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Euro disco is an all encompassing colloquial term used to describe a variety of European EDM that first originated from disco in the 1970s; incorporating elements of pop, New Wave and rock into disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Euro disco compositions feature lyrics sung in English, although the singers often share a different mother tongue.

Euro disco derivatives generally include Europop and Eurodance, with the most prominent subgenres being space disco of the late 1970s and italo disco of the early 1980s. The genre has declined in popularity after 1985 in preference to synth rock and hi-NRG, with a small revival of italo disco in the late 1990s.

History[link]

Euro-disco is largely an off-shoot of contemporary American music trends going as far back as Jazz, Rock, Soul, Funk and Disco. In the 1950s and 1960s besides the heavy American influence, the French/Italian created pop music off-shoots, with a dance-oriented sound became prevalent in Europe. Those 1950s and 1960s euro-pop hits, spread around West Europe, because of the French Scopitone and the Italian Cinebox/Coilorama Video-jukebox machines. Another root is the Eurovision song contest, especially in the 1970s.

The Swedish European Pop Group ABBA, won the 1974 Eurovision song contest, with the song "Waterloo". The specific song is a typical example of a 1970s European pop song (euro-pop), with a dance manner. The success was huge and many European producers, instantly produced many pop hits that did not necessary sound the same, but kept that dance manner. That created, in a very short period of time, a whole new commercial music industry in Europe, to meet the demand for social dancing music. The Discofox dancing style was a result of that situation. It is reported that the American music journalist Robert Christgau used the term "Euro disco" in his late 1970s articles for The Village Voice newspaper^{[citation needed]}.

Those Eurovision-like hits (with the dance manner) that followed ABBA's success, became popular on the European Discotheque, where clubgoers met to do social dancing. The birth of "Euro disco" became, when Germans took the "Euro" from the "Eurovision" and the "Disco" from the "Discotheques" and created the word "Euro disco", almost at the same time that the term "Disco" appeared in USA^{[citation needed]}.

The term "Disco" in Europe, existed long before the Euro disco and the (US) Disco music styles but had a different meaning. It used in Europe during the 60s, as a short alternative to Discotheque. Discotheques existed in France since the early 50s and spread around Europe during the 60s. In Europe (and partly Canada), "Discotheques" and "Disco" was what at the time called "Clubs" in the UK. Even today (2007), the term Disco-Club exist as an alternative name for the mainstream clubs in Center, Southern and Eastern Europe. In Italy and Spain, the term "Discoteka" or "Discotheque" means mainstream clubs^{[citation needed]}. In Greece, the term "Discotheque" describe the Retro-Clubs^{[citation needed]}. In Germany, Poland and Romania, the term "Disco" is still used to refer to "Dance Clubs".^{[citation needed]}

An example of the term "Disco" with no relation with a specific music style (and dance music in general), is the Disco (TV series) that aired in Germany on the ZDF network from 1971 to 1982. This show proves that the term "Disco" was enough widespread at the time, that the second national TV network of Germany used it for a general music TV show in 1971. Another later example, is the show "Discoring" on Italy's RAI channel (Started in February on 1977)

1970s[link]

The term Euro-Disco was first used during the mid 1970s to describe the non-UK based disco productions and artists such as Swedish group ABBA, the German group Boney M, the French Cerrone, Ottawan (together with other acts produced by Vangarde and Kluger) and Amanda Lear, the Germans Dschinghis Khan and Silver Convention, and the Dutch Snoopy and Eurovision song contest winners Teach-In^{[citation needed]}. Disco took off in Spain after the death of the ultra-conservative dictator, General Franco, in 1975.

1970s Euro disco soon had spin-offs and variations. The most notable spinoff is Space Disco, a crossover of Euro disco and US'Hi-NRG Disco. Another popular variation, with no specific name, appeared in the late 1970s: a "Latin"-like sound added to the genre, which can be heard in Italy's Raffaella Carrà and France's Gibson Brothers^{[citation needed]}.

1980s[link]

One of the early representors of the 1980s genre was a British group Imagination, with their series of hits throughout 1981 and 1982. The term "Euro disco" quickly faded in the 1980s and replaced by the very wide term of "Italo disco" for more than a decade^{[citation needed]}. Notably, there was also some Canadian Disco productions (Trans X, Lime), that at the time was called "itado-disco" in Europe, but not in America (the term Hi-NRG Disco was used there instead).

Italo-Disco was the first successful 1980s Euro-Disco variation. Probably because of this, all the later 1980s Euro disco variations called "Italo disco" by the Europeans (with the exception of eurobeat). Italo-Disco began to develop in Italy around 1982, by groups like Gazebo, Kano and Lectric Workers". 80s Euro disco variations soon appeared later in France, Germany, Spain and Greece. The Italian and German Euro disco productions were the most popular^{[citation needed]}.

That style became very popular in East Europe and remained popular until the early 1990s. In the late 1980s, Italian disco artists Spagna and Sabrina combined Italo-disco and Eurobeat elements and became popular in Europe with euro-disco songs charting in many European countries.

Britain's best-known contributors to the 1980s euro-disco music were during the mid/late 1980s^{[citation needed]}. The Pet Shop Boys and the Stock/Aitken/Waterman production team are notable examples^{[citation needed]}. This team produced music by singers such as Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue. The S/A/W hits were called Eurobeat in Europe but marketed as "Hi-NRG" in USA.

1990s[link]

During the late 1980s, Euro disco hits were produced in Spain and Greece and much later in Poland and Russia. Meanwhile, a sped up version of Euro disco with Eurobeat elements, became successful in the US, under the term "Hi-NRG". Even today for many Americans, "Hi-NRG" means Paul Lekakis and the London Boys. Those hits (and few others, like Londonbeat's "I've been thinking about you" from 1991) were the last hits called "Euro disco" in Europe.

By the early 1990s, Euro disco was influenced by the emergence of Disco-rooted genres such as House, Acid and the Electro (pop/dance/synth) music styles, and replaced (or evolved) on other music styles. "Eurohouse" and Italo-NRG are the most notable ones and connected directly with the Italo-Disco music scene^{[citation needed]}. In America, especially for the Eurohouse style, they use the earlier term of "Eurodance" to describe this 1990s evolution of "Euro disco"^{[citation needed]}.

Technically speaking, the last form of Euro disco, is French house, a music style that appeared in France during the mid 1990s and widespread slowly in Europe^{[citation needed]}. French House is more of a "back to the roots" music style, with 70s euro disco influences far before the Italo Disco explosion (more specific Space Disco, Hi-NRG disco, Canadian Disco and P-Funk).

2000s[link]

By the mid-late 2000s, Euro disco saw renewed interest. Artists such as Irene Cara, Berlin and the late Laura Branigan saw a surge in popularity, especially in places where it was not commercially successful after 1984, such as North America and South America. A notable Euro disco artist to rise during this decade is Mark Ashley^{[citation needed]}. His single "Give Me a Chance" became his most successful single yet, making the Top 40 of the Austrian chart^{[citation needed]}.

Influence in the United States[link]

The influence of Euro disco had infiltrated dance and pop in the US by 1983, as European producers and songwriters inspired a new generation of American performers^{[citation needed]}. While disco had been declared "dead" due to a backlash there in 1979, subsequent Euro-flavored successes crossing the boundaries of rock, pop, and dance, such as "Call Me" by Blondie and "Gloria" by Laura Branigan, ushered in a new era of American-fronted dance music.

Branigan (produced by German producer Jack White) moved deeper into the Euro disco style for further hits^{[citation needed]}, alongside Giorgio Moroder-produced US acts Berlin and Irene Cara^{[citation needed]}. By 1984, musicians from many countries had begun to produce Euro-disco songs. In Germany, notable practitioners of the sound included Modern Talking, Sandra. Alphaville and Falco, although he was also heavily influenced by rap and rock music^{[citation needed]}.

A Euro disco revival is also contribuited by northern European labels as "Iventi d'azzurro" (The Netherlands) and "Flashback records" (Finland), with rearranged releases of the old hits and unreleased demos resung by the original Italo singers, but also new songs by these. Recording artists like Joey Mauro and karl otto, Diva, Mark Fruttero, Fred Ventura and George Aaron have been recently releasing new albums, and a special place within the scene is occupied by Peter Aresti, formerly known as "Peter Arcade" (though room gossips, in order to explain the apparent "age paradox", claim about a "music project" involving at least two different singers impersonating the P.A. character) which represents an unusual case in the Italo disco world, not belonging to the 80's, officially having started his career in the 90's, and actually one of the most popular performing italo artists, challenging many pop singers, in South America (Mexico among all), where a huge, growing Italo disco and High energy community dwells. Another new person became popular in these last years on italo scene, the talented keyboardist Joey Mauro able to recreate any sound of 80s with his synthesizers and keyboard collections.

See also[link]

• List of Euro disco artists
• Eurodance
• Europop
• Hi-NRG
• Italo disco
• Disco polo
• Disco Lento
• Space Disco
• Spacesynth

External links[link]

• Energy-Brazil.com - Info about Euro Disco in Brazil
• Euro-Flash.net - an article on euro disco
• scheul.de - contains info about chart positions of Euro disco artists in the world.
• Webdjsitalodisco.Ch - contains info about Italo-Disco and its artists, including interviews.
• DiscoStars80 - contains info about big discostars 80th.

v t e Disco Subculture Nightclub • Roller disco • Hustle Subgenres Cosmic Disco • Disco polo • Disco-punk • Euro disco • Italo disco • Manila Sound • Nu-disco • Space disco Derivations Hi-NRG • Post-disco • House • Garage • Hip-hop • New Wave List of disco artists (A-E - F-K - L-R - S-Z) • Four-on-the-floor • Orchestration • Mix • Category

Thomas Anders
Thomas Anders in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Bernd Weidung
Born	(1963-03-01) 1 March 1963 (age 49)
Origin	Münstermaifeld, Germany
Genres	Pop, Europop, Euro disco, Latin pop, dance-pop, pop rock, blue-eyed soul, jazz, house
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1980–present
Labels	Teldec, East West, Polydor, BMG, Edel Records
Website	www.thomas-anders.com

Thomas Anders (born Bernd Weidung, 1 March 1963) is a German singer, composer and record producer.^[1] Anders was the lead singer of Germany's popular pop-duo Modern Talking in 1984–1987 and in 1998–2003.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Anders was born in Koblenz, West Germany. He began showing interest in music as a child, he did his first stage-performance at age of 7. Anders first studied music at Koblenz Eichendorff-Gymnasium, and then he studied musicology for five semesters at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.^[1] After having performed at several clubs and discothèques, in 1979, he participated in a music contest organized by the radio station Radio Luxembourg which he walked away from without earning enough points. Two days after the contest, Anders was offered a record contract by the same jury members of the radio contest.

It was then that his career officially began when in 1980, at age of 17, he released his debut single "Judy". Anders released several other singles produced by Daniel David including "Du weinst um ihn", which he performed on Michael Schanze's TV show Hätten sie heut' zeit für uns. In 1983, he met Dieter Bohlen who produced "Was macht das schon", the German cover version of F. R. David's "Pick Up the Phone" and also "Heißkalter Engel", the German cover version of Real Life's "Send Me an Angel". From late 1983 to the mid of 1984 Bohlen produced other tracks for Anders including "Wovon träumst du denn", "Endstation Sehnsucht" and "Es geht mir gut heut' Nacht". The success, however, came when in late 1984, Anders and Bohlen formed the successful duo Modern Talking, which they started things off by a worldwide hit single "You're My Heart, You're My Soul".^[1]

Solo career[link]

In late 1987, Anders and Bohlen decided to terminate Modern Talking and go their separate ways due to constant quarrel between the two. Shortly after which Anders went on a long tour performing before as many as 85,000 fans, the tour involved cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Viña del Mar and Moscow.^[2] This drove Anders to leave Germany for the United States, where in 1989, Anders released his first solo album Different with more pop style rather than dance, which he produced together with Elton John's producer Gus Dudgeon and a-ha's producer Alan Tarney. The first single "Love of My Own" released in the same year is considered the biggest success of his solo career at that time. The second album Whispers was released in 1991, three singles were released off Anders' second solo album "The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye" written by Roxette member Per Gessle, "I Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)" and "True Love". In 1992, Anders released his third album Down on Sunset, the singles "How Deep Is Your Love" and "Standing Alone" (Duet with Glenn Medeiros) found some success both in Germany and Austria. Anders released his fourth solo album When Will I See You Again in 1993. The first single "When Will I See You Again" featured the original singers of the song, The Three Degrees. Also, in 1993, Anders experienced something new as he got a part in a Swedish movie Stockholm Marathon.^[1] He also wrote the title-song for that film "Marathon of Life", which is one of the tracks in his 1993's album When Will I See You Again. In 1994, he came back with an album Barcos de Cristal, which he released in Spanish only for U.S., South America and Argentina,^[1] this album contained songs from albums of 1992 and 1993, all redone in Spanish. Anders released one more album in 1995 called Souled, which he produced together with Peter Wolf, this album contained a duet featuring The Pointer Sisters "Feel for the Physical". Things for him then were quiet until March 1998 when Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen announced the reunion of Modern Talking.^[1] The duo released six studio albums between 1998 and 2003 and split again in 2003.^[1]

Subsequent years[link]

In 2001, Anders produced the song, " My Heart It Feels Like (Dub Dub ...)" together with Gerd Count Bernadotte for the pop girl duo It-Girl.^[1] In late 2003 Anders signed a contract with BMG international as a solo artist after their final album of Modern Talking. The first single, "Independent Girl" released in November 2003 reached No.17 on the German single chart and No.5 in Russia.^[1][3] His album, This Time released in 2004 entered the top-20 as well.^[4] The second single "King of Love" reached the top-40 in Germany.^[3] At this point, Anders was working with his new producer Peter Ries, who previously had worked with such artists as Sandra and No Angels.

Thomas Anders received an offer from NDR to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, 11 million viewers who already knew Anders as a singer watched him announce the German voting points.^[1] Also, in 2004, Anders was asked to record the ballad "Just Dream" which was to be the official anthem for the ballet Holiday on Ice which reached No.64 in Germany.^[1] The song can be heard during the international three-year Holiday on Ice tour.

In the following year, Anders was involved in a legal battle which he had brought against his Modern Talking partner, Dieter Bohlen.^[1] Anders claimed that Bohlen had slandered about him in his autobiographical book.^[1] In the Spring of 2005, the court rejected to have Bohlen pay the one million Euros which Anders had sued Bohlen for.^[1]

In March 2006, Anders got involved in Eurovision Song Contest again; however, he was one of the three contestants to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 alongside with the Greek-born Vicky Leandros (Eurovision Song Contest 1972 winner) and country band Texas Lightning featuring comedian Olli Dittrich.^[1] However, the spectators chose the latter.^[1]

Also in the same year, Anders left BMG and joined Edel Records and released his swing-album Songs Forever which was commercially unsuccessful peaking only at No.43.^[4] In April 2006, his The DVD-Collection arrived in stores, which contained 20 videos of his solo career as well as some hits taken from Modern Talking period. In July 2008, Anders was featured on two of download singles by Sound-Chateau, "Ibiza Baba Baya" and "For You".^[5]

Anders announced the German Eurovision voting results once again in 2009. In the Spring of 2009, Anders was featured on the song called "The Night Is Still Young for which he collaborated with Sandra, the single peaked at No.46.^[6] Anders released his next solo single, "Why Do You Cry" in 2010 which peaked at No. 21 on Russian Airplay Chart.^[7] In the Spring of 2010, Anders released his next studio album, Strong for Russian market only.^[1] The album reached the platinum status in Russia for sales of 10,000 units.^[8] In 2011, Anders came back collaborating with Uwe Fahrenkrog, German musician and songwriter. The duo's first single together called "Gigolo" was released on May 27, 2011 in Germany which peaked at No.40 there.^[9]Their second single "No More Tears On The Dancefloor" failed to enter the charts. Their album, Two was released on June 10, 2011 which debuted at No.11 on the German album chart.^[10] The single "Gigolo" is written and produced by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen Thomas Troelsen.^[9] The duo appears under the name Anders | Fahrenkrog.

Personal life[link]

His parents are Helga and Peter Weidung. He has one brother, Achim, and one sister, Tania. He was married to Nora Balling from 1984^[11] to 1999.^[1] Since July 2000 he has been married to Claudia Hess, with whom he has a son, Alexander Mick, born 27 June 2002.^[1]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Compilation albums[link]

Live album(s)[link]

Collaboration album(s)[link]

Singles[link]

As lead artist[link]

As featured artist[link]

Collaboration singles[link]

Videos[link]

Video albums[link]

Collaboration compositions[link]

• 1988 "I Can Never Let You Go" (Co-wrote for Engelbert Humperdinck)
• 1989 "Soldier" (Written and produced by Alan Tarney)
• 1991 "The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye" (Written by Per Gessle)
• 1992 "Standing Alone" (Duet with Glenn Medeiros)
• 1993 "When Will I See You Again" (Duet with The Three Degrees)
• 1993 "Emotional Thing" (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
• 1993 "Question of Love" (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
• 1993 "Ain't No Woman" (Co-wrote for The Three Degrees)
• 1994 "Tal Vez" (Co-wrote for Marta Sánchez) (#1 Mexico)
• 1995 "Feel for the Physical" (Duet with The Pointer Sisters)
• 2001 "Hey Mr. President" (Produced T-Seven)
• 2001 "Cry for You" (Co-wrote for No Angels)
• 2002 "Stay" (Co-wrote for No Angels)
• 2002 "Funky Dance" (Co-wrote for No Angels)
• 2009 "The Night Is Still Young" (Sandra featuring Thomas Anders)
• 2012 "No Ordinary Love" (Duet with Kamaliya)

See also[link]

• Modern Talking
• Nora Balling

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Thomas Anders at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.thomasanders.ru - More than Talking - Tribute to Thomas Anders, a lot of information about the artist (English/Russian).
• Thomas Anders World-Spain
• Thomas Anders discography at Discogs