Mirage were a British dance/pop group active in the 1980s and specializing in medleys. They scored a string of hit singles and albums, and achieved particular success in 1987-8 with the "Jack Mix" series.

History

Mirage had its origins in

Enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology *Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup * Enigma machine, a family o ...

, a 1981 project created by

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producer Nigel Wright to cash in on the success of Dutch medley group

Stars on 45 Stars on 45 was a Dutch novelty pop act that was successful in Europe, the United States, and Australia in the early 1980s. The group later shortened its name to Stars On in the U.S., while in the UK and Ireland it was known as Starsound (aka ...

. Enigma's "Ain't No Stopping", a medley of disco hits played by session musicians, was released while "

" was still climbing the charts. "Ain't No Stopping" peaked at number 11 on 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 ...

and was followed up with "I Love Music", which peaked at number 25. Although the medley craze faded quickly, Wright continued to produce medleys, first under the name Mojo, before settling on Mirage. The first Mirage medley to make an impact was the 1984 release "Give Me the Night", a medley of

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songs sung by Leroy Osbourne (of Sade) under the guise of Roy Gayle. Other single-artist medleys followed: "Let's Groove" (

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), "Get Down on It" (

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) and the

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-fronted "Into the Groove Medley" (

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). Though popular in UK clubs, only "Give Me the Night" crossed over into the mainstream charts.

"Jack Mix" series

Mirage came to much greater prominence in 1987 when Wright spotted an opportunity in the new

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

style which was beginning to enter the mainstream. In January 1987,

Steve "Silk" Hurley Steve W. "Silk" Hurley (born November 9, 1962), also known as J. M. Silk (for "Jack Master Silk"), is an American club DJ, house music producer, and songwriter. From 1985 to 1988, he had four top-10 singles on the US Dance chart, including the ...

achieved the first house music number one hit in the UK with "

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". Wright quickly responded by releasing the 12" single "Jack Mix" under the Mirage name - a medley/montage of "Jack Your Body", "

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" and "

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". Following positive response from the clubs, an expanded version was released, titled "Jack Mix II". This became the first UK-produced house record to reach the British top ten, peaking at number 4. Unlike most medleys, which typically used sections of individual songs presented sequentially with brief transitions between them, the "Jack Mix" series took a different approach, layering elements of different songs to produce a dense montage effect similar to a mashup. Despite being reliant entirely on medleys of other people's material, Mirage was one of the most successful house acts in 1987-8, placing several more singles on the charts, including the number 8 hit "Jack Mix IV". Several TV advertised albums also charted, with the most successful being ''Jack Mix '88'' (actually released in 1987) and ''Jack Mix in Full Effect'', both of which reached number 7. Mirage's popularity faded in 1988, as a large number of British house music acts started to produce original material and sample-based records using the original recordings rather than session remakes.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirage (Medley Group) English house music groups English dance music groups Medley music groups