Oui 3 were an electronic dance music group, best known for their songs "Break from the Old Routine" (which reached number 17 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 ...

in July 1993), "The Joy of Living", and their

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", relea ...

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

1993 hit "

For What It's Worth "For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)" (often referred to as simply "For What It's Worth") is a song written by Stephen Stills. Performed by Buffalo Springfield, it was recorded on December 5, 1966, released as a single on Atco Reco ...

" (which reached number 26 in the UK in October 1993).

Career

The three group members were Blair Booth, Philipp Erb, and Trevor Miles. Blair Booth is an American singer, songwriter and arranger. She had previously worked as the

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

partner of former Specials singer Terry Hall in

Terry, Blair & Anouchka Terry, Blair & Anouchka were a musical group, active in the early 1990s. They were formed by Coventry-born singer Terry Hall, American musician Blair Booth and jeweller Anouchka Grose. Terry Hall was previously a founding member and lead singe ...

, at the end of the 1980s. She went on to work with a number of other notable figures in the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

such as

Billy MacKenzie William MacArthur Mackenzie (27 March 1957 – 22 January 1997) was a Scottish singer and songwriter, known for his distinctive high tenor voice. He was the co-founder and lead vocalist of post-punk and new wave band the Associates. He also h ...

( The Associates),

Nick Heyward Nicholas Heyward (born 20 May 1961) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He came to international attention in the early 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter for Haircut One Hundred. He and the band parted ways after their first alb ...

and

Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He ...

.Oui 3 Biography and Discography
Discogs.com Meanwhile, Swiss programmer Philipp Erb had spent most of the 1980s as an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and programmer for several musicians, including a period with

Genesis P. Orridge Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson; 22 February 1950 – 14 March 2020) was a singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmissions arti ...

's Psychic TV. The pair teamed up with the

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

rapper Trevor Miles. Their debut

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 ...

, ''Oui Love You'', was released in 1993 and featured

Jah Wobble John Joseph Wardle (born 11 August 1958), known by the stage name Jah Wobble, is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; ...

on the title track. The album was produced and mainly mixed by the trio, although some tracks were mixed by

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran ...

Youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

and Phil Bodger. A second album remained unreleased. Booth continued to write and record her own material, but little has been heard musically from Erb or Miles.

Faithless Faithless are an English band that formed in 1995, with its core members being Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. Their first album, '' Reverence'', was released in 1996 and their most recent, ''All Blessed'', in 2020. They have sold millions ...

have since cited Oui 3 as an influence.

Discography

Albums

* ''Oui Love You'' (1993) - UK No. 39

Singles

* "For What It's Worth" (1993) - No. 28 (adapted cover of the

song of the same name) * "Arms of Solitude" (1993) - No. 54 * "Break from the Old Routine" (1993) - No. 17 * "For What It's Worth" (1993) - No. 26 * "Facts of Life" (1994) - No. 38 * "Joy of Living" (1995) - No. 55 * "Crazy" (1995) - No. 85 ** Chart placings refer to the

References

External links

Blair Booth Myspace

Blair Booth official website 'Peach Productions'
{{Authority control English electronic music groups English hip hop groups English dance music groups British musical trios MCA Records artists