N-Trance was formed in 1990 by Kevin O’ Toole & Dale Longworth, and at first, it was just an excuse for four or five students to get a load of free studio time to mess about with all the college’s equipment but after a while, they began to produce material which they thought was comparable to what was in the charts at the time. They made their first demo tape in 1991, and later caught the attention of record labels. Just as they were about to sign for DDG, Pete Waterman heard the song and he came in with a better offer and the band signed to PWL’s Manchester company 380 Records.
Back to the Bass was re-recorded at PWL in London, and the band recorded four or five new songs, one of which being ‘Set You Free’ featuring Kelly Llorenna. In 1993 N-Trance signed to new label All Around The World, and ‘Set you free’ was at last released, reaching the dizzy heights of number 81! During this time the band had started to gig regularly and the reaction to ‘Set you free’ in clubs was phenomenal. This led to the song’s second release which actually made the top 40 (number 39!). The band followed up their success with ‘Turn Up the Power’, which featured Rachel Mcfarlan and rapper T-1k. In January ‘95 it reached number two, stayed in the charts for five months, sold 600,000 units and went on to be the eighth biggest-selling single of the year. It also opened up new markets abroad for the band, charting in Europe and Australia.
During the summer of 95, the band recorded their debut album ‘Electronic Pleasure’ which features no less than seven different vocalists- Kelly Llorenna, Viveen Wray, Gillian Wisdom, Ricardo Da Force, Jerome Stokes, Rachel McFarland & T-1k as well as David Grant & his choir. The next single was a cover of the Bee-Gees’ disco anthem ‘Stayin’ Alive’. This track was the first to feature Viveen Wray and ex KLF rapper Ricardo Da Force. In January 96, the title track from the album ‘Electronic Pleasure’ was released, featuring Ricardo and Gillian Wisdom. A more serious dance song than Stayin Alive with loads of club mixes, it reached number 11 in the UK chart. The rest of 96 was taken up with recording their second album - ‘Happy Hour’. The first single from this album was cheese anthem D.I.S.C.O. which reached no. 11 in the U.K. This was closely followed by ‘The Mind of the Machine’.
It was back to the seventies for their next single - ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?'. 1998 saw the release of two more singles from ‘Happy Hour’, the tongue in cheek cover of Guns ‘n’ Roses’ ‘Paradise City’ and ‘Tears in the Rain’. Also in 1998 N-Trance worked with Jeff Wayne on the remixed version of his classic album ‘The War of the Worlds’.Their next single, in 1999 saw them up to their old tricks, reworking the seventies Jacksons classic ‘Shake Ya Body’. 2002 saw the release of ‘The Best of N-Trance’ which included all the hit singles and more from the last ten years. Taken from this album were two new songs, ‘Forever’ which reached number 6 in September 2002 and ‘Destiny’ which peaked at number 37 in July 2003. In 2003 Gillian Tennant became the lead vocalist. She debuted on I’m In Heaven and was the singer for N-Trance for the next 3 years on live work whilst the new album was being written. The band is now touring with Rachel, MC B, Jay McCurdy & DJ Junior K and are set to celebrate their 30th anniversary.
Available to hire as:
- DJ & PA Set
- DJ & Singer
- DJ MC Set
- DJ Set
- Live PA
- Singer
