Angel City
Angel City are a collective, fronted by 21 year old Lara McAllen, who enjoyed massive success in 2003 with their debut single, 'Love Me Right'.
Angel City comprises 21 year old Lara and an array of different producers. "But," she says, "this time round I've got six dancers with me. It'll be wicked – like having a family round me! I've been travelling round the country doing PA's and the song has gone down really well so hopefully it'll do even better than the last one!"
Lara, born and brought up in Guildford, appreciates more than most how incredible it is to have fulfilled her lifetime ambitions. Ever since she was tiny, all she wanted was to become a professional singer and dancer - "I never wanted to do anything else" - but she was born with a condition that affects one in 700 people:
"I had a dislocated left hip and, because it wasn't detected until I was 18 months old, I spent a lot of my childhood in hospital undergoing treatment. At first it looked like I might never be able to walk properly, but by the time I was four the splints came off. By the time I was six I insisted I wanted to learn to dance!"
Although her mother was worried, the doctor soon assured her that it was probably the best thing she could do. Enrolling at the Susan Driver School in the nearby town of Send, Lara was hooked from day one: she passed all her singing and dancing exams - tap, modern and ballet - with honours. At the age of 18 she was onto even bigger things:
"I started doing some sessions, and then got the gig touring with Shakira in the UK as a backing singer/dancer. That was a great experience - performing with her on Top of The Pops and CD:UK - but the highlight was definitely at Party in the Park. It was then - being on stage in front of thousands of people and having the best time of my life - that I realized I wanted to do my own thing."
Promptly spotted by Ministry Of Sound, she was soon fronting Angel City and enjoying her first taste of chart success.
And as for the rest of 2004? "I'm currently in the studio working on my debut album - we're about half way through recording it, and are working with hit songwriter/producers including Grammy winner Bruce Elliot-Smith (Kylie), Phil Larson and Pete Hammond. I have also co-written a few of the tracks which was very satisfying for me, I'm going to have slashes at the end of my name now - singer/ songwriter. It's coming out at the end of August - so buy it!"
CDS": Angel City - Touch Me
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Released June 2004 on Data Records. Written by Patrick Adams & Deyle Carmichael. Produced by Frank Knebel for Bass Bumpers Music Group. Vocals by Lara McAllen. Additional remix and production on track 3 by Phunk Investigation (Dino & Stefano), on track 4 by Piet Bervoets & Benno de Goeij and on track 5 by Paul Roberts.
'Touch Me' is a big dance remake of the 1991 hit by Cathy Dennis (which peaked at No.2 in 1991 and also topped the US charts) and follows up the success of Angel City's debut hit ‘Love Me Right' in 2003. The Extended version and more dance orientated Phunk Investigation's Club Mix are the lighter of the mixes on offer here, keeping Lara McAllen's vocals at the forefront of the mix and hence gearing these mixes at the more commerical end of the market. Rank1 produce an excellent trance makeover with less emphasis on the vocals - one for the more serious dancefloors - whilst Quadrasonic toughen up the beats even further whilst bringing the vocals back to the front of the mix. An excellent range of commercial dance mixes of what is guaranteed to be a huge summer anthem.
"It's a little more commercial than ‘Love Me Right'," explains Lara. "It's a really radio-friendly sing-along dance track. I was in the studio listening to some demos when this came on, and I remembered it from the first time round when it was a big hit for Cathy Dennis. We've completely re-vamped it and updated the sound. It's about how a woman feels about a man when she imagines being with him...'know what I mean!"
CDS": Angel City - Do You Know (I Go Crazy)
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Release date: 27/09/04 on Data Records. Written by Robert Miles. Produced by Bass Bumpers. Vocals by Lara McAllen.
Following swiftly on from the top 40 hit 'Touch Me', Angel City present a huge re-working of a Robert Miles / Michelle Gayle bootleg. The original by BCD Project began life back in 2003 on Boss Records, with a pairing of the classic trance anthem 'Children' by Robert Miles with Michelle Gayle's top ten hit 'Do You Know?'. Failure to get sample clearance limited the release of this original, but now Data Records and Angel City have secured official clearance and the bootleg is set for the dance music charts.
Produced by the Bass Bumpers (Voodoo & Serano, DJ Sammy and CJ Stone), 'Do You Know' is a complete package of commercial vocal dance remixes and precedes Angel City's debut album 'Love Me Right' which is set for release on October 11th 2004.
Other Info:
For further information on Angel City see the Ministry of Sound web site.
