Joy is an Austrian pop band, best known for the hits "
Touch by Touch Touch by Touch may refer to:
* Touch by Touch (Joy song)
* Touch by Touch (Diana Ross song)
{{dab ...
" and "Valerie".
History
Early years
The band was formed in
Bad Aussee
Bad Aussee (Central Bavarian: ''Bod Ossee'') is a town in the Austrian state of Styria, located at the confluence of the three sources of the Traun River in the Ausseerland region. Bad Aussee serves as the economic and cultural center of the Styr ...
, Austria. Andreas Schweitzer (born 26 February 1960), Alfred Jaklitsch (born 22 January 1960) and Manfred Temmel (born 25 February 1959) met during High School. At that time, they played in different amateur bands together. But, after graduation, they pursued into different careers: Andy was a policeman, Freddy taught German language and history at school, and Manfred was a popular DJ in ''Orion'' disco club in
Traunreut
Traunreut (; Central Bavarian: ''Traunreit'') is a town in southeastern Bavaria, Germany in the Traunstein district. It is located at . Traunreut lies in the heart of the Chiemgau region between Munich and Salzburg, approximately 10 km east ...
, Germany.
They met again in 1984, and decided to focus their joint efforts on a professional musical career. Quickly enough, they got a record deal with an Austrian label ''OK Musica''. The record owners appointed Michael Scheickl (who was part of
Mess
The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...
at the
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
in 1982, where their track "Sonntag" reached #10) as the band's producer.
Their first single, "Lost in Hong Kong" (composed by Michael Scheickl, under M. Mell), was released in February 1985. Despite becoming a minor hit, the band began to gain attention.
Success
The next single "
Touch by Touch Touch by Touch may refer to:
* Touch by Touch (Joy song)
* Touch by Touch (Diana Ross song)
{{dab ...
", composed by Schweitzer and Jaklitsch, was released in September 1985. It immediately reached European top 20 dance charts, and topped the Austrian national chart.
It even reached gold status in their native Austria, in Portugal and in Spain, wherein more than 50,000 copies were sold.
Their third single, "Hello", also composed by Michael Scheickl, again became a hit, reaching number 26 on the Austrian national chart.
The first album - also entitled ''Hello'' - immediately entered the Austrian national chart, and charted in many European countries as well. That brought worldwide popularity to the band with their albums sold in more than 30 countries. "Valerie" became a hit in Eastern Europe, notably in the USSR, where it reached No. 3 in the charts by ''Krugozor'' magazine in 1987. A few years later in Hungary, local group Inflagranty recorded a
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
entitled "Te meg en". Since 1986, Joy began performing on various TV shows, such as the
GDR-based TV-show ''
Kessel Buntes''.
In 1986, the trio recorded a second album, ''Joy and Tears''. The album included the single "Japanese Girls". It reached No. 14 on the Austrian national chart,
and their popularity had reached Asia. In 1986, the trio won the most popular international act in South Korea.
Their Asian tour, which occurred on January and February 1987 in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
and
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, was attended by more than 60,000 spectators. In Seoul,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, Joy twice played for 12,000 people at the sold out Jamsil
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
, and performed a version of their hit "Japanese Girls", re-titled as "Korean Girls". Later on, they went on a mini tour in the U.S., notably at the
Shrine Auditorium
The Shrine Auditorium is a landmark large-event venue in Los Angeles, California. It is also the headquarters of the Al Malaikah Temple, a division of the Shriners. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (No. 139) in 1975, and ...
and in San-Jose, mainly for Chinese and Vietnamese-American audiences. A picture taken in San Jose was later used on the sleeve for the "It Happens Tonight" single.
In 1987, the trio went on a European tour, performing in Portugal (twice), Spain and Italy. In between shows, they recorded "Destination Heartbeat", which became a soundtrack for the film ''Flucht in der Tod''. Also in 1987, OK-Musica released the
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 ...
''Best of Joy'', on
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...
.
Line-up changes and break-up
In 1988, Freddy Jaklitsch and Manfred Temmel left the band and Anzo (Hans Morawitz) joined the band with Andy Schweitzer. They signed with
Polydor Records
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
and recorded their self-titled album, which includes the singles "Kissin' Like Friends", "She's Dancing Alone" and "Born to Sing a Love Song". However, the album and singles failed to chart.
In the early 90s, Freddy Jaklitsch and Manfred Temmel rejoined the band and in 1994, the duo (without Andy Schweitzer) signed with
BMG Ariola
Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomera ...
and released a new single, "Hello, Mrs. Johnson". At this time, they began working on their fourth album, ''Full of Joy''. The next year, Johannes Groebl (born 30 January 1960) joined the duo, and released another single, "Felicidad". Their album was slated for release in 1995. However, despite heavy promotion, BMG decided not to release the album. As a result, the album was shelved for good and the duo took a break.
Later years and reunion
In 1997, Jaklitsch and Temmel moved on to form ''Seer'', which later became one of the more successful projects on the Austrian music scene. In 2008, Temmel left the band.
In June 1997, the duo performed in
Gorky Park, at the 'Dancing City' open air festival.
On 29 November 2002, the duo took part in the first 'Diskoteka 80-x' festival, organized by one of the popular radio stations in Russia - AvtoRadio. The festival took place in
Luzhniki Palace of Sports.
In 2010, all three members of the original line-up reunited to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their first success. On 10 October that year, the trio performed at the 'Legends of Retro FM' festival in Moscow.
In July 2011, the trio released ''Enjoy'', their 1st album in more than two decades. It contained new songs, as well as remakes of such hits as "Touch by Touch" and "Valerie". The album was released in Austria by the label Major Babies, and reached No. 21 in Austrian national chart. In September 2011 the album was released in Russia on the CD-Land label, and in Hungary – distributed by Hargent Media.
On 15 July 2011, the trio performed in Estonia, at the Viljandi Retrofest for more than seven thousand viewers from Estonia and Latvia. In November 2011, Joy performed in Moscow once more – at the Diskoteka 80-x festival. This time the festival took place in the Olympic Stadium
in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
.
Since May 2012, Freddy Jaklitsch, due to his responsibilities as a leader of the popular band Seer, has performed with Joy less often. Michael Scheickl became Joy's lead vocalist for live shows.
Discography
Albums
* 1986 - ''Hello''
* 1986 - ''Joy and Tears''
* 1989 - ''Joy''
* 2011 - ''Enjoy''
Singles
*1985 - "Lost in Hong Kong" (OK)
*1985 - "
Touch by Touch Touch by Touch may refer to:
* Touch by Touch (Joy song)
* Touch by Touch (Diana Ross song)
{{dab ...
" (OK)
*1986 - "Hello" (OK)
*1986 - "Japanese Girls" (OK)
*1986 - "Touch Me My Dear" (OK) (Portugal)
*1987 - "Destination Heartbeat" (OK)
*1987 - "It Happens Tonight" (OK)
*1987 - "
Black Is Black
"Black Is Black" is a song by the Spanish rock band Los Bravos, released in 1966 as the group's debut single for Decca Records. Produced by Ivor Raymonde, it reached number two in the UK,
number four in the US,
and number one in Canada.
W ...
" (Remix)
*1988 - "Kissin' Like Friends" (Polydor)
*1989 - "She's Dancing Alone" (Polydor)
*1990 - "Born to Sing a Lovesong" (Polydor)
*1994 - "Hello, Mrs. Johnson" (BMG Ariola)
*1995 - "Felicidad" (Ariola)
*1995 - "Touch by Touch (The Remake)" (vs. Area 51!) (Turnaround Records)
*1998 - "Touch by Touch 98" (BMG Ariola Austria)
*2010 - "Touch by Touch 2011" (Major Babies)
*2011 - "Love Is All Around" (promo) (Major Babies)
*2011 - "Sunshine Boogie" (Major Babies)
*2013 - "Megamix 2014" (Transalpin Music)
*2017 - "Lunapark" (Melltom)
*2020 - "Mas, Mas, Mas" (Melltom)
Compilations
*1986 - ''Best'' (OK)
*1987 - ''The Very Best of Joy'' (Hong Kong) (Pacific Music)
*1987 - ''Touch Re-Mix 87'' (Hong Kong) (Face Records)
*1991 - ''Best of Joy'' (China) (Face One Records)
*2000 - ''Best of Joy'' (EAMS)
*2011 - ''Hits & More - Best Of'' (Hargent Media)
*2011 - ''Hits & More - The Remixes & Rarities'' (Hargent Media)
*2015 - ''The Original Maxi-Singles Collection and B-Sides'' (Pokorny Music Solutions)
References
External links
JOY official websiteJOY band page on DiscogsAndy Schweitzer on DiscogsFreddy Jaklitsch on DiscogsManfred Temmel on DiscogsMichael Scheickl on Discogs
{{Authority control
Austrian pop music groups
Eurodisco groups
Musical groups established in 1984
1984 establishments in Austria
Bertelsmann Music Group artists