Post by LuvTheStars23 on Feb 22, 2007 2:11:29 GMT -5
Real McCoy, formerly known as M.C. Sar & the Real McCoy was the most influential group in modern EuroDance music.
1983-1989
The story starts sometime around 1983 when O-Jay met Quickmix, a Berlin D.J. After working some parties together, they decided to try and get into the recording business. Their started with a couple of recordings like "Wanna be a star" (Masterplan), "Action" (The Alliance), "Come into my life - Rap" (The Admirers) or "Keep on movin - Rap" (Rap IV Rap). Right from the very first start they're produced their stuff by themselves and released it in cooperation with an indepentant distributor on their own label "Freshline Records". In 1988 they started to collaborate with the Wind Studios in Berlin and his owner Juergen Wind (Jay Wind). In 1989 they released a Cover-Rap Version of the Technotronics classic "Pump up the Jam", this was actually the first time that the name M.C.Sar & the Real McCoy appeared on the scene for the first time.
They jumped on position 16 on the German top 75 billboard charts (nowadays Top 100). ZYX then asked for an image of the artist and this is how M.C. Sar & the Real McCoy was born. "M.C. Sar" is a play on words with M.C. (Master of Ceremony) and Caesar. There is no person called "M.C. Sar".
1990-1992
O-Jay added in "& the Real McCoy" to represent the rest of the people who were working in the background.
In 1990 they released their second single "It's on you".
After some follow up's and a longplay ("One the move") they took a break to prepare their new material and reorganize the structure of the band.
1993-1996
In June 1993 their first single, for 2 years, was released "Another Night" turned into a worldwide smash. Followed by the second release "Runaway". At this point the group was re-named to simply "Real McCoy". It was felt that M.C. would indicate the group being too much of a rap group.
Shortly after the album "Another Night" was released Vanessa, who was a background vocal singer for Real McCoy became apart of the stage crew with Patsy and O-Jay.
In Late 1996 after the release of "The Remixed Album", Patricia Peterson left the group to continue her career as a solo artist releasing one song "Money 4 Me". She was replaced with Lisa Cork.
1997-1998
In 1997 Real McCoy released a new album called "One More Time". The first single from that album was "One More Time" a song in the same style as "Run Away" & "Another Night". In June the second single "I Wanna Come With You" was released. This song is also an uptempo song just like "One More Time".
Vanessa left (worked on some solo stuff... didn´t worked out though). Lisa left (got a child to take care off) and finally O-Jay left (still producing Real McCoy but not a member of the stage crew anymore).
On April 20, 1998 an album called "Love And Devotion" was released. The album is a compilation of their greatest hits, featuring some previously unreleased mixes.
1999-2000
Real McCoy was back with a release on May 30, 1999 in Germany with a remake of their first european hit
"It`s On You".
New members of the Real McCoy: Gabi, Jason & Ginger .
Real McCoy released a single called "Hey Now" in February 2000.
2001
Real McCoy released the CD-Single "Another Night" in the USA again on the record label Arista.
The date of release was November 24th.
2002
On October 02, 2002 the album "Best Of Real McCoy" was released.
2003
Real McCoy released a best of album in the US on June 17th entitled "Platinum & Gold Collection".
The O'Jay updates - The truth about M.C.SAR & The Real McCoy a.k.a. Real McCoy
The "Number One" fake
"Well, for a very long time and up till today there is this "legend" about a European No. 1 hit in 12 countries.
Hmmm ... I guess this is not the truth and if I remember correctly, this "tuned" chart history was created in the
time when "Another Night" was about to get released in Germany. A biography was written and, besides some
other funny "fakes", this "success story" was launched. Are there any facts to this? Well, it was a special kind
of math that was used in this matter. There was somehow a No. 1 position in Spain (40 Principales) but there is
not a real record for that and in that time there was a lot of charts in Spain. Then there was suppose to be a
No. 1 in France ... my resources do not list a No. 1 in France, all that I was able to find was a no. 7
(entry in 06/04/90 listed for 28 weeks). If there was a No. 1, it must have been a club charts listing but
do not have a record of that. So what about the rest of the 10 countries? Honestly I don’t know ... back
then Europe was still divided and there were 22 countries that were considered (quote Rumsfeld: "old")
Europe. For most of them I am sure the song was not even released (maybe it got into the hands of some DJ´s
as an import) and for some I know it was not a No. 1. Sorry but let’s put this "hype" to rest and erase it
in the "real" history of M.C.SAR & The Real McCoy a.k.a. Real McCoy.
If you should be disappointed about this issue " relax " there is more to come ;o)
Saludos O-Jay"
The Hitman
There is a lot to tell about this man David Brunner and at the same time there are only a few things that are known.
We knew David from meetings with Hansa (when we offered certain products like Hype-a-delics or La Rose to them).
He was then Assistant A&R to Andy Selleneit (then Head of A&R, later president of Hansa).
He was made out of the material that people are made of to be successful in the corporate world.
But he had also a plan to become more then that. He was just waiting for the right moment to step
into the shoes of his role model Clive Davis (The only real hitman).
He was meeting with Juergen (since he was the president of Freshline Records in that time) and
they discussed the possibilities for a new deal with M.C.SAR & The Real McCoy with Hansa Records.
But there was more ... much more in the back of David’s head.
We offered Hansa a first possible single candidate ... "Fly so high". A tune was pretty much an "it’s on you" rip-off.
We did the same think again ... my voice (Shampro´s face) and Patsy was doing the chorus. David was not satisfied
and came up with some ideas ... one of them was to jump on the Captain Hollywood bandwagon. Deep raps and
the basically the same kind of music. Since Ritchie was a genius in taking existing material and change it a little here
and there, he came up pretty quick with a new playback. I was working with him on the melody and wrote the lyrics.
"Another Night" was born!
At this point it was only a songwriting playback but David liked it immediately. And that was when all the problems
started. Patsy was singing the chorus but David was not satisfied. He demanded an other singer. He came up with the
Berman Brothers. A producer team he was working with (they made also a record with Hansa under the name
Chess), that was located in Hamburg, Germany.
David came to the studio and presented us the playback with a new female singer on it. None of us was happy but he
made it clear that this will be the voice for the project. He made also clear that this woman will not be part of
the group and Patsy should be still the face to the project along with Shampro.
We started recording my rap ... David was there to make sure that I was catching the right kind of style. It ended up,
me rapping deep and sinister. Captain Hollywood Style. The playback received a major update. Piano Intro (inspired by
the Coca-Cola theme), some synthesizer parts (inspired by "More & More" Captain Hollywood and
Talk Talk), a C-Part (inspired by 80 disco) and so on ...
Originally I recorded three different rap parts but only two made it on the final product. David planned to let the
Berman Brothers do the final work, because he explained us that they have the pulse of the time. It turned out that
the work of the Berman Brothers was essential for the whole song. They made my raps sound tighter and added some
little things here and there. The female vocals did sound much better after the Bermans did their job. Till today
Juergen is arguing about the work of the Berman Brothers. For him their nothing but remixers but I have a different
opinion about that.
Patsy was not happy that David did not want her voice on the recording but she agreed to be part of the project.
In the meantime ...David was concerned about the Milli Vanilli effect. Now there was a project with two voices
and two different faces. Since he was booked on the female vocal part he tried to talk me into the idea, of me being
the rapper for real. In that time I was somewhere else in my planning’s. I did not have confidence in the future as an
artist. So I passed on that idea.
"Another Night" reached the status of a final product while other German based producers had already success in the world and the US. Captain Hollywood, Culture Beat and 2 Unlimited. David was ready to give the world the next "Euro dance" hit!
The rest of us were not really sure if this song would make it. We were not impressed at all by the song and his sound. But David was on a roll and started to push some buttons to get his plan rolling.
Behind closed doors
Ops ... that was a lot of information with ... ops again .. some serious facts.
Real McCoy = Milli Vanilli? Patsy was not singing?
What is going on? Well, I told you that there would be some interesting information coming up.
Some people in the industry know most of them but not much is known to the general public.
Let’s clean this place out.
Fact is: Patsy has never sung on any of the "new" M.C.SAR & The Real McCoy a.k.a. Real McCoy releases.
The name of the original singer is Karin Kasar. She was casted by the Boogie Park studios in Hamburg
and made a test recording with these guys on "Another night". This recording found his way on the final playback
of "Another Night". She was offered a couple of bugs to record some other tracks on the album. But never received
any royalties for the whole album. Only Ritchie, David and the Berman Brothers knew her. I never met her in all
that time. Finally I met her recently and had a chance to thank her for her great work and also to say that I am
sorry that things turned out this way. She was never considered as the real artist because she had a few pounds
too much on her body. That was the only reason and of course there was the reason that Patsy was looking the
right way ... you know what I mean ;o)
Fact is: I finally ended up being the artist. It happened on a Sunday. I received a call, first from David,
then from Juergen. They were complaining about Shampro´s attitude (when there was none) and asked me if I would
do it.I was in a very tricky situation then and did not feel well with the work I did as a financial advisor.
So I said: "In case of an emergency I will do it ". 10 minutes later (I guess Juergen and David had a little chat)
Juergen called me and asked me again. All I remember is that I heard myself saying, "Yes" and I found myself in
David’s Porsche on Monday morning on my way to Hamburg for the official photo session.
So we ended up being only a half "mille vanilla". LOL
Fact is: That David had a plan from the beginning. I don’t have any hard feelings for him because at the
end he was the one that gave me the chance to be where I am now.
Fact is: That Freshline and all of us (Ritchie, Juergen and me) were in big financial trouble. We needed money ...
mucho dinero!!! It ended up that David bought our publishing company along with the rights of all the
M.C.SAR & The Real McCoy a.k.a. Real McCoy copyrights (in regards to the writers) for less then 20.000 USD.
He was not allowed as an employee for BMG to do that but he did it trough another person. Later it became known
to BMG he was fired because he refused to say "sorry" to the president of the company.
And there are many more little things that happened here and there ... some of them I will write about some of
them are really not worth to mention.
So there we are ... Real McCoy is turning out not being "so" real at all! What you will make out of this is up to
you ... I will continue this blog with the next chapters. I am sorry if these facts made you disappointed or just
angry. I can’t help it ... it is simply the truth and it was and is very comment in Europe to have faces jumping
to the sound of another voice. That’s what they call the music biz!!!
1983-1989
The story starts sometime around 1983 when O-Jay met Quickmix, a Berlin D.J. After working some parties together, they decided to try and get into the recording business. Their started with a couple of recordings like "Wanna be a star" (Masterplan), "Action" (The Alliance), "Come into my life - Rap" (The Admirers) or "Keep on movin - Rap" (Rap IV Rap). Right from the very first start they're produced their stuff by themselves and released it in cooperation with an indepentant distributor on their own label "Freshline Records". In 1988 they started to collaborate with the Wind Studios in Berlin and his owner Juergen Wind (Jay Wind). In 1989 they released a Cover-Rap Version of the Technotronics classic "Pump up the Jam", this was actually the first time that the name M.C.Sar & the Real McCoy appeared on the scene for the first time.
They jumped on position 16 on the German top 75 billboard charts (nowadays Top 100). ZYX then asked for an image of the artist and this is how M.C. Sar & the Real McCoy was born. "M.C. Sar" is a play on words with M.C. (Master of Ceremony) and Caesar. There is no person called "M.C. Sar".
1990-1992
O-Jay added in "& the Real McCoy" to represent the rest of the people who were working in the background.
In 1990 they released their second single "It's on you".
After some follow up's and a longplay ("One the move") they took a break to prepare their new material and reorganize the structure of the band.
1993-1996
In June 1993 their first single, for 2 years, was released "Another Night" turned into a worldwide smash. Followed by the second release "Runaway". At this point the group was re-named to simply "Real McCoy". It was felt that M.C. would indicate the group being too much of a rap group.
Shortly after the album "Another Night" was released Vanessa, who was a background vocal singer for Real McCoy became apart of the stage crew with Patsy and O-Jay.
In Late 1996 after the release of "The Remixed Album", Patricia Peterson left the group to continue her career as a solo artist releasing one song "Money 4 Me". She was replaced with Lisa Cork.
1997-1998
In 1997 Real McCoy released a new album called "One More Time". The first single from that album was "One More Time" a song in the same style as "Run Away" & "Another Night". In June the second single "I Wanna Come With You" was released. This song is also an uptempo song just like "One More Time".
Vanessa left (worked on some solo stuff... didn´t worked out though). Lisa left (got a child to take care off) and finally O-Jay left (still producing Real McCoy but not a member of the stage crew anymore).
On April 20, 1998 an album called "Love And Devotion" was released. The album is a compilation of their greatest hits, featuring some previously unreleased mixes.
1999-2000
Real McCoy was back with a release on May 30, 1999 in Germany with a remake of their first european hit
"It`s On You".
New members of the Real McCoy: Gabi, Jason & Ginger .
Real McCoy released a single called "Hey Now" in February 2000.
2001
Real McCoy released the CD-Single "Another Night" in the USA again on the record label Arista.
The date of release was November 24th.
2002
On October 02, 2002 the album "Best Of Real McCoy" was released.
2003
Real McCoy released a best of album in the US on June 17th entitled "Platinum & Gold Collection".
The O'Jay updates - The truth about M.C.SAR & The Real McCoy a.k.a. Real McCoy
The "Number One" fake
"Well, for a very long time and up till today there is this "legend" about a European No. 1 hit in 12 countries.
Hmmm ... I guess this is not the truth and if I remember correctly, this "tuned" chart history was created in the
time when "Another Night" was about to get released in Germany. A biography was written and, besides some
other funny "fakes", this "success story" was launched. Are there any facts to this? Well, it was a special kind
of math that was used in this matter. There was somehow a No. 1 position in Spain (40 Principales) but there is
not a real record for that and in that time there was a lot of charts in Spain. Then there was suppose to be a
No. 1 in France ... my resources do not list a No. 1 in France, all that I was able to find was a no. 7
(entry in 06/04/90 listed for 28 weeks). If there was a No. 1, it must have been a club charts listing but
do not have a record of that. So what about the rest of the 10 countries? Honestly I don’t know ... back
then Europe was still divided and there were 22 countries that were considered (quote Rumsfeld: "old")
Europe. For most of them I am sure the song was not even released (maybe it got into the hands of some DJ´s
as an import) and for some I know it was not a No. 1. Sorry but let’s put this "hype" to rest and erase it
in the "real" history of M.C.SAR & The Real McCoy a.k.a. Real McCoy.
If you should be disappointed about this issue " relax " there is more to come ;o)
Saludos O-Jay"
The Hitman
There is a lot to tell about this man David Brunner and at the same time there are only a few things that are known.
We knew David from meetings with Hansa (when we offered certain products like Hype-a-delics or La Rose to them).
He was then Assistant A&R to Andy Selleneit (then Head of A&R, later president of Hansa).
He was made out of the material that people are made of to be successful in the corporate world.
But he had also a plan to become more then that. He was just waiting for the right moment to step
into the shoes of his role model Clive Davis (The only real hitman).
He was meeting with Juergen (since he was the president of Freshline Records in that time) and
they discussed the possibilities for a new deal with M.C.SAR & The Real McCoy with Hansa Records.
But there was more ... much more in the back of David’s head.
We offered Hansa a first possible single candidate ... "Fly so high". A tune was pretty much an "it’s on you" rip-off.
We did the same think again ... my voice (Shampro´s face) and Patsy was doing the chorus. David was not satisfied
and came up with some ideas ... one of them was to jump on the Captain Hollywood bandwagon. Deep raps and
the basically the same kind of music. Since Ritchie was a genius in taking existing material and change it a little here
and there, he came up pretty quick with a new playback. I was working with him on the melody and wrote the lyrics.
"Another Night" was born!
At this point it was only a songwriting playback but David liked it immediately. And that was when all the problems
started. Patsy was singing the chorus but David was not satisfied. He demanded an other singer. He came up with the
Berman Brothers. A producer team he was working with (they made also a record with Hansa under the name
Chess), that was located in Hamburg, Germany.
David came to the studio and presented us the playback with a new female singer on it. None of us was happy but he
made it clear that this will be the voice for the project. He made also clear that this woman will not be part of
the group and Patsy should be still the face to the project along with Shampro.
We started recording my rap ... David was there to make sure that I was catching the right kind of style. It ended up,
me rapping deep and sinister. Captain Hollywood Style. The playback received a major update. Piano Intro (inspired by
the Coca-Cola theme), some synthesizer parts (inspired by "More & More" Captain Hollywood and
Talk Talk), a C-Part (inspired by 80 disco) and so on ...
Originally I recorded three different rap parts but only two made it on the final product. David planned to let the
Berman Brothers do the final work, because he explained us that they have the pulse of the time. It turned out that
the work of the Berman Brothers was essential for the whole song. They made my raps sound tighter and added some
little things here and there. The female vocals did sound much better after the Bermans did their job. Till today
Juergen is arguing about the work of the Berman Brothers. For him their nothing but remixers but I have a different
opinion about that.
Patsy was not happy that David did not want her voice on the recording but she agreed to be part of the project.
In the meantime ...David was concerned about the Milli Vanilli effect. Now there was a project with two voices
and two different faces. Since he was booked on the female vocal part he tried to talk me into the idea, of me being
the rapper for real. In that time I was somewhere else in my planning’s. I did not have confidence in the future as an
artist. So I passed on that idea.
"Another Night" reached the status of a final product while other German based producers had already success in the world and the US. Captain Hollywood, Culture Beat and 2 Unlimited. David was ready to give the world the next "Euro dance" hit!
The rest of us were not really sure if this song would make it. We were not impressed at all by the song and his sound. But David was on a roll and started to push some buttons to get his plan rolling.
Behind closed doors
Ops ... that was a lot of information with ... ops again .. some serious facts.
Real McCoy = Milli Vanilli? Patsy was not singing?
What is going on? Well, I told you that there would be some interesting information coming up.
Some people in the industry know most of them but not much is known to the general public.
Let’s clean this place out.
Fact is: Patsy has never sung on any of the "new" M.C.SAR & The Real McCoy a.k.a. Real McCoy releases.
The name of the original singer is Karin Kasar. She was casted by the Boogie Park studios in Hamburg
and made a test recording with these guys on "Another night". This recording found his way on the final playback
of "Another Night". She was offered a couple of bugs to record some other tracks on the album. But never received
any royalties for the whole album. Only Ritchie, David and the Berman Brothers knew her. I never met her in all
that time. Finally I met her recently and had a chance to thank her for her great work and also to say that I am
sorry that things turned out this way. She was never considered as the real artist because she had a few pounds
too much on her body. That was the only reason and of course there was the reason that Patsy was looking the
right way ... you know what I mean ;o)
Fact is: I finally ended up being the artist. It happened on a Sunday. I received a call, first from David,
then from Juergen. They were complaining about Shampro´s attitude (when there was none) and asked me if I would
do it.I was in a very tricky situation then and did not feel well with the work I did as a financial advisor.
So I said: "In case of an emergency I will do it ". 10 minutes later (I guess Juergen and David had a little chat)
Juergen called me and asked me again. All I remember is that I heard myself saying, "Yes" and I found myself in
David’s Porsche on Monday morning on my way to Hamburg for the official photo session.
So we ended up being only a half "mille vanilla". LOL
Fact is: That David had a plan from the beginning. I don’t have any hard feelings for him because at the
end he was the one that gave me the chance to be where I am now.
Fact is: That Freshline and all of us (Ritchie, Juergen and me) were in big financial trouble. We needed money ...
mucho dinero!!! It ended up that David bought our publishing company along with the rights of all the
M.C.SAR & The Real McCoy a.k.a. Real McCoy copyrights (in regards to the writers) for less then 20.000 USD.
He was not allowed as an employee for BMG to do that but he did it trough another person. Later it became known
to BMG he was fired because he refused to say "sorry" to the president of the company.
And there are many more little things that happened here and there ... some of them I will write about some of
them are really not worth to mention.
So there we are ... Real McCoy is turning out not being "so" real at all! What you will make out of this is up to
you ... I will continue this blog with the next chapters. I am sorry if these facts made you disappointed or just
angry. I can’t help it ... it is simply the truth and it was and is very comment in Europe to have faces jumping
to the sound of another voice. That’s what they call the music biz!!!
