia Radio Express published the hitparade of the 100 Best female vocal singers in the world, where Melanie Thornton won 19th place.

2017 : Be My Lover was covered by Anton Ishutin feat Note U. La Bouche released a 2017 version of their hit Sweet Dreams, which went #66 in Germany's MTV singles charts. Meanwhile, Be My Lover was ranked #1 by Slovakian version of die Ultimative Charts Show on TV Markiza. Be My Lover was also among radio hits on Slovakia Radio Express charts : #6 Slovakia best of 90s, #39 Slovakia best of summer hits.

2018 : La Bouche's new single was entitled Night After Night. Released under NeNe music, it was #45 in Starfleet Music Pool Top 60 Dance Charts. A fake La Bouche project made of Onita Boone and Willi V did a concert in Kazakhstan in July without any permission from the official project. End of year, Sophie Cairo, who was getting married, took a pause. Kayo Shekoni and Kim Sanders replaced her on stage for a few 90s festivals till February 2019.

2021 : Sophie Cairo finally decided to stay longer in Australia, so Timi Kullai became the new La Bouche vocalist for live shows. Then Dana came back as vocalist.

2022 : several vocalists, such as Belle Johnson, toured with La Bouche as frontlady.

2023 : singles from the group are still regularly placed in DJ charts on iTunes and radio stations around the world

Dance Artists Info © 1996-98 Niklas Adolfsson
© 1996 Logic Records U.S., Inc.
Melanie Thornton's interview
Dance Artists Infos
EurodanceRage
Thanks to Denis "DJ Hooligan" Zhabkin, Tavi Meran, DJ Eugene aka aZo, BookmanJones and Marek Durech from Slovakia

La Bouche biography was last updated Sat, March 4th 2023

Charts (singles)

Sweet Dreams	#8	#3			#32	#8	#1	#31	#34		#13	#5	#63
Be My Lover	#2	#3	#6	#18	#7	#1	#2	#3	#44	#2	#1	#5	#27
Fallin' In Love	#39	#13	#23	#15	#24	#13		#15	#33		#19	#13	#43
I Love To Love	#6	#19	#21	#18	#27	#21		#30			#42
Bolingo (Love Is In The Air)		#19		#15		#26					#23	#15
You Won't Forget Me		#80		#18	#28	#29					#24
A Moment Of Love				#18		#100
SOS						#78

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