S'Express (pronounced ''ess-express''; sometimes spelled S'Xpress or S-Express) were a British dance music act from the late 1980s, who had one of the earliest commercial successes in the

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesiz ...

genre. "

Theme from S'Express "Theme from S-Express" is an acid house song by British electronic dance music group S'Express, from their debut studio album, ''Original Soundtrack'' (1989), written and produced by Mark Moore and Pascal Gabriel. One of the landmarks of early ...

", which contained elements from

Rose Royce Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B group. They are best known for several hit singles during the 1970s including "Car Wash", " I Wanna Get Next to You", " I'm Going Down", "Wishing on a Star", and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore". Career Th ...

's "

Is It Love You're After "Is It Love You're After?" is a 1979 song by Rose Royce from the album '' Rainbow Connection IV'', which was the last album with lead singer Gwen Dickey before she left to embark on a solo career. It was also the band's fourth highest-charting sin ...

", was one of the earliest recordings to capitalize on the emergence of sampling culture. The song went to number one in 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 ...

for two weeks in April 1988. It made the

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 in the US (also scraping into the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 91). In 2016

Mark Moore Mark Moore (born 12 January 1965) is a British dance music record producer and DJ. He was founder of the dance / sampling pioneers S'Express, and runs the London nightclubs, 'Electrogogo' and 'Can Can'. Biography Moore began his DJ career ...

released a remix album called Enjoy This Trip which retooled S’Express’s music for the 21st century through working with guests such as Punks Jump Up and

Chris & Cosey Chris & Cosey, sometimes known as Carter Tutti, are a musical duo formed in 1981, consisting of couple Chris Carter (electronics) and Cosey Fanni Tutti (electronics, guitar, cornet), both previously (and currently the sole surviving) members o ...

Biography

The main player in the act was

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

and producer

. In 1989, the group released its debut album, ''

Original Soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

'', which featured a line-up of Moore,

Pascal Gabriel Pascal Gabriel (born 15 December 1956) is a Belgian-born musician based in London, England and Paris, France. Background Pascal Gabriel's musical career began in 1977 in the punk rock band The Razors (bass guitar). He left Belgium for Londo ...

, Jocasta, Mark D, Linda Love, and Michellé. The album consisted of slightly longer versions of S-Express's "Theme", its follow-up hits " Superfly Guy" (UK No. 5) and a cover version of

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1966 to 1983, it was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. Its core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-i ...

's "Hey Music Lover" (UK No. 6; its b-side was remixed by minimalist composer

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

). By the release of the second album ''Intercourse'', the act was reduced to a duo of Moore with new vocalist and DJ Sonique. Although not as successful as its debut, ''Intercourse'' spawned several mid-charting UK singles and club hits, including "Nothing to Lose", co-written with

Martin Gordon Martin Gordon (born 3 May 1954) is an English musician who plays bass guitar, double bass, and piano. After a long period as band member and session musician, he embarked on a solo career in 2004. His most recent album release was in 2021. B ...

, as were several other tunes on the record. Sonique, already a successful DJ, eventually embarked on a solo career and produced one of the biggest club hits of the late 1990s (" It Feels So Good"). Moore went on to release many singles, remixes and albums on his own and also formed the band Needledust.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Compilation albums

EPs

Singles

Notes

References

External links

Mark Moore's official website

Sonique

Mark Moore/S'Express Facebook

Mark Moore's Twitter

Discogs: S'Express

S'Express at WorldMusicDatabase
{{DEFAULTSORT:SExpress English house music groups English electronic music groups English dance music groups Acid house groups Sire Records artists Capitol Records artists Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups from London DJs from London Kitsuné artists Rhythm King artists