A Touch of Class (band)

A Touch of Class
From left to right: Tracey Elizabeth Packham, Joseph "Joey" Murray, Livio Salvi, and Sarah Egglestone
Background information
Also known as	ATC
Born	(1974-07-05) July 5, 1974 (Joseph "Joey" Murray) (1975-04-04) April 4, 1975 (Sarah Egglestone) (1977-01-25) January 25, 1977 (Livio Salvi) (1977-07-30) July 30, 1977 (Tracey Elizabeth Packham)
Origin	Hamburg, Germany[1]
Genres	Europop, Eurodance
Years active	1998–2003
Associated acts	DJ Jurgen, Judith Pronk
Past members	Joseph "Joey" Murray Sarah Egglestone Tracey Elizabeth Packham Livio Salvi

ATC (also known as A Touch of Class) was an international pop group based in Germany, although the four members each came from different countries^[2] — Joseph "Joey" Murray (born July 5, 1974) from New Zealand, Livio Salvi (b. January 25, 1977) from Italy, Sarah Egglestone (b. April 4, 1975) from Australia and Tracey Elizabeth Packham (b. July 30, 1977) from the United Kingdom. The pop group was active from 1998 to 2003 and peaked its popularity after release of "Around the World (La La La La La)" in 2000.

Musical career

The four met together in Hamburg, Germany as cast members of the international broadway theatre German production of the stage musical "Cats" within October 1997-April 1998.^[3] Sarah Egglestone played Bombalurina, Livio Salvi played Mungojerrie, Tracey Packham played Syllabub, and Joey Murray played as Munkustrap/swing dancer. The four quickly became friends and decided to form a dance group. According to Livio, "We've always been performing, you know? Dancing and singing since we were young."^[4] Sarah once said, "We were there sitting watching television one day, seeing like groups and saying 'there's no reason, you know, why we can't do this.'"^[5] The group also experimented with mixing both girls and boys together with each band members stating,^[6] "We want to try to mix it up with boys and girls," said Sarah. "Producers don't seem to want to mix the voices so often and it, we wanted to. That, that helps give us that little bit of an edge," said Joey. "And we also try like Sarah said, to put the two, the boy and girls together and because it makes it sound more interesting," said Livio and their efforts paid off when they met producers Alex Christensen and Thomas M. Stein whom gave them the green-light and ATC was born.^[7]

Their first single, "Around the World (La La La La La)" (which was an English cover of the song "Pesenka" by the Russian group Ruki Vverh!) was first released on May 9, 2000 and went number one in Germany for six weeks in summer 2000. It was later a Top 40 hit in the United Kingdom and United States. The song was in a television commercial for General Electric in the United States in early 2002. The song was also covered in 2007 by the band BeFour under the name "Magic Melody". In end of 2007, the song was sampled by local producer Beat Ink and it spanned many versions by various artists from many parts of the world. In 2009, that version was used in La La La by rapper Chris Webby. In 2010, the song was sampled in the singles "La La La" by Auburn (featuring Iyaz), which peaked at no. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100, and in "2 in the Morning" by Girlicious, which peaked at no. 35 on the Canadian Hot 100.

Their debut album Planet Pop, featuring songs from Alex Christensen and Clyde Ward, was released on February 6, 2001 by Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Republic Records, for which they were awarded an ECHO for Best Dance Act. Similar-sounding follow-up singles were successful in parts of Europe, but A Touch of Class were mainly remembered for their first hit.

The DJ and producer ATB successfully took the band's record label to court, and they were forced to change their name to A Touch of Class.^[2] Three singles were released from their second album Touch the Sky in 2003, but they did not match the success of their previous album, and the group members decided to go their separate ways.^[2]

Discography

Albums

• 2001: Planet Pop (U.S. #73)
• 2003: Touch the Sky

Singles

References