Black Box (band)
Black Box is an Italian house music group popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The group is currently made up of DJ Daniele Davoli, classically trained clarinet teacher Valerio Semplici, keyboardist and electronic musician Mirko Limoni, and vocalist Celestine Walcott-Gordon. French fashion model Katrin Quinol joined the act in 1989 and became the official face of Black Box, appearing on the cover of their single and album releases as well as in music videos, including the hit "Ride on Time", which was the highest-selling single of 1989 in the UK. The following year, it was revealed that Quinol was lip-syncing and had not performed on the recording. American singer Martha Wash performed the majority of the songs on the group's debut album, Dreamland, while being uncredited.
This article is about the Italian house music group. For other uses, see black box (disambiguation).
Black Box
- Groove Groove Melody
- Starlight
- Mixmaster
- Wood Allen
Italy
1988–present
- RCA
- Out
- Groove Groove Melody
- Mercury Records
- Manifesto Records (UK)[1][2]
Celestine Walcott-Gordon
Daniele Davoli
Valerio Semplici
Mirko Limoni
Katrin Quinol
Charvoni Woodson
History[edit]
1988–1989: Early beginnings[edit]
Daniele Davoli, Valerio Semplici, and Mirko Limoni formed a production team called Starlight (often credited as Starlight Invention Group).[3] The group's first single was a dance single called "Numero Uno", released in 1988. The song was often credited by their other alias, Groove Groove Melody. "Numero Uno" peaked at number nine on the UK Singles chart.[4] In early 1989, they produced a single called "Vocalizado" for Italian singer Robby Magno. In mid-1989, the group released the maxi-single "Airport 89" under the name Wood Allen. The single peaked at number 99 on the UK Singles chart.[5]
Lip-syncing scandals and lawsuits[edit]
In 1990, American singer Loleatta Holloway and American producer Dan Hartman sued Black Box for copyright infringement and unauthorized sampling.[14] "Ride on Time" sampled Holloway's 1980 song "Love Sensation", which was produced and written by Hartman. Neither Holloway nor Hartman were consulted for permission to sample the song, and Black Box failed to credit Holloway's vocals in the song. Additionally, Black Box had used Quinol to lip-sync Holloway's vocals in the music video for "Ride on Time", which led the public to believe Quinol was the actual singer. Holloway and Hartman eventually received an undisclosed out-of-court settlement.[14] As a result, Black Box re-issued "Ride on Time", removing Holloway's vocals and featuring newly recorded vocals by English singer Heather Small. The group still retained the original version on their re-issued album Dreamland and added Holloway's name as the featured vocalist on "Ride on Time" as well as giving Hartman songwriting credits. Black Box would later issue another new version of the song called "Bright on Time" in 1991.
In September 1990, American singer Martha Wash sued Black Box and RCA Records for commercial appropriation after she became aware of the lip-sync scandal perpetrated by the group.[15] During the recording session of their album Dreamland in 1989, Wash was recruited as a session singer to simply demo songs produced by Black Box. Unbeknownst to her, Black Box retained Wash's vocals on a total of six songs, including "Everybody Everybody", "Open Your Eyes", "Hold On", "I Don't Know Anybody Else", "Strike It Up", and "Fantasy" on the album Dreamland. Despite Wash's contributions to the songs, Black Box never credited her for her vocals and instead used Quinol to lip-sync Wash's vocals during music videos, televised performances, and concert performances. RCA settled the case out of court in December 1990, agreeing to pay Wash a "substantial" fee.[16] The company also signed her to an eight-album recording contract and financed her national tour.[16] Wash's lawsuit also resulted in federal legislation in the United States, making vocal credit mandatory for all albums and music videos.[17]