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Felly, a Belgian-born former model and fashion designer, teamed up with studio wizards Technotronic to make her first single 'Pump Up The Jam' ... It made No. 2 in in early October 1989 for two weeks.Well the chart info is accurate anyway - those were also the last two weeks at the top for Black Box, which must have been the moment when a lot of older people stopped being interested in the chart. However, it's pretty well-known known that Felly didn't sing on the record (and indeed couldn't speak English at the time): the vocals were apparently by Ya Kid K, who openly fronted some of their later singles. Oh, and she wasn't born in Belgium either, but in DR Congo, or Zaire as it would have been at the time.
Although I do remember some criticism at the time when it became obvious that Felly couldn't have been the singer, there was none of the same sort of outrage as with Milli Vanilli - I guess people didn't feel as duped with dance music because they don't really believe in it or take it seriously in the same way to start with. It's the kind of music I knew I was supposed to be a bit superior about even at the age of 11 and I didn't expect to have much time for it in my thirties but actually it's aged surprisingly well as simple and fairly minimalist dance - they called it "hip-house" back then apparently. The lyrics are as good as they need to be, ie not very, but they do accurately draw your attention to the fact that the beat is pumping. The space in the arrangement actually makes it feel a bit fresher now than it did then, especially to those of us who've heard the 2005 remix.
Technotronic also appear on: Now 17 (with MC Eric), 18
Available on: The Workout Mix: 5k &10k
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