Livin' Joy are an Italian
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 ...
group who released various successful
hits during the mid-1990s, including "
Dreamer", "
Don't Stop Movin'" and "
Follow the Rules
''Follow the Rules'' is an American reality television series starring hip-hop artist Ja Rule
Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New ...
".
The group consists of singer Tameko Star, and Italian brothers Paolo and Gianni Visnadi (also members of
Alex Party).
Janice Robinson
Janice Robinson (born 8 December 1967) is an American singer and songwriter, initially known as a member of 1990s Italian Eurodance group Livin' Joy before she embarked on a solo career.
Early life and career
Robinson, raised in Garfield, Ne ...
was previously a member.
History
"Dreamer"
Dreamer was originally released by Undiscovered Recordings in 1994. Livin' Joy were
fronted by
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
singers
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 ...
Janice Robinson
Janice Robinson (born 8 December 1967) is an American singer and songwriter, initially known as a member of 1990s Italian Eurodance group Livin' Joy before she embarked on a solo career.
Early life and career
Robinson, raised in Garfield, Ne ...
and
Tameko Star.
During Robinson’s time in the group, they reached number 1 on the
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
Hot Dance Club Play
Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
with "
Dreamer". The song turned out to be a mild
sleeper hit
In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little promo ...
on
pop radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
, finally entering the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 in early 1995. It peaked at number 72
and spent seventeen weeks on the chart. The song had a more successful run in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, hitting the number 1 spot after being re-issued. In its original run in late 1994, "Dreamer" peaked at number 18, spending 6 straight weeks in the UK top 100. It did re-enter the lower ends of the top 100 two more times that year bringing its total to 12 weeks inside the top 100.
"Don't Stop Movin'"
By 1996, Robinson had left - thus marking a new era for the group. She was replaced by American vocalist Tameko Star, who was also the songwriter and choreographer. Starr's lyrics encapsulated a more 'uplifting' and 'motivational' approach to the content of the songs during this era of Livin' Joy.
With Star on lead vocals, the follow-up single "Don't Stop Movin'" peaked at number 5 in the UK and went on to become a big summer hit.
[ It spent 14 consecutive weeks in the top 100, with 7 of those in the top 10.
"Don't Stop Movin'" topped the Italian charts in 1996 and also peaked at number three on the US dance chart in early 1997] and became another modest, although long-lived, hit in the mainstream - climbing to number 67 on the Hot 100, spending twenty weeks on the chart. In Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, "Don't Stop Movin'" peaked at number 6 on the national ARIA
In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...
singles chart.
Album and other singles
"Don't Stop Movin'" was followed by another top 10 hit single in the UK, "Follow the Rules
''Follow the Rules'' is an American reality television series starring hip-hop artist Ja Rule
Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New ...
" which peaked at number 9 on 27 October 1996, scoring Livin' Joy a hat-trick of top 10s at this point. " Where Can I Find Love" was Livin' Joy's fourth single. Released in 1997 in the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 12 on the UK charts.[
Livin' Joy's fifth and final charting single in the UK was "Deep in You". The track took on a completely different sound which had a more R&B feel. Although moderately successful, peaking at number 17 in the UK, it slowly descended out of the top 100 just four weeks after its release.][
''Don't Stop Movin, was the parent album and grouped together the hits, including "Dreamer" with new vocals by Starr (although the original version with Robinson was a hidden bonus track). The album was released in the UK on 16 November 1996 (a week after the release of their third single "Follow the Rules"). The album peaked at number 41 on the UK Albums Chart, and remained on the chart for only two weeks.][
Plans for a widespread commercial release of a single entitled "Just for the Sex of It" in 1999 were scrapped, due to a label merger between MCA and ]PolyGram
PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...
who became Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a ...
. With an entire new staff, there was a lack of interest in the second album. It only received a limited club
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands and enterprises
...
run, but was released as a single in Australia where it peaked at number 76.
Janice Robinson subsequently re-released 2005 remixes of "Dreamer", credited as a solo release, which charted at number 5 on the U.S. dance chart.
In 2018, Robinson performed "Dreamer" on the British music competition show ''The X Factor
''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...
''. As a contestant on the show, she finished in 14th place.
In 2022, Robinson released a new version of "Dreamer" with DJ Lodato
Salvatore Lodato (born 7 July 1987), better known by his stage name LODATO, is an American DJ, musician, and remixer. He is best known for his 2019 original single "HOME", which reached #1 on the U.S. Dance Radio Chart for three weeks, #1 on BPM's ...
.
In 2022, Tameko announced she is working on brand new music, including a new version of " Don't Stop Movin'". In November 2022, she released single "Something Beautiful".
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
See also
* List of Billboard number-one dance club songs
This is a list of number-one dance hits as recorded by '' Billboard'' magazine's Dance Club Songs chart – a weekly national survey of popular songs in U.S. dance clubs. It began on October 26, 1974, under the title ''Disco Action'' chart. It is ...
*
* List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
This is a list of artists who have reached number one on the UK Singles Chart as recorded by the Official Charts Company.
Artists are listed alphabetically, solo artists are listed by surname and groups are listed by full names excluding "the" o ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Italian house music groups
Italian Eurodance groups