Digital Emotion

Digital Emotion
Origin	Rijnsaterwoude, Netherlands
Genres	Euro disco, electronic
Years active	1983-1991, 2016-present
Labels	Break Records, Disky, Replay Records, IMC, Dance Device, Cat Music & More, Energy Level
Past members	Digital Emotion Steven Koswal Chickie de Beer Myrna Balrak Jean François Columbo Steve de Goede Marlinda van der Hoff Nieke Ruhulessin Session members Cees Bergman Geertjan Hessing Marian Pijnaker Anita Crooks Sylvia Crooks Cindy Crooks Edward Den Heijer

Digital Emotion is a 1980s Euro disco group from the Netherlands, formed in 1983. Performers were Steven Koswal, Chickie de Beer and Myrna Balrak; Jean François Columbo, De Beer and Balrak; and Steve de Goede, De Beer and Marlinda van der Hoff. Their first singles from 1983, "Get Up, Action" and "Go Go Yellow Screen", sold successfully worldwide. They released two albums, Digital Emotion in 1984 and Outside In The Dark in 1985. All of their songs were produced and written by Catapult musicians Aart Mol, Cees Bergman, Elmer Veerhoff, Erwin van Prehn and Geertjan Hessing (under the aliases "Adams & Fleisner" and "Tony Acardi"), and recorded at Cat Music.

The project is currently produced by Edward Den Heijer, under the pseudonym "Eddy Mi Ami", with Mol and Hessing writing the songs and continuing to use the "Adams & Fleisner" pseudonym.

History

Beginnings

Catapult, a glam rock band formed by and consisting of Aart Mol, Cees Bergman, Erwin van Prehn and Geertjan Hessing and later joined by Elmer Veerhoff, had scored a number of hits in the 1970s; "Let Your Hair Hang Down" and "Teeny Bopper Band" were two of the band's hits. As their popularity began to fade, the band decided that it was time for something different. They wanted to make music in different styles, which was difficult because of their Leiden dialect, and the fact that Dutch radio stations and television channels did not want to accept the fact that they could do so. Dutch DJ Willem van Kooten later advised them to start writing music for other artists. They became quite adept at this, writing and producing songs for Lia Velasco, Patricia Paay, The Internationals, The Surfers, and Snoopy. Because they could respond and record music themselves, that saved them money. They worked for ex-Golden Earring drummer Jaap Eggermont, who produced the records, and he in turn worked for Van Kooten, who financed the records and came up with the concepts. He then played the music in his own daily program on Hilversum 3, and at the same time received part of the royalties. The quintet also formed Rubberen Robbie in 1978, their vehicle for parody and carnival songs, sung in their native Dutch language. Around that time, the members were all living together in the same apartment and recording music there. However, the neighbours constantly complained about the terrible noise, so in September 1979, they had to find another place to record their music. They went to Rijnsaterwoude and formed a recording studio and production company named Cat Music, where they recorded as The Monotones, scoring a hit in Germany and the Netherlands with the song "Mono" on 15 December 1979. Seven days later on 23 December 1979, they gave their farewell gig as Catapult in the "Feest Paleis" in Beervelde.

In the 1980s, the members wrote songs for Leidsche rock band Tower and André Hazes (three of which were recorded for his album Gewoon André, including his number 1 hit "Een Beetje Verliefd"), and specialised in writing and producing breakdance, hip hop and Italo disco music, with 1983 and 1984 becoming their most productive years. Inspired by listening to illegal records of Italian dance projects and Hi-NRG artists such as Bobby Orlando, Giorgio Moroder and Divine in a compact disc store owned by Gert van den Bosch (who imported many records himself and sold them through record stores in the Netherlands), they took the records to their studio and used electronic instruments such as ARP and Moog synthesizers, the Roland TR-808 and the Akai S612 to make "legal" sound-alikes of them. Since their new songs were cut down as non-format and did not hit the airwaves, they used pseudonyms such as "Adams & Fleisner" and "Tony Acardi", and formed various fictional bands and artists in which the members were models and dancers hired for cover photograph shoots and lip-synced to songs sung by Bergman, Hessing and session singers in live performances. These included disco group Fantastique, synth-pop groups Gazuzu and Polysix, breakbeat group Master Genius, X-Ray Connection, Dr. Groove, Blanc De Blanc, Euro disco group VideoKids, Joanne Daniëls, hip hop groups Comfort & Joy and Party Freaks, and Eurobeat quartet Twiggy Bop. They also, along with Aad Klaris, wrote and produced "Talkin 'Bout Rambo" by Linda Snoeij, under the stage name "L-Vira", and wrote and produced two albums for hard rock band Picture: Every Story Needs Another Picture and Marathon. Many of their dance and Italo disco records were released by Dutch labels such as Dureco Benelux and Boni Records (through their sublabel Break Records), which was founded by and named after Van den Bosch and Jan van Nieuwkoop in 1982. Van den Bosch exported Cat Music's records to America, where they were sold as special imports.

Music career

In May 1983, Cat Music wrote, produced and released their first single for their studio project, Digital Emotion, called "Don't Stop". The single was based entirely on an electric bassline and inspired by Bobby Orlando, Giorgio Moroder and Divine. The repeated words "Don't stop," were sung through a vocoder by Hessing. The female vocals were done by Marian Pijnaker and Anita, Sylvia and Cindy Crooks of The Internationals. The single flopped due to its lack of an artist. Because of this, Cat Music wrote and produced their next single, "Get Up, Action", the vocals in it sung this time by Bergman and the Crooks, and hired three models and dancers, Steven Koswal, Chickie de Beer and Myrna Balrak, to be the faces of the project. The single sold well around the world upon release, as did its follow-up, "Go Go Yellow Screen", inspired by "Living on Video" by Trans-X (both "Living on Video" and "Go Go Yellow Screen" would later be used in "Let's Break" by Master Genius, another Cat Music project). Koswal was later replaced by Jean François Colombo.

In 1984, Digital Emotion released their debut album of the same name, Digital Emotion, which only contained six tracks, and the single "Steppin' Out". Colombo and Balrak would be replaced by Steve de Goede and Marlinda van der Hoff. The success of Digital Emotion was consolidated by the release of the album Outside In The Dark in 1985, which included a remix of "Steppin' Out" by Peter Slaghuis. In addition to their music, the group also gained worldwide fame for their stage shows; they first performed in Dutch disco clubs, before touring around Europe and performing in Eastern Bloc countries. After the first two albums, no others followed, and only singles and remixes were released. These included "Time (Back In Time)", "Jungle Beat" in 1986, "Dance To The Music" and a 12" remix of "Get Up, Action" in 1987 (with raps by Bergman), "Super Mega Mix" in 1988, and "I Need Your Love Tonight" in 1989. "Dance To The Music", the 12" remix of "Get Up, Action", "Super Mega Mix" and "I Need Your Love Tonight" were released by Disky, Cat Music (as "Replay Records") and IMC due to Boni Records' closure in 1987. The front covers of "Jungle Beat" and "Dance To The Music" featured two blonde girls in place of De Beer and Van der Hoff. In De Beer's case, she chose to leave the group and dance with a modern theatre jazz dance company and sing in a family band with her brothers. She was replaced with Nieke Ruhulessin for the stage shows. In 1991, "Don't Stop" was released by Dance Device and IMC as "Don't Stop (The Rave)", with Cat Music producing the original single's "'91 Clubmix" and "Anversmix".

In 2004, Cat Music licensed "Don't Stop", "Get Up, Action", "Go Go Yellow Screen", "Dance To The Music" and "I Need Your Love Tonight" to Weton-Wesgram for inclusion in their compilation album Club Hits of the 80's. In 2008, they released Digital Emotion and Outside In The Dark on iTunes, Spotify and Apple Music. They would also release Club Hits of the 80's themselves on Apple Music that year. In January 2013, they closed their studio in Rijnsaterwoude, and Cees Bergman moved some of the equipment to a small studio in his house, where he continued to make music. Despite this, Cat Music still exists as an entertainment production company named Cat Music & More, based in Voorburg, owned by Aart Mol (currently) and Bergman (until his death in 2017), and managing the rights to all their music. In 2014, Cat Music licensed Digital Emotion to MiruMir Music Publishing for release in Russia as Digital Emotion 30th Anniversary Edition. The reissued album was produced by Daniel Maslovsky, and included artwork recreated from the original art and restored by him. The album was reissued again in 2024 on Maslovsky's new label Maschina Records in Estonia, on 2CD with rare tracks and unreleased mixes in February, and on different coloured LP records in March. In 2016, Cat Music resumed the project, writing the single "Full Control", which was produced by Edward Den Heijer, under the pseudonym "Eddy Mi Ami". The single was released by Cat Music in the Netherlands on 10 August 2016, and i Venti d'Azzurro Records through their sublabel Energy Level in Italy. On 6 September 2019, they released "You'll Be Mine/Run Away", followed by "Moving to the Top/Supernova" (with vocals in the former song by Marian Pijnaker) in 2021, and "Arcade Serenade" in 2023. In October 2023, "Don't Stop", "Get Up, Action", "Go Go Yellow Screen", "Full Control", "Attention", "You'll Be Mine", "Run Away", "Moving to the Top", "Supernova", "Arcade Serenade" and "Galaxy" were released as part of the compilation album Adams & Fleisner: The Ultimate Collection.

Personal lives

Chickie de Beer currently works as a dance teacher and secretary. Her youngest daughter Maya Mae is an upcoming singer and songwriter on Spotify and YouTube, while her eldest daughter Amber works in a care home for the elderly. Marlinda van der Hoff died of cancer in 2021.

Legacy

The songs "Get Up, Action", "Go Go Yellow Screen" and "The Beauty and the Beast" were featured in the Nu Pogodi episode "High-Tech Center", albeit sped up. Aart Mol stated that Soyuzmultfilm did not ask Cat Music for permission to use the songs, and Cat Music did not receive any royalties for the songs' usage in the episode.

"Go Go Yellow Screen" has been covered and remixed several times by other artists throughout history, such as DJ 7Up in 2005, Cliff Wedge in his album Back To The 80's in 2009, Trans-X in their album Discolocos, Vol. 1 in 2018, and MD Station in 2020.

Discography

Albums

• Digital Emotion (1984)
• Outside In The Dark (1985)

Singles

• "Don't Stop" (1983)
• "Get Up, Action" (1983)
• "Go Go Yellow Screen" (1983)
• "Steppin' Out" (1984)
• "Outside In The Dark" (1985)
• "Time (Back In Time)" (1985)
• "Jungle Beat" (1986)
• "Dance To The Music" (1987)
• "Super Mega Mix" (1988)
• "I Need Your Love Tonight" (1989)
• "Don't Stop (The Rave)" (1991)
• "Full Control" (2016)
• "You'll Be Mine/Run Away" (2019)
• "Moving to The Top/Supernova" (2021)
• "Arcade Serenade" (2023)

External links

• Digital Emotion at Discogs
• Digital Emotion at Allmusic