Whigfield
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Whigfield is a Danish singer best known for the song "Saturday Night", a hugely popular single of summer 1994. Born Sannie Charlotte Carlson in Skælskør, Denmark on April 11 1970, she spent several years in Africa as a child before returning to her native country. She rose to prominence when her single "Saturday Night" became the summer smash hit of 1994, thanks to extensive play in the clubs of the Mediterranean and the fact that it had a dance which many found easy to learn. She became the first ever non-UK artist to debut at No.1 in their first week in the UK Singles Chart. Her music was also very successful in Brazil, Canada, Australia, France and the Nordic countries during the 1994 eurodance phenomenon.
However the only place where she has yet to achieve success, and has eluded her since, is the United States (Even though she placed both "Saturday Night" and "Another Day" on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1995, with "Night" peaking at #19 and "Day" coming in at #21, respectively).
Later singles include "Think of You", "Close To You", "Last Christmas", "Gimme Gimme" and "Sexy Eyes".
Like Milli Vanilli, Whigfield was accused of not singing her own songs. This was because she did all her live performances lip synching, and she has a high-pitched voice in the recorded tracks. "Saturday Night" was produced by Larry Pignagnoli and Davide Riva, two Italian producers known for a variety of eurodance projects, who usually worked with vocalists such Daniella Galli (better known as Dhany), Annerley Gordon (a.k.a. Ann Lee) and Sandy Chambers. The fact Galli wrote the lyrics to "Saturday Night", and that another Pignagnoli project, Ally & Jo featured a similar voice to Whigfield's but different faces in the CD cover, led to the accusations.
Saturday Night dance
"Saturday Night" is famous for its characteristic associated dance, which has the unusual feature of looping a pattern of five bar-long steps over an ordinary four-bar cycle of music. The steps are, in order:- Both arms bent at 90 degrees, elbows held at waist, both pushing to the right then to the left
- Left arm stationary, supporting right elbow, right upper arm twiddles. Then reversed.
- Bend over forwards rolling arms around each other
- Hands on waist, step forwards then backwards
- Four jumps, whilst rotating body gradually by 90 degrees.
Albums
- Whigfield (1995)
- Whigfield II (1997)
- Whigfield III (2000)
- Whigfield IIII (2002)
- Was a Time This Album (the essential collection DVD & CD album) (2004)
- X-Tremely Fun: Whigfield's Fitness Workout (compilation) (2005)
- Dance with Whigfield (compilation) (2005)
The artist Black Duck recorded the song "Whiggle In Line", borrowing heavily from "Saturday Night". "Whiggle In Line" enjoyed modest popularity in the US, and appears on several compilations of dance music.
See also
External links
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