Daphne and Celeste

Daphne and Celeste
Origin	New Jersey, United States
Genres	Dance-pop, teen pop, bubblegum pop
Years active	1999–2002
Labels	Perfect Noise Limited
Past members	Celeste Cruz Karen DiConcetto

Daphne and Celeste were an American pop duo composed of Celeste Cruz and Karen DiConcetto. They are best known for their songs "Ooh Stick You" and "U.G.L.Y.".

Success and album reaction

They released three singles in the UK - "Ooh Stick You!", "U.G.L.Y." and a cover version of Alice Cooper's "School's Out". A full-length album, We Didn't Say That!, was released in the Autumn to generally positive reviews (Melody Maker awarded it four out of five stars). Another single, "Party", was recorded with a newly-recruited third member Bethany Armitage, with whom the band were briefly renamed 'Daphne and Celethany'. It was due out in November 2000, but was sadly never released, and as a result Bethany was kicked out of the group.

The music of Daphne and Celeste could be described as pure pop marketed at a teen or pre-teen audience. The kitsch Asian-themed "I Love Your Sushi" features a Japanese rapper extolling the virtues of Daphne and Celeste in his native tongue. On "Peek-a-Boo", the girls find themselves at a monsters' ball attended by the bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, and Tom Cruise. Notwithstanding the presence of such novelty tracks, "Roll Call" is a conventional pop song, "Star Club" is a disco track, and "Hey Boy" is a slow ballad.

Despite the album's positive reviews, there were a lot of negative feelings towards Daphne and Celeste, with some dismissing them as a 'teeny-bopper' act (although others felt that such a judgement ignored the apparent irony with which they performed). This discontent culminated in the duo being bottled off the stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2000 in one of the festival's most iconic moments of all time (the bottles in some cases would have contained urine). Reading and Leeds are primarily rock festivals, and Daphne and Celeste's negative reception there stemmed from their being an unabashed pop act. It was stated by the band before their appearance at Reading and Leeds Festivals that they had hounded their manager to get them on the bill so that they could meet Eminem. Eminem pulled out of his appearance and when Daphne and Celeste tried to do the same, the organisers refused to let them.

Many pop fans were also vociferous in their dislike for Daphne and Celeste. "U.G.L.Y." in particular was criticised, many feeling that it promoted bullying. Daphne and Celeste countered this by saying their lyrics were meant to be tongue in cheek. In an interview included on the "U.G.L.Y." single, Daphne noted: "Everyone is indeed ugly in their own special way."

Soon the duo found themselves the subject of rumors regarding their true identities. Some claimed they were teenagers, while others claimed they were much older than reported and that they were discovered while working as receptionists at their record label.

Following relatively low album sales, and the backlash against them, Daphne and Celeste soon dropped out of the public eye. Their official website closed down in October 2001, and their management company, Perfect Noise Limited, was dissolved in November 2002.

Aftermath

In a "Where Are They Now?" interview with Q magazine in 2005, Karen DiConcetto admitted that the whole project was "100% manufactured", and that the girls auditioned for it in New York in 1998: "I just talked about shoes for an hour." She considered the Reading Festival to be the highlight of the whole experience, and mentioned her work in theatre afterwards, specifically a play called Tourrettaville, written by a boy with Tourette's syndrome. DiConcetto received positive reviews for her portrayal of "CB's Sister" in the FringeNYC award-winning Peanuts spoof Dog Sees God. That production was adapted for an Off-Broadway debut featuring a number of big-name celebrities, including Eliza Dushku and America Ferrera.

In the same interview, Celeste Cruz said that she also had worked in theatre and that the duo were planning to break into television. In 2004, Celeste also took the role of "Maria" in the movie Brooklyn Bound. Although not a main character, she is involved in a pivotal scene which fuels the tragedy of the denouement. She also features quite prominently on the DVD cover. In 2009 she appeared in an Emmy-nominated episode of 30 Rock entitled "Generalissimo". Celeste can also be found on Twitter. Unlike DiConcetto, she considered the Reading Festival incident the "end of the party for us".

Daphne and Celeste were also interviewed by Bad Horsey towards the end of 2005, with the questions coming from the B3ta web community. The interview was posted on the Estudio Caballito Malo website and featured in the Popbitch newsletter. An edited version was published in the January 2006 edition of the UK publication Fused Magazine.

DiConcetto has a role in Holger Ernst's The House Is Burning, which premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival on 26 May. The film was produced by Wim Wenders, and is considered a German production, despite being filmed around New Jersey.

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		NZ	UK
We Didn't Say That!	Release date: June 26, 2000 Label: MCA Records Formats: CD	4	140
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions				Certifications (sales thresholds)	Album
		AUS	CAN	NZ	UK
1999	"Ooh Stick You"	—	—	5	8		We Didn't Say That!
2000	"U.G.L.Y."	40	18	7	18
	"School's Out"	—	—	—	12
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

External links

• Brooklyn Bound at IMDb
• The House is Burning at IMDb