Real McCoy (band)

Group Origins (1988)

In the beginning, Real McCoy was known in Europe as "MC Sar & The Real McCoy" and only consisted of rapper Olaf "O-Jay" Jeglitza and an unknown session singer. Their first major breakthrough came in July 1988 when their cover of the Technotronic hit "Pump Up The Jam" called "Pump The Jam - Rap" became an unexpected No. 16 hit Germany. For their second single "It's On You," singer Patricia Petersen was recruited into the act to provide singing vocals. When their record label wanted to produce a music video and put on live shows for, "It's On You" a Frenchman of African-descent by the name of Shampro was recruited into the act to both star in Jeglitza's place and lipsync his vocals. At that time, Jeglitza did not want to be the face of the group, so he remained to be in the background initially and provided only rap vocals. Shampro was used as the frontman and face of M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy on a majority the groups' early advertisements and CD/vinyl cover art. The group released 3 more singles ("Don't Stop", "Make A Move", "Let's Talk About Love", and "No Showbo") and an album called "Make A Move." All of these releases failed to achieve the same success of "It's On You" and "Pump Up The Jam - Rap".

Mainstream Success "Another Night" (1991-1996)

While working on their second album titled "Space Invaders" the group received a slight makeover. Jeglitza became the actual frontman and starred in music videos, performed live and appeared on advertisements and Cover Art for the group's new records. However, the executives and the record label weren't happy with Petersen's singing vocals. Singer Karin Kasar was hired to provide the new singing vocals for the album. Petersen remained in the act as the frontwoman alongside Jeglitza, but was falsely promoted as the voice behind the group's biggest European hits ("Another Night", "Automatic Lover (Call For Love)" and "Run Away"). Petersen lip-synced Kasar's voice for all of the groups live performances and for all of their music videos. As a duo, Peteresen and Jeglitza toured worldwide and appeared together on cover art for the group's new records.

American music executive, Clive Davis of Arista Records took notice of their success and wanted to bring them to the American market in a similar fashion that he had done with "Ace of Base." For marketing reasons Arista decided to drop "M.C. Sar" from their group name and shortened it to "Real McCoy". Some new songs were recorded, but all of the female vocals were still done with Kasar. Arista also re-titled their Space Invaders album after their hit single "Another Night." During the promotion in America, another female singer named Vanessa Mason was added to the group making them now into a trio act. Mason had similar vocals to Kasar making their live performances more believable. Up until then, the group had always lip-synched in their live performances.

"One More Time" Album (1997)

In 1997, Real McCoy returned with a new single and album called One More Time, this time with Mason and newcomer Lisa Cork. For this album Cork and Mason actually performed their own vocals on the songs. The album was co-written with American songwriter/producer Brent Argovitz who had brought Cork into the band. The single itself was released in many nations around the world on vinyl and CD-maxi singles with a total of 18 remixes among all the releases. "One More Time" (the single) peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became a Top 20 hit on both Rhythmic/Dance format radio and on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. However, "One More Time" completely missed the UK Singles Chart. A few other singles were released such as a cover of the Shania Twain hit, "If You're Not in It For Love (I'm Outta Here)" and "I Wanna Come With You" (which "Bubbled Under" the Hot 100). The album also featured a track penned by Billy Steinberg, and Chris Kusch provided the piano melody on the album track "Take A Look at Your Life". Unfortunately One More Time (the album) failed to replicate the success of "Another Night". Before long the group disbanded.

New Real McCoy Lineup (1999-2009)

Although the group decided to stop recording together, a completely new line-up were hired to form a "new" Real McCoy in 1999. Jason, Gabi and Ginger recorded a brand new version of the 1990 hit "It's on You" still featuring O-Jay's raps in an updated form, which was released only in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2000, they also released a new song titled "Hey Now", the first Real McCoy tune to feature a rap not using O-Jay. Both singles failed to chart.

O-Jay went on to produce and re-mix for several German artists such as Yvonne Catterfeld, B3, Daniel Küblböck and ATC.

In 2003, O-Jay released a solo CD single under the A45 record label (Germany) with several mixes of his winning eurodance formula called "Nite to Remember", a song very reminiscent of the Real McCoy tracks with his rap and female vocals.

Several "greatest hits" compilations have been issued in recent years, and O-Jay started his own weblog in 2004, in which he finally revealed that the group's biggest hits had in fact been performed by Karin Kasar. He has also speculated that yet another Real McCoy group was being lined up without his permission, but so far they have not been launched. O-Jay still performs under the name Real McCoy and collaborated with Ich Troje to represent Poland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The song, "Follow My Heart", failed to qualify for the grand final.

In early 2007, O-Jay started a new record label, Phears Music, with a distribution partnership with SonyBMG in Germany. He also released a brand new physical and digital single "People Are Still Having Sex", a cover of LaTour's 1991 hit, in anticipation of a new album and tour for Real McCoy.

In July 2008, "Another Night" was listed on place 91 in "The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs" list. In late 2008, O-Jay signed a new exclusive deal with Sony Music Germany for Real McCoy.

In July 2009, Real McCoy performed in Halifax, Canada and Toronto, Canada with the band formation of O-Jay, Debbie, and Gemma. This was their first set of performances in over a decade and also used live vocals on backing instrumental tracks. The setlist consisted of "One More Time", "Run Away", "Come And Get Your Love", "Two Hearts" (the new single), and "Another Night".

In August 2009, Real McCoy performed in Engelberg, Switzerland (DJ BoBo and Friends concert).

Real McCoy Comeback (2016)

On their official Facebook page it was announced that the actual studio singer Karin Kasar had returned with O-Jay to perform as Real McCoy at '90s festivals.

Group Members

Producers