Cascada Biography

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Cascada ( /kəˈskɑːdə/) are a German Eurodance act founded in 2004. Cascada are a group of three musicians: Natalie Horler, DJ Manian, and Yann Peifer. They are widely considered one of the leaders in popularising Eurodance in the U.S. and in recent years worldwide, aiding in the transition to a more electro-pop oriented mainstream sound. They are best known for their hit singles "Everytime We Touch", "What Hurts the Most", and "Evacuate the Dancefloor". Cascada have sold over 20 million albums worldwide and have an estimated 15 million digital downloads, their most successful album being their debut and most successful song being "Evacuate the Dancefloor", which went platinum in the U.S..

When Natalie Horler was 17, she was doing studio work for various DJs. Eventually she met Yanou and DJ Manian. Originally, they released music under the name Cascade, but due to Kaskade, another artist with a similar name, threatening legal action, they changed it to Cascada. They simultaneously released music under the names of Siria and Akira as well, but ended those projects due to the success of Cascada. Under Andorfine Records, they produced their debut and hit single, "Miracle", and its follow-up, "Bad Boy", in Germany. This caught the attention of the American dance label Robbins Entertainment. They negotiated a contract and "Miracle" was released in 2004. However, it did not attract much attention, so Cascada offered them "Everytime We Touch".

Cascada experienced mainstream success in the United Kingdom and the United States almost a year after releasing their second American single, "Everytime We Touch", which interpolates the chorus of a 1992 Maggie Reilly song of the same name. The song gained platinum and gold certifications across the globe, being certified platinum by the RIAA. Soon after the popularity of the single skyrocketed, an album was recorded and released in a matter of months, and a music video for "Everytime We Touch" was also distributed for promotion.

A total of eight singles were released from the album, four of which have been released in the United Kingdom: "Everytime We Touch", "Truly Madly Deeply" (originally by Savage Garden),"Miracle" and "A Neverending Dream" (originally by X-Perience), all of which gained top 10 status apart from "A Neverending Dream", which charted at #46. The U.S. saw the re-release of "Miracle" shortly after "Everytime We Touch"'s breakthrough, receiving high radio rotation and reaching the lower ends of the U.S. charts. Their album Everytime We Touch has experienced success in the UK Album chart where it remained up in the top forty for twenty-four weeks, peaking at #2. The album experienced success on the U.S. charts as well. The success of the album gained them two World Music Award nominations, winning them World's Best-Selling German Artist. Additionally, the album has sold over 5 million copies world-wide.

Natalie Horler first announced that Cascada were working on their second album during a Japanese interview, which was posted on their blog on MySpace. There are a few cover songs on the album, most notably Avril Lavigne's "Sk8er Boi", P!nk's "Just Like A Pill", Patti Smith's "Because the Night", and the Rascal Flatts' song "What Hurts the Most", as well as two tracks, "Endless Summer" and "I Will Believe It" that were previously recorded by Natalie Horler and DJ Manian under the discontinued Siria name. However, the U.S. release replaced the Siria songs, P!nk, and Avril Lavigne covers with three newer tracks, because they did not have the North American rights. Two of these songs were “Faded”, a cover of a Kate DeAraugo song, and “Holiday”, a cover of a Jenny May song. The sophomore effort was released at the end of 2007 in the UK, and several parts of Northern Europe.Perfect Day was released to the remaining markets, in the first quarter of 2008, with the U.S. release being the last. Natalie also stated in a French Interview, before the release, that she would take a hand in writing parts of the album. However, none of the final tracks on the album were written by her.

The world-wide lead single, "What Hurts the Most", was released in late 2007 and early 2008, along with its B-side, a cover of Wham!'s "Last Christmas". The single had high success, reaching the top tier in most countries. The U.K. and German follow-up to "What Hurts the Most", is "What Do You Want From Me?", originally thought to be called "Tell Me Why". The third release from the album in the UK and Germany was “Because the Night”. The United States instead received both "Faded" and "Perfect Day" as singles, however each of these releases received little airplay outside of the dance-radio circuit.

June 29, 2009, "Evacuate the Dancefloor" was released in the UK. The release, just after the death of Michael Jackson, was expected to chart within the top ten, underneath a plethora of the deceased King of Pop's former hits, due to a resurgence of sales after the tragic news. To the surprise of many, the single debuted at #1, over Jackson's "Man in the Mirror". The song went on to achieve top five success in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand, as well as top ten success in many more. The song slowly rose on the US chart after a late September release, eventually reaching a peak of #25 after a seventeen week climb, becoming the group's second top-forty hit. The song has become a club staple, used in many dance-oriented video games, and even nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. The album, also named Evacuate the Dancefloor, was released a week later on July 6 in the UK and Germany. The album continued Cascada's progression into electro-pop, the change was welcomed by mainstream audiences and fans, yet many fans still remorsed the euro-pop feel, which some felt was integral to the Cascada project. The album itself did not mirror the success of the single, yet did chart in the top ten of many territories, including the UK. However, the album did not have lasting sales and quickly fell out of the charts. "Dangerous" and "Fever" were follow-up singles released from the album, the former in the UK, and the latter in the US, Australia, and the rest of Europe, neither experiencing success in terms of radio spins, digital, or physical sales. Nevertheless, the group toured extensively to promote the album, even opening for Britney Spears during a stop in Germany.

Taking note of the criticism their previous album received, mainly the lack of cohesiveness linking the album as a whole, Cascada decided to experiment with a new release strategy, planning to produce and release different singles and then attempting to bind them all into an album. A new single "Pyromania" was released in 2010, continuing their new electro-pop sound. A second single, "Night Nurse", was the released along with a music video featuring Natalie in full body paint of various colors in many scenes. This song never got a commercial release up until a year later on December 16, 2011 when it got an exclusive release in the U.S., but was featured on a compilation CD in the UK.[citation needed]

A new song titled "Enemy" was featured in a documentary, and there were talks of the group wrapping up production and presentation meetings of their next album.[citation needed] On the weekend of March 26, Cascada shot two music videos for upcoming singles "San Francisco" and "Au Revoir". Both videos were directed by Lisa Mann and choreographed by Luther Brown. The new single "San Francisco" was released on 6 June 2011 and the album Original Me was released on 19 June 2011 (UK) digitally. Since the release of 'Original Me' in the UK, dance music website, Total Dance Music named it the album of the year for 2011. On July 8, the music video for "Au Revoir" premiered exclusively on Clubland TV in the UK.[citation needed]

Natalie Horler recently posed for Playboy Deutschland in July 2011, to mixed reactions from fans and critics.

On August 19, 2011, Cascada's U.S. Label Robbins Entertainment announced on their forum and their Twitter account that they would not be releasing Original Me in the United States for unannounced reasons.

On September 1, 2011, Robbins Entertainment announced on their message board that Cascada and Robbins have amicably parted ways, and Cascada were released from the label, citing creative differences as the reason for their departure. It was also announced that Original Me would still be released, under their Zooland label.

"San Francisco" was the group's first release on the Zooland label, with the song being put up on the US iTunes Store as a remix EP, serving as the first official lead US single from the album. "Au Revoir" was later released the same way on November 15, with the parent album 'Original Me' following a couple of weeks later on November 29, 2011. Night Nurse was later released as a US only single on December 16, 2011, along with a mass release of each song off of 'Original Me' as a digital only promotional single on iTunes.

On 7 January 2012, Natalie joined the judging panel of season 9 of German singing contest Deutschland sucht den Superstar. In a recent German interview, Natalie mentioned that a new single is planned for 2012. On 2 March 2012, it was revealed that the new single is called "Summer of Love", and would be released on March 30.[citation needed] A preview was released on the same day, with many praising the track for its dance composition as apposed to the more "pop" sound of their past few singles which had led to a decline in record sales. On 5 March 2012, Natalie posted a Facebook update stating that she was on her way to Tenerife to shoot the music video for the single. On 16 March 2012, the music video for "Summer of Love" premiered in Germany. It was released 30 March in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the U.S. Cascada released a compilation album titled Back On The Dancefloor on 13 April 2012 in certain countries, it included new single 'Summer of Love' along with previous singles and remixes.