The Power Of Snap! Original Hits And Remixes



Snap! is a German eurodance, hip-hop, and pop music project formed in 1989 by Frankfurt-based producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. The group experienced several line-up changes over the years and achieved its greatest commercial success when fronted by American rapper Turbo B. Snap! is best known for the UK number-one singles The Power and Rhythm Is a Dancer. Münzing and Anzilotti adopted the aliases Benito Benites and John Virgo Garrett III when founding Snap!, aiming to distance themselves from prevailing stereotypes about German music. Their debut single The Power combined house and hip-hop elements and used multiple samples, including a drum loop from King of the Beats by Mantronix, rap lyrics from Let the Words Flow by Chill Rob G, and the vocal line I've got the power from Jocelyn Brown's Love's Gonna Get You. Legal concerns led to a re-recorded version featuring Turbo B on rap vocals and Penny Ford on additional vocals, although Brown's voice remained on the final track. The Power reached number 2 in Germany, spent two weeks at number 1 in the United Kingdom, and climbed to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. It was certified platinum in several countries. Following the departure of Jackie Harris, Penny Ford became the full-time lead singer. The group released Ooops Up, a reworking of I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops!) by The Gap Band. The track charted at number 2 in Germany and number 5 in the UK. This was followed by further singles including Cult of Snap, Mary Had a Little Boy, and the album World Power. The album sold over seven million copies worldwide, reached number 10 in the UK (where it was certified platinum), and number 30 in the US (also certified platinum). In 1991, Thea Austin joined Snap! and co-wrote Rhythm Is a Dancer. Initially, Turbo B objected to its release, favoring Colour of Love instead, which had limited success. Eventually, Rhythm Is a Dancer was released in July 1992, becoming the group's most successful single. It topped charts in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy, and reached number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The second album, The Madman's Return, achieved multi-million sales, but disagreements led to Turbo B's departure. Penny Ford and Thea Austin also left. Snap! continued with new vocalists, including Niki Haris, who featured on Exterminate! and Do You See the Light (Looking For). For their third album, producers recruited Paula Brown, known as Summer, who had appeared in the TV series Fame and the film School Daze. The group shifted towards a progressive house sound with the 1994 single Welcome to Tomorrow (Are You Ready?), followed by an album of the same name. Subsequent singles such as The First The Last Eternity (Till The End), World in My Hands, and Rame had mixed commercial outcomes. Snap! performed an Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1 on January 1, 1994. In 1996, the group disbanded, releasing a compilation titled Snap! Attack: The Best of Snap!, which included a new version of The Power. In 2000, they returned with the single Gimme a Thrill, featuring Turbo B and vocalist Maxayn, although it did not chart, and the planned album One Day on Earth was never released. A remix of Do You See the Light reached number 14 in the UK in 2002. In 2003, the group released a remix compilation, The Cult of Snap!, and issued updated versions of several hits. These included new mixes of Rhythm Is a Dancer, The Power, and Ooops Up, the latter featuring the Swedish girl group NG3. The Power also appeared on the soundtrack of the film Bruce Almighty in 2003. In 2005, Snap! released Beauty Queen with vocalist Loc (Damien Behanan), followed by Excited and We Want Your Soul in 2006. In 2008, a UK television commercial featuring a character from Thunderbirds dancing to Rhythm Is a Dancer led to renewed interest in the original track, which re-entered the UK singles chart and peaked at number 23. A new version of the song with vocals by Loc was released in June 2008, and a follow-up single, Jumping, appeared in August. The group later signed with Hard2Beat Records. On June 27, 2010, Snap! performed at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, with original vocalist Penny Ford and rapper Benjamin Lowe. Despite crowd enthusiasm, some fans expressed disappointment when a key lyric from Rhythm Is a Dancer was omitted during the performance. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.