Fragma are a German

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes. Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minute ( ...

group, originally comprising three producers. The group was successful in the early 2000s when they released several singles that charted successfully across Europe, especially the United Kingdom and Ireland, but also found some success in the United States and Australia. They continued to produce music until 2012 following the departure of vocalist

Damae Daniela Marina Elisabeth Klein (born 10 July 1979), known by her stage name Damae, is a German TV presenter and singer-songwriter who debuted as a vocalist on the Fragma track "You Are Alive". At the age of 14, Damae was discovered by a photogra ...

. After several years of hiatus, Fragma recruited a new vocalist in 2017, Tess, to front the group.

Musical career

Founded in 1998 by brothers Dirk and Marco Duderstadt, they produced their first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

Toca Me "Toca's Miracle" is a release by German vocal trance group Fragma featuring vocals from British singer Coco (also known as Coco Star). Taken as the second single off Fragma's debut studio album, ''Toca (album), Toca'' (2001), the song is a mashup ...

" with

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Ramon Zenker Ramon Zenker (born 11 November 1968) is a German music producer, songwriter, sound engineer and remixer. He is a member of Hardfloor, Fragma Paffendorf and E-Trax, who had a UK #60 hit with Let's Rock. Zenker started playing keyboards and bass ...

. When it was released the following year, it topped several

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

charts around the world, and reached No. 11 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. In 1999, a mash-up, "

Toca's Miracle "Toca's Miracle" is a release by German vocal trance group Fragma featuring vocals from British singer Coco (also known as Coco Star). Taken as the second single off Fragma's debut studio album, ''Toca'' (2001), the song is a mashup of Coco's "I ...

" was produced by DJ Vimto, taking the music of Fragma's "Toca Me" and placing the

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

from

Coco Star Susan Brice (born 16 March 1971), better known by her stage name Coco Star (or simply Coco), is an English singer and songwriter, who was signed to Universal Music and EMI.Coco's Got Her Miracle by Bill Lennon, Hertfordshire Magazine June 2000 B ...

's 1996

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

"I Need a Miracle" (written for Coco Star by Rob Davis and Victor Imbres) over the instrumental. Originally released on Orbit Records in Germany, "Toca's Miracle" was licensed in the UK by

Positiva Records Positiva Records is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and concentrates on releasing dance music in the United Kingdom, UK. The record label was set up in 1993 in music, 1993, by Nick Halkes, who previously ran XL Recordings. Its headquar ...

. It went straight to

number one Number One most commonly refers to: * 1 (number) Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song * ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song * ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC * ''n.1 ...

in the UK chart, and was popular in Australia and Ireland. "Toca's Miracle" was described as a "song that was never really meant to be" by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''s Michael Paoletta. An

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

was released in 2001; ''

Toca TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The company organises and administers the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and the support series to the BTCC, sometimes known as the T ...

'', as well as two other singles; "

Everytime You Need Me "Everytime You Need Me" is a song by German trance group Fragma featuring English singer Maria Rubia. It was released in January 2001 as the third single from their debut album, ''Toca'' (2001). The single peaked at number three on the UK Single ...

" (UK No. 3), which featured vocals by

Maria Rubia Maria Rubia is an English model, actress, TV presenter and singer-songwriter. She debuted as the vocalist on Fragma's dance song, "Everytime You Need Me", which remained on the UK Singles Chart for 11 weeks, and the sales thereof earned her a si ...

, and "

You Are Alive "You Are Alive" is a song by German trance music group Fragma featuring vocals from German singer-songwriter Damae. It was released on 7 May 2001 as the fourth and final single from their debut album, ''Toca''. The single peaked at number four on ...

" (UK No. 4) with vocals by

. 2002 saw the Duderstadts set up their own

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

, called Evergreen-Terrace. The same year saw Fragma still operating with

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Damae, release a second album; ''Embrace'', with hit singles such as "Say That You're Here", "Embrace Me", "Man In The Moon" and "Time And Time Again". During this period, Fragma parted with their UK record label Positiva and released "Say That You're Here" in December 2001 on Illustrious Records. The song charted at No. 25 and a hiatus on the UK chart singles chart began which lasted for several years. Dirk and Marco also worked as a duo under their

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

Duderstadt. The singles "Sunrise" and "Taking Over" were released on Gang Go Records. A third single, "Mahananda", was released in 2005 on Afterglow Records. This was followed by the fourth single "Muhanjala" in 2006, and another featuring Anita Kelsey called "Smile" in 2007. The two are also known to produce under the name Inpetto (originally written as ''In Petto'' around 1999–2000). In 2006, Fragma released the single "Radio Waves" together with

Kirsty Hawkshaw Kirsty Hawkshaw (born 26 October 1969) is an English electronic music vocalist and songwriter. In addition to her work as a solo artist, she is known as the lead vocalist of early 1990s dance group Opus III, and her collaborative work with oth ...

. The track was co-written by

Judie Tzuke Judie Tzuke ( ; born Judie Myers, 3 April 1956) is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 1979 hit " Stay with Me till Dawn", which reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart. Life and career Early life Tzuke's family relocated ...

. 2008 saw the release of " Toca's Miracle 2008" with the vocals of Coco Star and the InPetto remix of the original song. "Toca's Miracle 2008" reached number 2 on the Australian ARIA Club Charts and number 16 on the UK Singles Chart. Fragma commenced touring again with Damae throughout Europe, where they featured on the Dance Nation tour in the UK. "Memory" was released through

Hard2Beat Dance Nation was a British independent record label which was a subsidiary of Ministry of Sound. When founded in 2007 it was known as Hard2Beat Records, and was rebranded to its current name in 2010. The label's first release was " Now You'r ...

and

Ultra Records Ultra Records is an American record label formed in New York City in 1995 by former PolyGram and Virgin Records executive Patrick Moxey. As of December 23, 2012, Ultra entered a global partnership with Sony Music, giving its artists access to ...

, followed by "Forever and a Day", which was released in November 2009. In October 2012, Fragma announced through their official Facebook page that they had separated from singer Damae on 1 September 2012. This was in the same year as the release of their track "Thousand Times" and their collaboration with Akil Wingate on "Where Do We Go", both of which feature her vocals. She no longer represents Fragma at their live shows, as they continued working on productions with a different singer. In 2017, Fragma recruited the vocalist Tess, who began performing with the group on their tours. On 2 July 2021, Fragma released their first new music in nine years, a melodic dance track entitled "I Want More" with Tess on vocals.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

* *
Evergreen-Terrace Music ProductionsOfficial Duderstadt website
{{Authority control German dance music groups German electronic music groups German house music groups German techno music groups German trance music groups Musical groups from Cologne Musical groups established in 1998 Dance Nations artists Anjunabeats artists Positiva Records artists