Sweetbox
 |
Sweetbox | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Germany |
| Years active | 1995–Present |
| Members | Jade Villalon |
| Past members | Kimberley Kearney (1995-1996), Dacia Bridges (1995-1996), Tina Harris (1997-1999) |
| Website | sweetbox.com |
Sweetbox is a pop band that was formed in 1995 by producer GEO and since 2000, has been fronted by vocalist, Jade Villalon. Although generally belonging to the pop genre, Sweetbox incorporates many other sounds in its music, such as classical, rock, dance, rap, soul, acoustic, and country. To date, Sweetbox have sold over 3 million albums and 2 million singles worldwide.
History
Beginnings
In 1995 Sweetbox released their first published song, "Booyah Here We Go", which was performed by Kimberley Kearney. The song was played in clubs throughout Europe but failed to break the charts. A year later, Sweetbox released their second song, “Shakalaka”, which was performed by Dacia Bridges, and obtained the #1 position on the NYC Club Charts.
In 1997, Tina Harris became the front woman of the group and their first hit single, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright”, was released. The single received placement in ten different European Top Ten charts and Harris was awarded two Japanese Grammies for the song. Later that year, a self-titled album was released. In some regions the album was released as Everything’s Gonna Be Alright. Despite the bands success, in 1998, Harris left the band.
Jade Villalon
A year after Tina Harris' departure, GEO reformed the group with Jade Villalon. The bands musical style changed from that of an R&B, hip-hop sound to dance and pop, with many songs created around classical music pieces. Villalon and GEO released their first album, Classified in 2001. It received gold certification in Japan.
The second album with Villalon frontlining, Jade, was released in Asia in 2002. The song, "Lighter Shade of Blue", also known as "Here On My Own", was released as a single in Europe and remained number one on some charts for four consecutive weeks. An acoustic version of Jade was released in 2003, under the name Jade - Silver Edition.
Later in 2003, Villalon, under the name "Jade from Sweetbox", recorded the songs "real Emotion" and "1000 Words" for the English edition of the video game, Final Fantasy X-2. The songs were included on the Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission OST, as well as on Sweetbox's fourth studio album, Adagio, which was released in 2004. Although of a more upbeat nature than the Jade album, Adagio had a deeper and darker theme, similar to the sometimes chilling classical passages the album is based on.
Also in 2004, the group released 13 Chapters, which contained half of the songs from Adagio, and half from After the Lights, which was released shortly after. The After The Lights album saw a more mature side of Sweetbox, with the album not focusing much on dance influences, in exchange for more deeper love and rock focused songs. A special Christmas edition was released in Korea, containing a second CD with four Christmas carols.
At the beginning of 2005, Sweetbox released their first greatest hits album, known as Greatest Hits in Japan, and The Best of Sweetbox 1995-2005 in Europe, Taiwan, and Korea. It contained a new version of Sweetbox's first hit, "Everything's Gonna Be Alright", re-titled as "Everything's Gonna Be Alright -reborn-", and sung by Villalon. The song has somewhat different lyrics than the original.
Later in 2005, the music magazine FONO awarded Sweetbox the "No. 1 Cross-Border Artist” title, and two Sweetbox songs, “Addicted” and “Hate Without Frontiers” (turned to "World Without Frontiers”), were featured in a Japanese commercial for the Subaru Legacy. A new album, Raw Treasures Volume 1, featuring demo versions of Sweetbox songs, and unreleased songs the band had recorded, was released in late 2005.
Their next full length studio album, Addicted was released at the very beginning of 2006, bringing back a strong, up-beat dance style. August 2006 saw the released of Sweetbox's first ever live album containing the DVD and CD of a major Sweetbox tour performance of 2006. Also a remix album, featuring many songs from before Villalon became lead vocalist for the group, was released shortly after.
As of 2007, the new Sweetbox album is underway and Jade and Geo have begun writing and producing in the studio again. Jade has mentioned that the songs she has written so far for this album have an up-beat, dance sound, but that she has not finished writing the album.
Recently, Jade has realeased a deut with Korean singer, Baek Ji Young called 'Crush' which was released in Korea and also has its own music video.
Discography
Albums
- Sweetbox (also released as Everything's Gonna Be Alright) (1998)
- Classified (2001)
- Jade (2002)
- Jade (Silver edition) (2003)
- Adagio (2004)
- 13 Chapters (2004)
- After The Lights (2004)
- Best of Sweetbox (also released as Greatest Hits) (2005)
- Raw Treasures Volume 1 (2005)
- Addicted (also released in some versions with a DVD)(2006)
- Live [CD+DVD] (2006/08/02)
- Best of 12" Collection (2006/08/02)