DJ Miko was an Italian dance act fronted by keyboardist Monier Quartararo Gagliardo (born 8 February 1973) and British vocalist Louise Anne Gard from

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

. It mainly released dance

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

versions of past pop and rock

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

and is primarily known for its 1993 hit with a cover of 4 Non Blondes' " What's Up". During its active years, DJ Miko released one album and twelve singles. The project was managed by the

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

-based record company Dig It International, for which Gagliardo already worked as an in-house producer, and released on its Hotline Records label. As with all other releases on Hotline Records,

SAIFAM The SAIFAM Group is the biggest Italian record label and production company featuring hardstyle, Italo dance, Eurodance, Hi-NRG, pop and fitness music genres. History The outfit was started by Mauro Farina and Giuliano Crivellente, a productio ...

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

was responsible for the music production. Following the closure of Dig It International in 1997, the project was fully absorbed by SAIFAM. DJ Miko has made many appearances on the

Eurodance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. This ...

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

'' Dancemania'' series, specifically its sub-series albums including ''

Dancemania Speed ''Dancemania Speed'' is a sub-series of Toshiba EMI's ''Dancemania'' compilation series. This series features faster, further remixed versions of recordings from previously released ''Dancemania'' albums or faster remixed covers of various famous ...

'' and ''

Dancemania Covers ''Dancemania Covers'' is a sub-series of the ''Dancemania'' compilation series, with various famous songs covered by various dance music acts. Releases ''Dancemania Covers'' ''Dancemania Covers'' was released on July 16, 1997. ''Dancemania Cov ...

'' since 1999, and on

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

's Bemani series of rhythm music

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

with three covers. Over its career, the DJ Miko project has employed various studio vocalists. Its debut single "What's Up" was recorded by singer Maria Caprì from Milan. The follow-up, "Rhythm", featured lead vocals by

Annerley Gordon Annerley Emma Gordon (born 12 November 1967), most known professionally as Ann Lee, is a British-born Italian eurodance singer and songwriter who rose to fame in the late 1990s. She is known primarily for her hit singles "2 Times" and "Voices", ...

and background vocals by Cristina Dori. The singles "Clementine" (1997) through "Shout" (2000) were all sung by Jackie Bodiemead, a studio vocalist at SAIFAM. "Forever Young" (2001), the final single released on vinyl, was sung by Italian studio singer and vocal coach Melody Castellari. In recent years, SAIFAM has occasionally used the names of its successful projects from the past, including DJ Miko, as aliases for dance cover versions on its many compilation album series.

Discography

Singles

Albums

* ''The Last Millennium'' (1999, Italy) # "What's Up 2000" (The Ultimate Mix) # "My Sharona" # "Keep On" (BPM 140 Mix) # "Sky High" # "Superboy" (Factory Team Dance Mix) # "Lovely Lullaby" (LP Version) # "Radio Star" # "Dreaming" (Original Mix) # "Hot Stuff" (Factory Team Edit) # "Clementine" (F.T. & Company Edit) # "Rhythm" # "What's Up" (Original Mix)

Video games

DJ Miko has a total of 2 cover songs which appear in the '' Dance Dance Revolution'' arcade series: * " Sky High", originally by

Jigsaw Jigsaw may refer to: * Jigsaw (tool), a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves * Jigsaw puzzle, a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking pieces Arts and media Comics * Jigsaw (Marvel Comics), a supervillain and arch-enemy of ...

(cover also available in ''

StepManiaX ''StepManiaX'' (abbreviated ''SMX'' and pronounced "Step Maniacs") is a rhythm game developed & published by Step Revolution, a studio formed by former developers of In the Groove, ReRave, and Pump It Up Pro. It is considered a spiritual succ ...

'') * " What a Wonderful World", originally by

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

(cover credited to Beatbox vs. DJ Miko) Additional appearances include the following: * ''

Dance Dance Revolution A20 ''Dance Dance Revolution A20'' (pronounced Ace Two Oh) is a music video game, the 17th installment of the ''Dance Dance Revolution'' arcade series in Japan (the 8th in North America), and the sequel to ''Dance Dance Revolution A''. The game was re ...

'' golden cabinets received "Sky High (20th Anniversary Mix)" by Haruki Yamada (ATTIC INC.) with Martin Leroux on June 27, 2019. It is a cover of "Sky High" that is inspired by the DJ Miko version. * ''

Dance Maniax , stylized as BEMANI, is Konami's music video game division. Originally named the Games & Music Division (G.M.D.), it changed its name in honor of its first and most successful game, ''Beatmania'', and expanded into other music-based games, mos ...

'', known as ''Dance Freaks'' in South Korea, features " My Sharona" by DJ Miko. This song was originally by The Knack, and this cover is only available on the first release of the game.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miko, Dj Italian electronic music groups Italian house music groups Italian Eurodance groups