"The Real Thing" is a song by English singer-songwriter

Tony Di Bart Antonio Carmine Di Bartolomeo (born 24 August 1964, Slough, Buckinghamshire - now Berkshire, England) is an English singer performing under the stage name Tony Di Bart. Di Bart is best known for his single "The Real Thing (Tony Di Bart song), Th ...

, released in 1993 and re-released in March 1994 by Cleveland City Blues. Co-written by Di Bart, the song topped both 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 ...

following its 1994 re-release and became a top-20 hit in Belgium, France, Ireland, and Spain the same year. In 1996, it was included on Di Bart's only album, ''Falling for You''.

Background and release

Di Bart was working as a bathroom salesman in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

when he recorded and released "The Real Thing". It was written by Di Bart, Andy Blissett and Lucinda Drayton. Originally released in 1993, the song failed to appear on the

. However, a remixed version was released on 28 March 1994 and spent a week at number one on the UK Singles Chart in May 1994. This remix also found success in countries outside the UK, becoming a top-10 hit in Belgium, Finland and Israel and a top-20 hit in France, Ireland, Italy, and Spain. It also reached the top 30 in the Netherlands and the top 50 in Germany. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

and European Dance Radio chart, "The Real Thing" reached numbers eight and two, respectively. In North America, the single peaked at number 35 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

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 and number three on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

Dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

chart.

Critical reception

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...

from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' said that "The Real Thing" "is an authentically fantastic pop record: in a world of euphoria, it sounded strangely wistful and muted, its melancholy chafing against its plasticky bedroom production." In his weekly UK chart commentary,

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

described the song as "a pleasant, poppy piece of soul". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' wrote, "It's the combination of the fast basslinelike

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Saddler (born January 1, 1958), popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is an American DJ and rapper. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Hip Hop DJing, cutting, scratching and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the Fur ...

's ' White Lines' with Di Bart's slow soulful vocals that does it." Radio Number One FM/

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programmer Alpay Kasicki stated that this type of

pop dance Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

happens to be very popular in Turkey, "We try to cover everything, but this is the people's taste. It was played 25 times in its first two weeks on our playlist. I'm sure Di Bart will follow in the footsteps of

Haddaway Nestor Alexander Haddaway (born 9 January 1965) is a Trinidadian-born German singer best known for his 1993 hit single "What Is Love", which reached number 1 in 13 countries. Early life Nestor Alexander Haddaway was born in Trinidad and Tobago ...

and

Culture Beat Culture Beat is a German Eurodance project formed in 1989 by Torsten Fenslau. The act has gone through a number of lineup changes over the years; they achieved the most success whilst fronted by singer Tania Evans and rapper Jay Supreme. Their ...

." Andy Beevers from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

s ''RM'' Dance Update said about the 1994 remix, "They retain the excellent catchy vocals and back them up wlth a more complete club track. It builds from an almospheric piano and synth intro with leasing snatches of beats into a driving epic with blg breakdowns." Another ''RM'' editor, James Hamilton, described it as "last autumn's mournfully moaned light floater now faster like its old B-side in blippily swirled plonking fluttery 0-128.8bpm Joy Brothers Remake".

Impact and legacy

'' included "The Real Thing" in their "60 years of No 1 singles – The best No 1 records" in 2012.

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions t ...

featured the song in their official list of "The Ibiza 500" in 2020.

Track listings

1993 release

* UK 12-inch blue vinyl single :A1. "The Real Thing" :B1. "The Real Thing" (dance mix) :B2. "The Real Thing" (underground mix)

1994 release

* UK 7-inch single :A. "The Real Thing" (new 7-inch dance) :B. "The Real Thing" (new 7-inch radio) * UK 12-inch single :A1. "The Real Thing" (The Joy Brothers remake) :B1. "The Real Thing" (7-inch remake) :B2. "The Real Thing" (original dance mix) * UK CD single # "The Real Thing" (new 7-inch dance) # "The Real Thing" (new 7-inch radio) # "The Real Thing" (new 12-inch dance) # "The Real Thing" (original 12-inch dance) # "The Real Thing" (12-inch dub mix) * Dutch 12-inch single :A1. "The Real Thing" (house mix) – 6:32 :B1. "The Real Thing" (new 12-inch dance mix) – 7:17 :B2. "The Real Thing" (dub underground mix) – 5:15 * French CD single # "The Real Thing" (new dance mix) – 3:51 # "The Real Thing" (new radio mix) – 3:54 * Spanish maxi-CD single # "The Real Thing" (new 7-inch dance) # "The Real Thing" (original 12-inch dance) # "The Real Thing" (12-inch dub mix) # "The Real Thing" (new 12-inch dance) # "The Real Thing" (new 7-inch radio)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Real Thing, The 1993 songs 1993 debut singles 1994 singles Music Week number-one dance singles Number-one singles in Scotland Tony Di Bart songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles