Lasgo

Background	group_or_band
Origin	Belgium
Genre	Eurodance, vocal trance, trance, electronic
Occupation	Singers, songwriters
Years active	2000–present
Label	Positiva (UK) (2002–present), Robbins Entertainment (US) (2002–present), EMI Music (BE) (2001–2007), Sinuz/N.E.W.S. (BE) (2008–present)
Url	http://www.lasgo.be
Current members	Jelle Van Dael Peter Luts Jef Martens
Past members	Evi Goffin (2001–2008)Dave McCullen (2001–2008)

Lasgo is a trio of dance music musicians from Belgium. The group formed in 2000 and is composed of Jelle Van Dael as the vocalist, (after Evi Goffin left in 2008) and Peter Luts and Jeff Martens as the producers.

Career overview

Peter Luts confirmed (on Belgian radio) that Evi Goffin was not returning to the band after choosing to become a full-time mum. Evi left as a result of conflicts with the band's management. Luts announced at the same time that he was looking for a new vocalist for the band. Together with Belgian TV station JIMtv, he organized a televised search (like Idols) for a new vocalist. The winner of this competition was Jelle van Dael, who is now the new vocalist of the band.

The group has sold more than 5 million copies of their albums Some Things and Far Away, and the singles from those albums.

Some Things

Lasgo's first appearance was on the Holiday Party, one of the biggest out parties in Belgium. The Music Factory recorded the show to produce a video clip. In October, Lasgo also won the best national single award on the Belgian TMF Awards 2001. At the same time, it went gold in the charts with 25000 copies sold.

Lasgo's debut single "Something" was released in the summer of 2001 and became an instant hit all around Europe, charting at no.5 in their homeland Belgium as well as no.4 in the official UK singles chart.

On November 2, 2001, Lasgo released their second single "Alone" in Belgium. This single was taken from Lasgo's first full album called Some Things, which was released on November 19, 2001. The music video for "Alone" was shot in the night of November 25-November 26 in a large office in Berlin, Germany. Alone peaked at #3 in the official Belgian CD charts.

Due to Lasgo's international appeal, Peter Luts was asked to remix Delerium's track Underwater for EMI Germany and also crafted a Lasgo remix for Aurora's song "The Day It Rained Forever" on Positiva Records (UK). During 2002, Lasgo was nominated for several awards: International Dance Club Hit of the Year (with "Something") and International New Dance Group of the Year at the Danish Dance Awards and Best Trance Act at the Dancestar World Music Awards 2002 (which was won by Ian Van Dahl's song "Castles in the Sky").

In August 2002, "Alone" was released in the UK and charted at no.7. The debut album Some Things was released in the UK at the end of August but only managed to reach no.30 in the chart. Although rumours suggested that either "I Wonder" or "Blue" would be the third Lasgo single, eventually it turned out that neither was correct when "Pray" was released almost a year after "Alone" in October 2002, but reached only #17 in the charts in the UK, while their previous two singles had been Top 10 hits. At around the same time, Some Things was released in the United States. "I Wonder" had made it to pressing but was cancelled before the singles could be pressed in favour of pressing "Pray" in its place. The vinyls were pressed and sold but never marketed as an official single. They contain the "Original Clubmix" and the "Peter Luts Remix".

In November 2002 Lasgo won the Smash Hits award for Best Dance Act of the Year 2002 in the UK. Ian Van Dahl was also nominated in the same category. December 2002 marked the release of the 2nd version of Some Things in Belgium. The re-release featured 3 new songs ("Searching", "You", and "I Wonder") along with the best remixes of their hits.

On February 28, 2003 A&S; Productions held a big party in Club Carré in Willebroek, Belgium, to celebrate the huge success of Lasgo and Ian Van Dahl both in Belgium and abroad. The event included live performances of both Lasgo and Ian Van Dahl, the introduction of a new dance act (Tara Low) and DJs 'G-bric, Kurt, Jan Vervloet and Dimitri Chantzis.

Far Away

The fourth Lasgo single, "Surrender", was released on vinyl in October 2003. "Surrender" was released as a CD single in January 2004 in Belgium. The worldwide release was set on February 2, 2004, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. A remixed UK release by LMC followed later in April 2004 where the song reached a disappointing no.27 in the charts. A couple of years would pass before another UK release would follow.

In March 2004, Lasgo won their second award (Best Hi-NRG/Euro track with "Alone") at the Winter Music Conference's International Dance Music Awards in Miami, Florida. The year before they won the Best New Dance Artist Group Award. At the MIDEM 2004 music conference in Cannes (France), Lasgo was one of the winners of the European Border Breakers award. This award, given out by the European Commission, wants to enhance the exchange/export of pop music across country borders.

Surrender topped Billboard's Dance Chart in January 2005. The second single from the second album, Far Away, was called "All Night Long". It was released on vinyl on December 20, 2004, and as a CD single in January 2005. Far Away and was released on January 15, 2005; it also included "Surrender". In 2007 the single was finally released in the UK but never charted.

"All Night Long" went #1 in Belgium's dance club chart. Although it was not as successful as "Surrender," it did manage to chart in the Dutch top 40 (that was a big surprise since "Surrender" and "Alone" failed to chart there at all), it is still their second biggest hit in the Netherlands. "Who's That Girl" was the third single from Far Away, but it was less successful than "All Night Long". "Who's That Girl" was sung by Dave Beyer, not Evi Goffin; Evi performed all of the other vocals on Far Away.

"Hold Me Now" has been released as the second single in the United States from the "Far Away" album by Robbins Entertainment on June 27, 2006. The first single from the album "Surrender" was released almost two years prior. It is a cover Version of the Thompson Twins track of the same name.

"Lying" is the fourth single and last released from their second album, Far Away. It was never released in the UK. It was a mediocre success, reaching the top 20 in Belgium, but did not chart in any other territories.

Smile

"Out Of My Mind" is the first single of the band in its new composition: Jelle van Dael was the winner of the televised search for a new lead vocalist. It was released in 2008 and achieved chart success in the Netherlands and Belgium, making it into the top 10. The song was also released in the UK at the beginning of 2009 by the up and coming dance label Hard2Beat records however, as it was given a digital only release, the song failed to chart.

"Gone" is the second single of the album (to be released in 2009) with the same title. The videoclip was shot in Los Angeles. It entered the Belgian Tipchart at #1. It entered the Belgian top50 at 28 on downloads only. It peaked at the #5 position.

"Lost" is the third single to be released under the new Lasgo line-up with Jelle van Dael. On August 17, Lost will be available digitally while the CD Single will be released on August 24. Lasgo’s new album was released in September 2009.

"Over You" is the fourth, and last single taken from the Lasgo album 'Smile'.

New Album

After the successful release of the Lasgo album Smile, producers Peter Luts, Jef Martens and lead singer Jelle van Dael continue their musical journey with a new hit single 'Tonight'.

Discography

Albums

Singles

(*) Single is charting

(**) Belgian dance chart

DNC - Did Not Chart

External links

Lasgo Official Site

Lasgo Official Site Brazilian

Category:Belgian trance music groups Category:Eurodance groups Category:Musical groups established in 2000 Category:Belgian dance music groups Category:Robbins Entertainment artists