Snap! is a German Eurodance music group formed in 1989 by producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti.
The act has been through a number of line-up changes over the years, including American singers, songwriters and rappers Thea Austin, Turbo B, Niki Haris and Penny Ford. Their best known hits are “The Power” and “Rhythm Is a Dancer”, both of which took the No. 1 spot in multiple countries.
In 1989 Penny recorded vocals for Snap!, quickly setting a trend of combination a beautiful female voice with a male rapper.
She later on proved hat not only can she sing, she can also write and arrange music and turned out to be an exceptional performer too. In 1990 Penny Ford and Turbo B released their first hit “The Power”, which quickly reached number one in hit charts!
In 2006 Penny decided to move to Germany from the US and join Snap! again.
Discography
Anzilotti and Münzing formed Snap! in 1989 under the aliases Benito Benites and John “Virgo” Garrett III, as they thought that the public had negative preconceived ideas of German music. Their first hit, “The Power”, which was fronted by rapper Turbo B. and American singer Penny Ford, peaked at No. 2 in Germany in April 1990 and spent five weeks in that position eventually going Gold for sales of 250,000 units. The single topped the charts in the United Kingdom, and picked up a Silver award for sales of 200,000 units. In the U.S., it reached No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was certified Platinum for 1,000,000 units.
Jackie Harris was used to mime Penny Ford’s voice in the video “The Power” and left the group shortly after and Penny Ford became its full-time lead singer, recording the second single “Ooops Up”, a re-working of “I Don’t Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Ooops!)”, a 1980 hit by The Gap Band, with which Penny was a former backing singer. The song “Oops Up” was another No. 2 hit in Germany which spent nine weeks in the position.
The single entered the Top 5 in the UK picking up another Silver award, it was also awarded a Gold certification in the U.S. Further hits followed with the oriental-sounding “Cult of Snap”, which charted at No. 3 in Germany and No. 8 in the UK, and “Mary Had a Little Boy”, which charted at No. 4 in Germany, and again No. 8 in the UK.Their first album, World Power, reached No. 7 in Germany, No. 10 in the UK and No. 30 in the U.S. The album received Platinum in Germany, and Gold in the UK and the U.S.
In 1991, American singer, composer, songwriter and dancer Thea Austin joined the line-up and helped to write “Rhythm Is a Dancer”, which was initially planned to be the lead single from the second album but later was pushed back to be the second single from the second album. The first single, “Colour of Love”, managed to peak at No. 9 in Snap!’s home of Germany, but stalled at No. 54 in the UK. “Rhythm Is a Dancer” was released as the second single in July 1992 which uses a sample from the song “Automan” by early ’80s American electronic hip-hop band Newcleus, it went on to become their biggest hit yet.
The single shot to No. 1 in Germany, the UK, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, and Belgium.In the U.S., it peaked at No. 5 collecting another Gold for sales of 500,000 units. At home in Germany, the single went Platinum for 500,000 units, and picked up a Gold in the UK for sales of 400,000 units. The third single “Exterminate” from the second album, which charted at No. 3 in Germany and No.2 in the UK, was awarded with a Gold certification in Germany.
The second album, The Madman’s Return did well in the charts, peaking at No. 3 in Germany and entering the Top 10 in the UK, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland, Turbo B decided to leave the project due to disagreements with the act’s producers. The album went Gold in Germany and the UK, for sales of 250,000 units and 100,000 units respectively.
Follow-up singles “Exterminate” (charting No. 2 in the UK and No. 3 in Germany) and “Do You See the light?” featured Niki Haris, a professional vocalist also known for her long-time work with Madonna, on lead vocals.
The producers, Münzing and Anzilotti recruited Washington, D.C.-born American singer Summer to front the act for the third album. Summer was born Paula Brown and previously had worked as a dancer in the TV series Fame and in the Spike Lee movie, School Daze. Snap! moved towards a progressive house sound and released their first single called “Welcome to Tomorrow (Are You Ready?)” in September 1994. The single peaked at No. 4 in Germany, No. 6 in the UK and was followed by the album, also titled Welcome to Tomorrow. The second single “The First the Last Eternity (Till the End)” was a moderate hit in the UK, but managed to climb as high as No. 7 in Germany. Snap! released two more singles from the album “The World in My Hands” and “Rame” (featuring Rukmani), both of which experienced moderate chart entries.
Interview
Interview with Snap!
Interview with Turbo B
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Penny Ford
World famous euro-dance band SNAP! consists of exceptionally talented lead singer Penny Ford.
Penny comes from a family with gospel musical background, she is the daughter of a well know singer Carolyn Ford and producer Gene Redd Sr. from King Records. Penny had a lot of exposure to the music industry from a very young age, her dad working with Kool and the Gang, as well as James Brown and Penny performed together with Prince and Chaka Khan.
Snap’s debut album came out in 1990 under the name of “World Power”, having sold more than 7 million copies it is considered one of the best dance albums. It features so many hits, such as ‘Mary Had A Little Boy’, ‘Ooops Up’, ‘Cult of Snap’ and obviously ‘The Power’. All the songs co-written and perfromed by Penny Ford.
Snap are also know for their song ‘Rhythm Is A Dancer’, which was the best selling single in 1992 in the UK and Germany. It had been featured in German hit charts as number 1 for more than 10 weeks, in the US it remained in the Billboard Charts for 39 weeks.
After World Power, Snap produced 3 more albums – The Madman’s Return, Welcome To Tomorrow and The Cult of Snap.
Penny Ford remains one of the most enaging singers on stage, nobody can resist her unique energy and exceptional talent.
Turbo B
Turbo B, is an American musician, rapper and beatboxer. He was once the frontman of the German electronic music group Snap!
After completing a period of service with the United States Army in Germany, Butler went on tour with The Fat Boys.
He was soon discovered by the managers of Snap!, and contributed to the albums World Power and The Madman’s Return and their respective number one hits, “The Power” and “Rhythm Is a Dancer”.
After leaving Snap!, Butler pursued a solo career and also formed the group Centory, which has several minor hits.
Butler is known to tour with other artists who were prominent in the 1990s. He has since contributed to singles by Victoria Silvstedt, H-Blockx, Master Blaster and Regi Penxten.