B-side Remix Genre DanceEurodanceHouse Label Pulse 8 | Released 1993 Length 3:40 | |
Format 7" Single12" SingleCD SingleCD Maxi | ||
"The Key The Secret" is a song originally released in 1993 by British band Urban Cookie Collective with vocals by British singer Diane Charlemagne. The song is widely regarded as one of the biggest dance anthems of the '90s and has been remixed several times.
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About the song
"The Key The Secret" was very successful globally. It was originally a track written at home by Rohan Heath in a soul and hip hop vein. It was released on the tiny Unheard Records label. After a subsequent re-mix provoked a massive club response it was picked up by the Pulse 8 record label and released in July 1993.
It peaked at number 2 with 16 consecutive weeks on the UK Top 75 singles charts, at number 2 in the Netherlands and at number 4 in Ireland and Australia. It was the best-selling Dance song of 1993.
When asked in an interview about how 'The Key The Secret' came up, songwriter Rohan Heath said:
"It pretty much came off the top of my head. I've always had a real interest in songwriting and it just happened to be at the better end of a million ideas I had. I tend to put one hand on my keyboard, play a chord and see what comes out of my mouth. 'The Key The Secret' was actually about taking magic mushrooms, which a lot of people never really realised at the time."
In 1996, the track was remixed and again entered the UK charts peaking for 1 week at number 52. It was remixed again in 2004, this time peaking at number 31 in 2005. An uptempo Eurodance remix was also made by DJ Dougal and Mickey Skeedale for Dancemania Speed in 1998.
A remix of the song was also included in episode 2 of the second series of Channel 4's drama series Queer as Folk in 2000.
Music video
The music video of "The Key The Secret" was directed by Lindy Heymann.
Cover versions
"The Key, The Secret" was more recently covered by Phobos & Deimos. In 2000, the German pop singer Jasmin Wagner heavily samples the chorus and the beat of the song in the German version as "Er ist so süß", which was released on her fourth studio album Die Welt gehört Dir.