Arabesque was an all-girl trio formed at the height of the European disco era in 1977 in Frankfurt, Germany. The group's changing lineup worked with the German composer Jean Frankfurter (Erich Ließmann) and became especially popular in Japan and USSR.
Video Arabesque (group)
History
In 1975, children's music singer, Mary Ann Nagel proposed a girl group to producer, Wolfgang Mewes. He accepts and 2 other girls are recruited through a song contest. An Englishwoman (Karen Ann Tepperis), Mexican (Michaela Rose) and German (Mary Ann Nagel) comprised the initial group. After the first album, the band lineup was changed by keeping only the original member Michaela Rose and replacing the two other girls, Karen Ann Tepperis and Mary Ann Nagel with new members Jasmin Vetter and Heike Rimbeau, respectively. Due to Rimbeau's pregnancy in 1978, she was briefly substituted by Elke Brückheimer. However, shortly afterwards she too was replaced by Sandra Lauer. The trio remained in this lineup from 1979 until their split in 1984. After they split up in 1984, Jasmin and Michaela continued on as the duo "Rouge", while Sandra Lauer started her own career as a solo artist, collaborating with Michael Cretu as Sandra and later as part of Enigma.
Arabesque became extremely popular in Japan, and also had a great deal of success in the USSR. In 1980, the single "Take Me Don't Break Me" became a hit, which only scraped the German Top 40. Their next single, "Marigot Bay", would become their only Top Ten hit a few weeks later. Their last singles, "Ecstasy" and "Time to Say Goodbye", became hits only after their split, in various European countries, as they sounded very close to the Italo disco sound, a very popular music genre on the European dance scene at that time. Those songs spread and gained success through LP compilations of dance/pop music, and bootleg tapes, so, the band could never take advantage of this success, as neither of those songs could properly appear on any music charts as "singles" anyway. (That was a common problem for many '80s European dance artists.)
These last Arabesque singles also introduced the "Italo disco" sound to Japan, under the term "eurobeat", previously used in the UK for the Stock Aitken Waterman productions. That soon lead to Japan's Super Eurobeat music style.
Maps Arabesque (group)
Trivia
- On 16 December 2006, Arabesque (featuring Michaela Rose and two new members, Sabine Kaemper and Silke Brauner) headlined the second Retro FM festival in Moscow. According to Russian press they are planning a tour in Japan and possibly releasing a new album.
- In 2009, Fake Blood released the dance single "I Think I Like It" in which he used a sample of the 1979 Arabesque song "In the Heat of a Disco-night".
- In 2017, Jasmin Vetter reunited the group with two new members for the group's 40th anniversary (Arabesque with Jasmin Vetter), and have been performing in Russia.
Discography
Studio albums
- 1978 - Friday Night (also called Arabesque-I)
- 1979 - City Cats (also called Arabesque-II)
- 1980 - Marigot Bay (also called Arabesque-III)
- 1980 - Midnight Dancer (also called Arabesque-IV)
- 1981 - In for a Penny (also called Arabesque-V)
- 1982 - Caballero (also called Arabesque-VI)
- 1982 - Why No Reply (also called Arabesque-VII)
- 1983 - Dance Dance Dance (also called Arabesque-VIII)
- 1984 - Time to Say Good Bye (also called Arabesque-IX)
Singles
- 1977 "Hello Mr. Monkey"
- 1978 "Friday Night"
- 1979 "Fly High Little Butterfly" (Japan only)
- 1979 "Rock Me After Midnight" (Japan only)
- 1979 "City Cats" (Germany only)
- 1979 "Peppermint Jack"
- 1980 "High Life" (Japan only)
- 1980 "Parties in a Penthouse" (Japan only)
- 1980 "Make Love Whenever You Can" (Japan only)
- 1980 "Take Me Don't Break Me" (Germany only)
- 1980 "Marigot Bay" (Germany only)
- 1981 "Midnight Dancer" (Japan only)
- 1981 "In for a Penny, in for a Pound"
- 1981 "Billy's Barbeque" (Japan only)
- 1981 "Hit the Jackpot" (Japan only)
- 1982 "Young Fingers Get Burnt" (Japan only)
- 1982 "Indio Boy" (Germany only)
- 1982 "Tall Story Teller" / "Caballero"
- 1983 "Why No Reply"
- 1983 "Pack It Up" (Japan only)
- 1983 "Dance, Dance, Dance" (Japan only)
- 1983 "Loser Pays the Piper" (Japan only)
- 1983 "Sunrise in Your Eyes" (Germany only)
- 1984 "Hearts on Fire" (Japan only)
- 1985 "Time to Say Goodbye"
- 1986 "Ecstasy" (Germany only)
- 1998 "Hello Mr. Monkey (Remix)"
- 2008 "Marigot Bay 2008" (feat. Michaela Rose) (digital release)
- 2014 "Dance Into The Moonlight" (feat. Michaela Rose) (digital release)
Rouge
Albums
- 1988 Rouge (Japan only)
Singles
- 1986 "Hold On" / "Perfect Timing"
- 1987 "Einer Von Uns" / "Nobody Knows" (Entry in the German Eurovision selections 1987)
- 1987 "The Leader of the Pack" / "So Close"
- 1988 "Love Line Operator" / "Love Line Operator" (Instrumental)
- 1988 "Love Line Operator" (Extended version) / "Love Line Operator" (Real Life Mix)
- 1988 "Koi Wa No Time" (Japan only)
- 1989 "Koi Wa No Time ~Loving Me Totally~" (Japan only) (English version of above, performed in the Tokyo Music Festival 1989)
References
External links
- Arabesque feat. Michaela Rose
- arabesque-music.de
- plala.or.jp
- big section about Arabesque band
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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