Fiocco was a Belgian

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 ...

act by DJ/ producer Jan Vervloet. What started as a studio project became the biggest Belgian dance sensation of 1997. In

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

their success and thereby popularity was comparable with dance acts as

Technotronic Technotronic was a Belgian electronic music project formed in 1987 by Jo Bogaert, who originally gained popularity in Europe as a solo artist with various new beat projects, including Acts of Madmen and Nux Nemo. Together with rapper Manuela K ...

and

2 Unlimited 2 Unlimited are a Belgian/Dutch dance music act, founded by Belgian producers/songwriters Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde in 1991 in Antwerp, Belgium. From 1991 to 1996, Dutch rapper Ray Slijngaard and Dutch vocalist Anita Doth fronted the a ...

. Nearly all of their singles and full-album reached the Gold-status in Belgium. Jan Vervloet mostly worked with guest singers for Fiocco. But on stage the act consisted always of Lieve Verbeeck(vocals), Ann Lomans (singer/frontwoman), Anja Maesen (dancer), Jan Vervloet (keyboards/MC/frontman) and Enzo Fumarola (keyboards), The debut release "Afflitto" became a real club hit which was translated in a No. 1 position for 9 weeks on the Belgian Dance charts. After its tremendous success Jan Vervloet decided to release “Afflitto” on cd-single which reached the top 5 in the Belgian

Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization ...

European Releases

For the second release Fiocco moved to a more commercial sound. With “The Spirit” the dance act was signed in the rest of Europe, including France, The Netherlands, Italy Spain, Scandinavia and Israel. The single became a bigger hit than “Afflitto”. With “The Spirit” they almost topped the Belgian Ultratop, only being stopped by Aqua's “

Barbie Girl "Barbie Girl" is a song by Danish-Norwegian dance-pop group Aqua. It was released in April 1997 as the third single from the group's debut studio album, ''Aquarium'' (1997). The song was written by Søren Rasted, Claus Norreen, René Dif, and Le ...

” at No. 2. By the end of the year the single was the best selling Belgian production in 1997 in the Ultratop. It was the first release with full lyrics (“Afflitto” was more of an instrumental song), who were sung by

Absolom Absolom was a Belgian dance project produced by Christophe Chantzis and DJ Jimmy Goldschmitz. The group was popular in Europe by the end of the 1990s. For remixer and main-producer Chantzis the project was his first major effort in the Belgian ...

singer Pascale Feront. “Spread The World Around” became the third single in 1998, another top 10 hit, and the album “Free” was also released on Eurodance label Antler Subway. Due to the success of Pascal Feront's project

, Jan Vervloet had to find another singer. Lieve Verbeeck, a singer of The Golden Symphonic Orchestra, was contacted to do the vocals. In the fourth single “Straight Till The End” yet another singer was introduced (Nathalie Van Gronsveld). In February 1999 Fiocco released the single “Miss You” as ''Fiocoo feat. Medusa''. Medusa was a two-times alias by

Evi Goffin Lasgo were a Belgian electronic music group. The group formed in 1999 was composed of Evi Goffin, David Vervoort, Peter Luts, and Dave McCullen). Peter Luts confirmed on Belgian radio in 2008 that Evi Goffin was not returning to the band, after c ...

, known as singer of

Lasgo Lasgo were a Belgian electronic music group. The group formed in 1999 was composed of Evi Goffin, David Vervoort, Peter Luts, and Dave McCullen). Peter Luts confirmed on Belgian radio in 2008 that Evi Goffin was not returning to the band, after c ...

. The song was co-written by

producer Christophe Chantzis. “Miss You” did well on the charts, but wasn't as big as its predecessors. In December 1999 Fiocco released their next single “The Music”, a more trance orientated song with a stirring up melody. As extra, a millennium countdown could be found on the cd-single. Remixes were done by The Oblique and Razzle Dazzle, two well-known underground aliases by Jan Vervloet. The last single charted was “The Crowd Is Moving” in November 2000. It reached to No. 6.

Fiocco vs Kosmonova

After the success of “Afflitto” in 1997,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

DJ Michael Nehrig a.k.a.

Kosmonova Kosmonova (born Michael Nehrig; 8 April 1970 in Krefeld, Germany) is a German DJ and music producer. He was part of the group Royal Gigolos Royal Gigolos were a German tech house group, formed in late 2003 by DJ/producers Michael Schmidt (Mike ...

picked up the single in 1998 and reconstructed it for the German market as “Celebrate”. The single was co-produced by Andreas G. Schneider (Dos Or Die Recordings) and Kosmonova. The single entered the Dance charts in Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium. In Belgium “Celebrate” was released as B-side on Fiocco's fourth cd-single “Straight Till The End”. A music video was shot with front lady Ann Lomans lip-syncing the lyrics. Actual signing was done by

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n singer Maxine Harvey.

Fiocco vs Scoop

Sometimes the side project

Scoop Scoop, Scoops or The scoop may refer to: Objects * Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging * Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things * Scoop stretcher, a device used for casualty ...

by producer Jan Vervloet is credited as a collaboration with Fiocco. Originally Scoop was a project by Daniel Maze. After its debut release “Wings Of Love” Jan Vervloet joined Scoop. What did not happen with Fiocco, happened with the second single by Scoop: topping the charts in Belgium and The Netherlands in 1999. The release “Drop It” was a No. 1 for several weeks in both countries. “Drop It’s cd-single included a Fiocco remix.

Split

Bit by bit the general interest faded away. Other similar Belgian dance act like

Astroline Astroline were a Belgian Eurodance project by DJ/producer Bart Smolders, Christophe Chantzis (Absolom, Ian Van Dahl) and Stefan Wuyts (DJ Jimmy Goldschmitz & Heliac), who were together from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. They are best known for ...

and

were facing the same problem. After the release of “The Music” in December 1999 Fiocco once again became a studio project. Two years later three remixes of Fiocco's biggest hit were released by Jan Vervloet as “Afflitto 2003 (Remixes Part One & Two) ” for the Belgian market. In 2005 those same remixes were released in Spain, together with two songs co-written by Olivier Adams (

Praga Khan Maurice Joseph François Engelen (born 7 January 1959), known by his stage name Praga Khan, is a Belgian electronic musician. Khan is considered one of the leading pioneers of the new beat/acid house/techno electronic dance music scene that origi ...

European Releases

Fiocco vs Kosmonova

Fiocco vs Scoop

Split

Discography

Singles

References

External links