Musical team : Bulent Aris, R. Kesselbauer, Tony Cottura, R. Hardison Vocalists : Balja, Marie-Anett Mey, Anett Möller
The good time dance machine par excellence was how one critic described Fun Factory - probably the most accurate, characterisation ever made of this group. With their high-explosive mixture of pop, dance, rap, techno and reggae elements, they have achieved international acclaim and their singles can be found in the charts the world over. Tracks such as Groove Me (# 1 in Israel Dance Chart, # 5 in Israel Air play), Take Your Chance (# 3 in Israel Dance Chart), Close To You, Pain (# 30 in Israel, # 5 in Israel Air-play, remixed by ATB) and most of all I Wanna Be With You (once again remixed by ATB) and also Celebration made their way into the top ranks of all important at Media Control and Dance Charts. And not only in Germany, Fun Factory tracks have climbed high in the charts in Canada, England, Sweden, the Far East, Finland, Poland, France, Italy and in the USA as well, and have made the group one of the most remarkable European acts internationally.
For a band whose strength is interpreting the European idea of dance, this is a major success. It should come as no surprise that the members of Fun Factory are almost all European. There's Marie-Anett Mey, the front lady of French descent (born 3rd June 1971), Smooth T (Toni Cottura, born 7th June 1971) the Italian dancer, rapper and background singer and Steve (Stephan Browarezyk, born 15th of January 1972), the dance partner from Germany. American rapper and freestyle king Rod D (born 24th May 1969) rounded out the Factory crew.
Fun Factory are more than just one of the many nameless DJ projects who ascend to chart heaven for a short time only to fall again and disappear into obscurity. The members see themselves more as a band in the classic sense of the word, influenced by the spirit and roots of R&B, but taking full advantage of the most modern studio technology, Fun Factory won't allow themselves and their music to be filed away under any particular category . 'The main thing is that it grooves, it kicks, it beeps and that the people feel good...' is Smooth T's answer when asked about the group's secret recipe for international success.
The evergrowing number of Fun Factory fans are thrilled by the group's live performances and during 12 months they toured three times in the USA, in South East Asia and in the whole of Europe. Doing shows is very important for the band members too. They needed the direct contact with their public like they needed air to breathe. Their stage act was pure entertainment, conceived and developed to perfection by Steve and Smooth T who both have a background in the martial arts. 'Combining elements of the martial arts and dance creates something totally new. We don't want any lame disco choreography, we want real action entertainment' explains Steve.
When not performing live, Fun Factory can be found, often for nights on end, in their studio in Hamburg working on their tracks with the support of the many friends who help out now and again with vocal parts, guest raps and instrumentals.
Fun Factory's music speaks to anyone and everyone and forces all who listen 'into the groove' which for Fun Factory is what it's all about. It's as simple as it sounds 'We want fun' says Marie-Anett, 'that's our philosophy and there's really nothing else more important'.
1992 : the song which started it all was Fun Factory's Theme. Followed the big hits already mentioned above...
1994 : their first album was out. Non Stop, including their first and best hits, all mixed one after another. At this time, the female vocalist was not Marie-Annett yet, but Balja, who afterwards left the group. Her voice can be heard on few of the songs of the album, such as Prove Your Love. Marie-Annett's voice could be heard from the single Close To You. The track Love Of My Life was covered by the project La Verona (Verona Feldbusch).
According to some rumors, Balja could have been the one and only vocalist, Marie Annett being unable to sing anything. It's a fact that Marie-Annet thanks Balja on every album of the group...
1995 : the title of the second album Fun-Tastic was really programmatic and the 'good time dance machine' presented an ultimate, highly concentrated smash album for the Christmas season. Massive grooves, very catchy refrains, bitter sweet soul ballads and sharp raps combined to an ingenious essence of all styles that had made dance the most important pop genre of our time and guaranteed numerous encounters with Fun Factory.
In 1997, Toni Cottura left the band, later followed by Rod D, Marie Anett and Steve. They were replaced by 3 new members : Al Walser (the new lead singer, rapper and composer), Tiger One aka T-roc (rapper) and the new female vocalist called Anett Möller.
1998 : in the end of summer the new Fun Factory released a single called Party with Fun Factory. It was a huge success and remained #1 during 5 weeks consecutive weeks.
In 1999 they released their new album in Japan : Next Generation. Produced by Team 33, recorded in Hamburg in Germany, it was pretty succesful, since it sold over 100 000 copies.
In 2002 Fun Factory released a new album only in Japan. It contained 14 brand new tracks plus 2 remixes and was entitled ABC Of Love. Music was composed by Justmann, Kesselbaur, and Crotti. Lyrics were written by Justmann, Croom, Walser, Kesselbaur and Crotti.
2003 : Fun Factory recently decided to split up and cease their musical activites. Rod D had gone back to the USA and stopped doing music. T-roc aka Tiger 1 started a solo carreer in Romania.
2005 : I Wanna B With You was covered by a group called Da F.U.N.K.
2007 could be the year when Fun Factory will rebirth. The new producer and manager, Rekardo Heilig, is currently looking for 2 singers (male and female), a rapper, and a background-singer for the group. The castings are still going on until the end of February this year. This will be a Summerhit 2007 for Fun Factory! There isn't any information about the new song title, and there aren't any members yet.
Al Walser, leadsinger from the second Fun Factory, just released a new song called African Queen, featuring the rapper Que. The video features Miss Eritria 2007 (Semhar Tadesse) and Miss Switzerland (Nadin Vinzens). As for Annett Möller, she is now working for a German TV channel called N-TV.
Toni recently confirmed that Balja was the original and only FF singer. She sang every single song on all their albums, which means Marie-Anett Mey did not sing at all. Her name is actually spelled as Balca (with a "c" not a "j") and it is a Turkish name.
Balca recorded a brand new song with Toni Cottura called Stop Playing Tricks With My Heart. Her new solo album should be coming (hopefully) this year. It will be in the FF-Style and it will be produced by Toni Cottura himself.
The new Fun Factory (the third generation) team has been revealed the new members are DGS, Jenna, Diana(Ex. Etno) & Douglas, the new album should be called In The Heat Of The Night and the new single will be Fiesta De Samba.
2009 : Released on 22th June the new single Uh lala.
2010 : Third generation team changed once again. Now, there only remains Douglas and Jenna. Some new songs are currently in preparation...
Eurodance WWW Dance Artists Info © Niklas Adolfsson Thanks to Shimon O'Hana for the charts positions Thanks to Forze, ES, EE , Klems and Yassine "Trey D" Added :
24/01/2000 - Biography last updated Thu, December 09th 2010
LINKS
Official websites
Fun Factory Third Generation
Fun Factory Third Generation @ My Space
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