Artist:Alice Deejay
Song:Better Off Alone
Album:Housemix 2000
The Dutch EDM group Alice Deejay has had success mostly in European dance clubs. But the 1998 single Better Off Alone was a top five hit in England and a top 30 hit in the US. The guys behind Alice Deejay are Wessel van Diepen AKA DJ Delmundo and Dennis van den Dresschen. These two were also behind Vengaboys. Jurgen Rijkers and the duo known as Dash Berlin (Sebastian Molijn and Eelke Kalberg) also worked on this. They are all Dutch DJs. The singer is Judith Pronk. van Diepen and van den Dresschen first had success with the 1991 L.A. Style single James Brown Is Dead. This was followed by Nakatomi, Alice Deejay and Vengaboys. The pattern on this kind of music is it's designed to be played in dance clubs. Sometimes that turns into chart success but not usually. That's why these guys come up with new names all the time. They can sell it as new and fresh to club DJs. When I heard Alice Deejay, I thought it sounded like Vengaboys. It turns out it's by the same guys. Better Off Alone started out as a 1997 instrumental by Jurgen Rijkers AKA DJ Jurgen. Then they brought in Judith Pronk to sing the vocal. There's nothing to the song. It's one line repeated and a refrain. And Judith wasn't a singer. She was a makeup artist which is how they knew her. The original instrumental was written by Rijkers and released on his own label Violent Music. When the decision was made to add a vocal, Rijkers disagreed and wasn't involved. But he let them use the song. That's when Alice Deejay was formed. After the vocal was added, clubs went crazy over it and then it became a hit across Europe. It reached #2 on the British Singles chart. Then when it started getting played in US clubs, Republic Records wanted Alice Deejay to record an album. The single reached #3 on the US dance chart and #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a bigger hit than the chart position which frequently happens with club hits. Alice Deejay released the 2000 album Who Needs Guitars Anyway? but it didn't sell and it's not available anyway. You can get Better Off Alone on this various artists budget comp. This was Alice Deejay's only album. The guys reunited in 2014 with a different singer and they toured. Judith Pronk performed as Alice Deejay twice in 2021. She is now a photographer. So Alice Deejay was supposed to be a one shot deal. van Diepen and van Driesschen went on to have success with Vengaboys. They continue to produce music. Here's the video for Better Off Alone by Alice Deejay.
No comments:
Post a Comment