Akcent () is a Romanian

dance pop 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 ...

group whose members sing in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. Their name originated as a wordplay on ''accent''. The group was created by Adrian Sînă, and Ramona Barta. Their first single "" ("I don't care about anyone") received positive reactions from critics and became the reason Catalin Muraru signed them to Roton in 1999. They released their debut album in 2000. Except for the first track, "", which received some airplay, the album was a commercial failure and the band disbanded. Soon after, Sînă brought Marius Nedelcu, Mihai Gruia and Sorin Brotnei into the group, changing it from a duo to a boyband. They came to prominence once with the release of their hit single "". The climax of the group's career was the international release of their breakthrough single "Kylie", the English version of their internal hit "" ("Love for rent"). The song reached the peak position in many European charts and fared well enough in countries such as the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The band participated in the , with hopes of representing

Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest Romania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since its debut in , and has placed in the top ten six times. Its best results were achieved by Luminița Anghel and Sistem in , and by Paula Seling and Ovi in , who both finish ...

. They united with pop singer

Nicoleta Matei Nicoleta Matei (born 1 February 1970), known by her stage name Nico, is a Romanian singer and TV personality. She collaborated with several Romanian Hip hop music, hip hop artists, such as Morometzii (in 1999), B.U.G. Mafia (in 2000, 2002), Cabr ...

and entered the song "Jockero", which failed to win. Nevertheless, it became one of their number-one singles on the

Romanian Top 100 Multiple record charts have been inaugurated in Romania since the 1990s. The Romanian Top 100 was the country's national chart until 2012. Founded in 1995, it was a ranking based on the compilation of charts submitted by local Romanian radio stat ...

. They continued to see success all through the late 2000s and early 2010s, until the quarrel within the group in September 2013 leaves Sînă the only member of the group.

Early years

Born and raised in

Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; hu, Nagybánya; german: Frauenbach or Groß-Neustadt; la, Rivulus Dominarum) is a municipality along the Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramur ...

Maramureș or Marmaroshchyna ( ro, Maramureș ; uk, Мармарощина, Marmaroshchyna; hu, Máramaros) is a geographical, historical and cultural region in northern Romania and western Ukraine. It is situated in the northeastern Carpathians, alon ...

, Adrian Sînă formed the band in 1998. At that point the group consisted of just him and singer Ramona Barta. The two sent their debut single to nationwide mainstream radio stations as early as 1999. The song "" ("The last summer") reached the top-twenty of many airplay charts. The duo also released a studio album titled (''The Sensation''). The album did not do well and Barta split from Sînă. The duo changed into a boyband when Sînă introduced Marius Nedelcu, Mihai Gruia and Sorin Brotnei to the group. Their debut album (''In colors'') was released in Romania on January 10, 2002 and included the hit single "". They rose to fame instantly when "" ("I promised you") reached the peak of the

in winter 2001. It became one of the most successful albums in the country's recent history. It received a Gold certification within three weeks. Some months later, it was eventually certified Platinum by the . During this time, the group won multiple MTV Romania Music Awards as well.

Continued success

In 2003, the band released their third studio album, ''100 BPM''. Its title refers to the intensity of heartbeat during a

kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

. It included their number-one single "" ("Bouquet of roses"). Their fourth album, (''Life story'') was also a huge success for the band. It included hits like " (Hey baby!)" Tell me (Hey baby!)" They reached the peak of their success with the release of their studio album ''S.O.S.'' and its lead single "" ("Love for rent"). It became their signature song and hit number-one in Romania, both digitally and in airplay. Due to its success, the song was re-written in English and released to the international market as "Kylie" (an ode to Kylie Minogue). It became a radio hit in countries like Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Greece and Ukraine. Akcent's debut English album ''French Kiss with Kylie'' was released in Europe on August 23, 2006, and it included their two hit singles, " Kylie" and "Jokero". In April 2008, Marius Nedelcu left the band to go solo. The remaining three members called in Corneliu Ulici, a former member of another Romanian group, Bliss. However, Corneliu did not want to make music his career and left after only five months, after which Akcent officially became a trio. Adrian Sînă was commissioned to produce Akcent's album (''No Tears''). The international hit singles "

That's My Name "That's My Name" is the title of the platinum selling single by popular Romanian dance-pop group Akcent. It is one of their most successful hits, topping charts in countries like Romania and Italy. It was produced by Romanian DJ/ producer Edwar ...

", " Stay with Me" and "Lover's Cry" were all produced by Sînă. In 2009, he also produced the ''True Believers'' album, which has been one of Akcent's most successful to date. The album included the hits "That's My Name", "Stay with Me," "Lover's Cry" and "Tears". In the same year, Akcent won the Balkan Music Award for "Best Duet or Group". Because of the success of "That's My Name," the song along with "Stay with me" was released through U.S. record label

Ultra Records Ultra Records is an American record label formed in New York City in 1995 by former PolyGram and Virgin Records executive Patrick Moxey. As of December 23, 2012, Ultra entered a global partnership with Sony Music, giving its artists access to ...

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and other countries. The single was also included on the ''Just Dance: Vol 3'' compilation album released by

The Island Def Jam Music Group The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American recording music unit, formed on New Year's Eve 1998 by the Universal Music Group. It consists of labels devised and consisted under the basic operations of Island Records and Def Jam Recordi ...

in 2010. After this multi-platinum album, the band started performing worldwide.

The new decade

In 2011, Akcent signed a recording contract with

Robbins Entertainment Robbins Entertainment is an American dance music record label. It is owned by Cory Robbins and has released music by Cascada, such as their hit single " Everytime We Touch". It is also the company responsible for the ''Dance Party Like It's....'' ...

, and in May 2012 "My Passion" was officially released in the United States. Then came the song "Feelings on Fire", which featured Ruxandra Bar and a music video that was filmed with the band members driving sports cars in Romania, on Transfagarasan. Sînă also became a judge of ''

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) ...

'' the same year. 2012 was a busy and successful year for Akcent with touring and more hits. In January, the group released the single "I'm Sorry" featuring pop singer Sandra N. The single was later licensed to Disco Wax Records and distributed by

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. Several of Akcent's singles have been added to dance compilations and/or released singularly off of different major recording labels including

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

and Ministry of Sound. In the northern-hemisphere summer of 2012, Akcent released the single "" ("Chemistry between us"), produced by Sînă. In September 2012, the group embarked on a U.S. tour, performing sold out shows in New York City, New York and Chicago, Illinois. Akcent signed with Shakir Entertainment Management in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on November 26, 2012. As of December 2012, the group's music videos and songs on YouTube had been viewed close to 1 billion times, and they had more than 3 million fans on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

. Akcent is the only international pop act to perform live in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

several times within the past two years.

2013–2014: Disbandment and lasting success

In September 2013, the band split after a quarrel, leaving Sînă as the only member of the band. As of September 2013, Adrian Sînă was the only male artist with the most chart entries on the

. Overall, only artists like Madonna or Rihanna had more entries than him. In 2014, he saw immense success with the songs "Kamelia" and "Faina". In 2015, he released the successful singles "Te Quiero" ft. Galena and "Amor Gitana" ft. Sandra N. In 2016, he released the album ''Love the Show''. He has remained loyal to the original style of Akcent. Meanwhile, Sorin Brotnei and Gruia Mihai started their own band, "Two."

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Compilations

Singles

Other charted songs

Member timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:0 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:1999 till:2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:Album value:black legend:Album id:grid1 value:gray(0.3) Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1999 gridcolor:grid1 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1999 LineData = layer:back color:Album at:01/01/2000 at:01/01/2002 at:05/14/2003 at:04/30/2005 at:07/06/2007 at:12/31/2007 at:02/02/2009 at:09/18/2009 at:04/01/2016 BarData = bar:Adrian text:"Adrian Sînă" bar:Ramona text:"Ramona Barta" bar:Sorin text:"Sorin Brotnei" bar:Mihai text:"Mihai Gruia" bar:Marius text:"Marius Nedelcu" bar:Corneliu text:"Corneliu Ulici" PlotData = width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Adrian from:start till:end color:vocals bar:Ramona from:start till:01/01/2001 color:vocals bar:Sorin from:01/01/2001 till:01/01/2013 color:vocals bar:Mihai from:01/01/2001 till:01/01/2013 color:vocals bar:Marius from:01/01/2001 till:01/01/2008 color:vocals bar:Corneliu from:01/01/2008 till:01/01/2009 color:vocals

Notes

References

Sources

''Click!''
(in Romanian). 11 December 2013

External links

* http://akcentonline.com/ * http://www.adriansina.com/

KHNC Top 89 of 2012 New Years Eve coundtown
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akcent Romanian pop music groups Romanian boy bands Romanian Eurodance groups Eurodisco groups Musical groups established in 1999 1999 establishments in Romania