2 Unlimited is a dance project founded in 1991 by Belgian producers Jean-Paul
DeCoster and Phil Wilde and fronted by Dutch rapper Ray Slijngaard and Dutch
vocalist Anita Doth. During five years of enormous worldwide popularity, the
act scored 16 chart hits, including "Get Ready for This", "Twilight Zone", "No
Limit", and "Tribal Dance". During their career, they have sold 18 million
records worldwide. Although they enjoyed less mainstream recognition in the
United States, many of their songs have become popular themes at US sporting
events, particularly in the NHL. History
= Formation= Jean-Paul DeCoster and Phil Wilde met in
their hometown of Antwerp, Belgium, and their first collaboration under the name
of Bizz Nizz resulted in a single called "Don't Miss The Party Line" which
entered the top 10 in the UK. The two then decided to continue to work
together. Jean Paul de Coster and Phil Wilde
initially had created an instrumental track they called "Get Ready for This"
and they decided that it needed some vocals. De Coster recalls:
They were so pleased with the result that they agreed to work with them as a
duo, and thus 2 Unlimited was born. = Get Ready!=
They were signed to Byte Records and were licensed to many other record
labels worldwide, including PWL Continental in the UK, ZYX in Germany,
Switzerland and Austria, Scorpio in France etc. Their first single, "Get
Ready For This" was well received in their home market, the Netherlands where
it managed to peak at No. 10. It also peaked at No. 8 in Belgium, and managed
to climb to No. 2 in Australia and the UK. The single worked its way up to No.
38 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart only three after its original release.
A follow-up single, "Twilight Zone", followed in January 1992 which topped
the chart in the Netherlands. It also charted well in numerous markets
including No. 2 in the UK. In the United States, it peaked at No. 49 on the Hot
100. To capitalize on this success, the album Get Ready! was released on 24
February 1992, which featured the first two singles and seven other brand new
tracks including two ballads. Two further singles were released from the
album, "Workaholic" and "The Magic Friend". In the US, the album received a
Gold certification for sales of 500,000 units in 1995.
= No Limits!= 2 Unlimited's lead single, "No Limit"
from the act's second album, was released in January 1993 and the
repetitive nature of the song helped it become their most successful single
ever, and by far the best remembered by the general public even now. The single
topped the charts in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, the
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and in the United Kingdom.
In Germany the single was certified Platinum for sales of 500,000 units. The
track received modest airplay in North American radio stations, reaching the
top 25 in the US Dance charts. By 1996, worldwide sales for the single "No
Limit" had reached 2.3 million units. "Tribal Dance" was released as a single
shortly before the album No Limits! hit the stores in May 1993. The "Tribal
Dance" was very successful also entering the top 5 in Austria, Australia,
Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and in the UK. In
Germany, "Tribal Dance" was certified Gold for sales of over 250,000 units.
Three further singles were issued from the second album, "Faces", which was
considerably different in pace to previous releases, "Maximum Overdrive"
and a re-recorded version of "Let the Beat Control Your Body". In France, the
title was changed to "Let The Bass Control Your Body" to avoid any
confusion with the slang word "bite". The full-length album entitled No
Limits! was more successful than the predecessor entering the top 5 album
charts in Austria, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden,
Switzerland. In the UK, the album climbed all the way to the top of the
album chart. By 1996, the album's total sales had reached 3 million units
including 592,000 units in the GSA region.
Despite their phenomenal success in the UK the duo were enjoying, they were
criticized heavily by the music industry and the British press dubbed them "2
Untalented". = Real Things=
In May 1994, the duo's tenth single "The Real Thing" was released and it proved
that their fans were still interested as they sent the single to No. 1 in their
home market, the Netherlands as well as into the top 5 in Belgium, Germany and
Norway. While their third album, called Real
Things shot to No. 1 in the Netherlands and the UK, it also managed to land in
the top 5 in Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. The album was
certified gold in the UK for sales of over 100,000 units. Real Things was
their first album that the UK label, PWL, made no changes to.
In 1994, 2 Unlimited had their biggest audience ever, performing in front of
500,000 people. Their second single, "No One", despite
being a straightforward pop record didn't prevent their fans from sending
it to No. 2 in the Netherlands on the sales chart.
In March 1995, while their follow-up single, "Here I Go" was another top 5
hit in their homeland, their commercial success seemed to be declining elsewhere
as the single made it in the top 20 only in Austria, Belgium and Sweden. The
fourth and final single was the ballad "Nothing Like the Rain" which was not
quite as successful and did not receive a release in many territories including
the UK release. = Hits Unlimited=
In October 1995, 2 Unlimited released their first compilation album Hits
Unlimited, prompting rumours that they were about to split up. The first
single, "Do What's Good for Me" from the album entered the top 5 in Finland, and
the top 20 in the Netherlands and the UK. Despite their insistence that they
were planning a world tour, in April 1996, shortly after the release of the
single "Jump for Joy", both Slijngaard and Doth announced that 2 Unlimited was
over. It later emerged that after having spent
so much time together they were no longer getting on as well as they once
had, and there was disagreement about the future sound of 2 Unlimited. They
had asked for more creative input and they also felt that they were not
getting a fair share of the huge amount of money being earned by the project. As
no agreement was reached, they each went their separate ways before a final
single "Spread Your Love" was released in June 1996.
= II= As they still owned the rights to the
name "2 Unlimited", DeCoster and Wilde recruited two new singers, Romy van
Ooijen and Marjon van Iwaarden, in order to capitalise on previous success.
"Wanna Get Up" did well in the Netherlands, reaching No. 10 and the
single, which was remixed by Sash! for UK release, reached No. 38.
The album II, was released in April 1998. It was not as successful as
previous studio albums, nor were the subsequent singles "Edge of Heaven" and
"Never Surrender". In 1999, both van Ooijen and van Iwaarden left 2
Unlimited. = Remixes=
In 2000, Byte Records released the remix singles "No Limit" and "Twilight Zone".
A remix album was to be released that year but some master tapes were stolen
from Byte, and taken to Russia where they were released as a bootleg
compilation. Also in this year, 2 Unlimited made their first appearance on
the Eurodance compilation Dancemania series, specifically its Speed
sub-series, with their song "Twilight Zone"'s "B4 Za Beat Mix".
In 2001, Byte finally released it "Greatest Hits Remixes" featuring many
new remixes. Some of the remixes from the stolen master tapes released in
Russia were not included. The album was released solely in Japan. In 2002,
Trance Remixes: Special Edition was released in Japan featuring many more
new remixes not included in the previous compilation.
In recent years, many "best of" compilations have been released in
various territories, often with new remixes. Most notably, ZYX Records
released "No Limit 2.3" in 2003 and it was a moderate hit, reaching no. 41 in
the German singles chart. It was promoted by a new duo, Débora Remagen
and James Giscombe they were being lined up as a 2 Unlimited "version 3". They
still perform, mainly in Eastern Europe, although are not allowed to use their
own voices. This due to copyright issues.
A new CD and DVD set containing all the duo's video-clips called The Complete
History was released in 2004 along with a single, "Tribal Dance 2.4". 2005 saw
the release of "The Refreshed Album" in Mexico featuring stunning artwork, but
the same remixes found on previous remix albums. In 2006, the DVD was re-packaged
with a different CD Greatest Remix Hits, which was released in Australia. The
following years would see this package re-released in Argentina, Denmark,
Sweden, Asia and South Africa. = Reunions=
Having both continued to perform their old hits separately in nightclubs and
university student unions around the world, the original performers
Slijngaard and Doth reunited on 11 April 2009, to perform together for the first
time in 13 years at the "I Love The 90s" concert in Hasselt, Belgium. According
to a radio interview with Slijngaard, Jean-Paul DeCoster did not give
permission for the duo to perform under the name 2 Unlimited; however Phil Wilde
attended the gig and provided help with preparing backing tracks.
On 30 April 2009, Slijngaard and Doth performed five songs at the Radio 538
Queen's Day concert at Museumplein in Amsterdam. On 8 June, they were awarded
"Most Popular Act of the 1990s", based on number of weeks in the Dutch Top 40,
and on 25 September, they performed as a support act for Milk Inc. at the
Sportpaleis in Antwerp. On 29 December 2009, it was announced
that the duo would release a new single in 2010 called "In Da Name of Love", as
Ray & Anita. It was released as a CD single in the Netherlands through
Spinnin' Records on 22 January 2010. It reached No. 6 on the Dutch Top 40 sales
chart. On 30 April 2010, a new single was presented during the Dutch Queensday
called "Still Unlimited". In July 2011, Ray & Anita invited fans
to be part of the video for "Nothing 2 Lose" in Amsterdam. Fans applied via
email and were selected randomly. The video with the fans was shot on 28 July.
The single was released at the end of August 2011. The single is also the lead
track for the film soundtrack of "Amsterdam Heavy". In the same month,
Ray & Anita headlined the "I Love the 90's" stage at Tomorrowland in Belgium.
= Comeback= On 11 July 2012, it was announced that
Ray & Anita would be working again with the Belgian producer, De Coster under
the name 2 Unlimited. On 30 March 2013, Slijngaard and Doth
performed their first full concert as 2 Unlimited with their band in Belgium at
Antwerps Sportpaleis. The duo released a remixed version of
their very first single, "Get Ready for This" on 28 October 2013. The song has
been remixed by DJ Steve Aoki and was included on their Greatest Hits album.
In 2014, 2 Unlimited gave concerts at ten festivals that together made up
Acceleration 2014, which combined top class car and bike racing with music and
entertainment. Discography
Get Ready! No Limits!
Real Things II/Wanna Get Up
References External links
2 Unlimited – Official Website Biography from The Eurodance
Encyclopædia 2 Unlimited on Discogs
2 Unlimited on Hyperreal