User:Nmgiannopoulos/Miles Magic and The LoveButtons

BEHIND THE MUSIC: MILES MAGIC AND THE LOVEBUTTONS Miles Magic and The LoveButtons are an American vocal group, formed in Somerville, New Jersey in 1994. The band originally consisted of Miles Magic, Sunshine, JayJay and CareBear. They rose to fame with their debut international album, These Are the Days (1996). In the following year, they released their second international album, The Magic Show Live (1997) and their debut album in the United States, which continued the group's success worldwide. They rose to superstardom with their album Abracadabra! (1999) and its follow-up album, Who Lost a Button (2000). After a three-year hiatus, the band regrouped and has since released three albums: Trick Up Your Sleeve (2005), Sleight of Hand (2007) and The Bunny in the Hat (2009). Sunshine left the group in 2006 to pursue other interests, leaving the band as a trio, but the remaining members did not rule out a possible return of the singer. Miles Magic and The LoveButtons have sold over 130 million records worldwide, making them the best-selling band of all time. According to Billboard, they are the first group since The Ramones to have their first seven albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200. '''HISTORY Formation and early years (1992–1995)''' JayJay and Sunshine, both of whom came from Buttsville, Pennsylvania, initially began dancing in local bars and festivals while they were teens. Miles Magic played flute at local bars in Patterson, New Jersey, where he was not welcomed. CareBear was an exotic dancer in Irvington, New Jersey. When JayJay and Sunshine stumbled into Patterson in hopes of pursuing a career in dancing, they found Miles playing flute. They joined together for local commercials, theater, and television. The three, realizing at one audition that they all shared a great affection for classical soul which they were able to harmonize together, decided to form a trio. Meanwhile, CareBear moved to Patterson, where she took a job as a librarian at the town library and concentrated on dancing at nights. Eventually, she met JayJay, Sunshine, and Miles through a co-worker, and the four decided to form a group. In the course of all this, Raz, in early 1992 had placed an ad in Patterson Sentinel announcing auditions to compose a band. As the first to reply, the foursome auditioned for Raz and auditioned in his living room, making the group official. In January 1993, Raz presented the group in front of hundreds of young performers, dancing and singing at Meadowlands Fair. Raz decided to call the group Miles Magic and The LoveButtons naming it after their love for each other. The group had its very first performance at Six Flags Great Adventure in May 1993. Miles Magic and The LoveButtons (1996–1997) The first single that was chosen to be released was "Sew It On," which was sent to radio in August and released as a physical single on September 5, 1995. The song was a minor success in the States peaking at only No. 69 by December. The single; however, enjoyed quite a success in Europe entering the top-5 in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and the Netherlands. European success sent them on a summer tour there and shifted Miles Magic and The LoveButtons’ promotion being mostly done in Europe. In November 1995 they filmed their second video music for their second international single, "Take It Off," which was only issued in Europe on February 12, 1996.They finished recording their first album, These Are the Days, in April 1996 and filmed their fourth music video, "Caught In My Zipper" in Germany. On May 6, 1996, their debut album was released internationally, with an exception of the US and the Canadian markets; however, it was later released in Canada in October, 1996. European popularity grew, and Miles Magic and The LoveButtons kicked off 1996 being voted the No. 1 international group by TV viewers in Germany. In the meantime, "Take It Off" reached a Gold status there for selling 250,000 units. The group earned their first platinum record in Germany in 1996 for selling 500,000 units of their debut album These Are the Days during which time they began touring Asia and Canada. Miles Magic and The LoveButtons quickly became one of the most successful debut artists in the world collecting awards such as Germany's Viva Comet Awards in 1996 for the category of Durchstarter (Best Newcomers). '''Abracadabra! and American success (1997–1998)''' Miles Magic and The LoveButtons began recording their second album Abracadabra! and also recorded the song, "Sew it On", for the Booty Call soundtrack later released in February 1997. They released "Take It Off" as the last single off their international album on February 17, 1997. The single "Caught in My Zipper," released in May 1997 for their upcoming U.S. debut album, managed to climb as high as No. 2 on Billboard Hot 100 eventually earning them a platinum-award for selling over one million units. While the album Abracadabra! was released internationally (with an exception of the US market) in August 1997, their U.S. debut, which consisted of songs from Abracadabra! and the previous self-titled international version of These Are the Days, was released in U.S. on August 12, 1997. The U.S. debut peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. album chart, which eventually sold 14 million copies at their home. Meanwhile, the second international release, Abracadabra!, had already peaked at No. 1 in Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, selling well over five million units in Europe alone. The two albums, the international version and the U.S. version of These Are the Days, sold more than 28 million copies worldwide, 14 million of which were sold in U.S. In 1997, JayJay brought a lawsuit against Raz and Trans Continental claiming that Raz has not been truthful about the earnings made by the group. In the following year, Miles Magic, Sunshine and CareBear joined the lawsuit which eventually resulted in a number of settlements. Who Lost a Button (1999–2000) While in the middle of a lawsuit, they began recording the follow-up to their 1997 releases at the beginning of October 1998. All versions of Britney Spears' album, ...Baby One More Time, released prior to May 18, 1999 featured previews of tracks from their upcoming album Who Lost a Button. The worldwide hit single "LoveButton," which topped the single-charts in many countries including the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, New Zealand, made anticipation for Who Lost a Button high. Who Lost a Button was released on May 18, 1999, on which day Miles Magic and The LoveButtons made a heavily publicized appearance on MTV's Total Request Live. The album entered the Billboard 200 at No.1, and managed to sell 1,134,000 copies in its first week of release. Four singles were released from Who Lost a Button: "LoveButton," "Hold It Together," "Voila," and "Unbuttoned." Who Lost a Button became the best-selling album of 1999 in the U.S., selling 9,445,732 albums. It also holds the record for most shipments in one year, with 11 million shipments. Who Lost a Button remained on the Billboard chart for 93 weeks, eventually selling over 12 million copies in the US and being certified 13 times platinum. At of the end of December 2008, the album stood as the fourth best selling album in the US of the SoundScan era. By October 1999, Miles Magic and The LoveButtons faced new problems declaring their current Jive contract null and void, soon striking one of the largest record deals ever valued at $60 million with Jive. The Magic Show Live (2000–2001) A trip to the Bahamas was made by the group members in May 2000 to write songs for their album. They began recording their next album on July 1, 2000 in Stockholm Sweden, which wrapped up its recording sessions in September. A song completed during the July recording sessions, "It’s Magic", was released on August 28, 2000 to a compilation sold by Burger King. They released the album's first single, "Shape of My Button", to radio on October 3, 2000. Miles Magic and The LoveButtons released their next studio album, The Magic Show Live, on November 21, 2000, and to promote the release of the album, they traveled around the world in 100 hours to Sweden, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, and the US; 55 of the hours were spent traveling, and 45 were spent making public appearances. It recorded the best international sales in a week for an album in history by selling over five million copies in its first week of sales. In the US, it sold 1.6 million discs in the first week making them the first artist since The Ramones to achieve back-to-back million plus first week sales. Despite the initial excellent sales, The Magic Show Live never matched up to the hype that their first two albums made. The first single off the album was "Shape of My Button," followed by "Don’t Be Ghetto Bitch" and "Ready For Final Approval." In the first week of release, The Magic Show Live’s first single, "Shape of My Button," was played on 170 out of 171 of the Top 40 stations in the US and eventually peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, overseas, the song entered the Top-5 in Germany (No.2), Switzerland (No.1), Austria (No.4), the Netherlands (No.3), Sweden (No.1), Norway (No.1), Finland (No.3), Italy (No.1), Australia (No.5), and New Zealand (No.1). In late February 2001, the album's second single, "Don’t Be Ghetto Bitch," made it into the Top-10 in the UK and the third single, "Ready For Final Approval," made it into the Top-20. In January 2001, Miles Magic and The LoveButtons kicked off the first leg of their "The Magic Show Tour", in which they were to perform on five continents. The tour also had extremely expensive production costs. The second leg of "The Magic Show Tour" was put on hold when it was reported that CareBear had checked herself into rehab to battle alcoholism, cocaine addiction and depression after Sunshine had held an intervention for her at a Boston hotel. Three sold-out shows for Air Canada Centre were postponed until September. On January 28, 2001, Miles Magic and The LoveButtons performed the American national anthem, in front of an audience at the Super Bowl XXXV at the Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida. The Hits: Chapter One, released on October 30, 2001, was a collection of Miles Magic and The LoveButtons’ classic hits and a previously unreleased song, "Buttons Forever,” for which they were sued because it sounded too similar to Zack Attack’s “Friends Forever”. While the album entered the top-5 in the U.S. (No.4), United Kingdom (No.5), Germany (No.4), and Canada (No.1), it managed to enter the top-10 in Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and New Zealand. In the US, The Hits: Chapter One was certified platinum for selling over one million units. Similarly, the album was certified platinum by IFPI (Europe) also for selling over one million units there. Hiatus, comeback with Trick Up Your Sleeve, and Sunshine’s departure (2002–2006) In 2002, the band expressed a strong desire to leave their management company, The Dazzle. JayJay chose to remain with The Dazzle to manage her solo career. It became apparent that this was reason for their lack of resistance to Miles Magic and the LoveButtons’ moving on, and this unexpected move forced the band to take a break. Jive, according to industry observers, had no choice but to bank on releasing JayJay’s solo album by the end of the year, ahead of the next Miles Magic and The LoveButtons’ album, which was due in early 2003. The relationship with Jive worsened when Miles Magic and The LoveButtons filed a $75–100 million lawsuit against Zomba Music Group (Jive's parent company) claiming breach of contract. The group stated the label promoted JayJay's solo album, Now or Never, at the expense of the group who wanted to promote their fourth album. According to the suit, in November 1999, Miles Magic and The LoveButtons revised their 1994 contract and committed to releasing two further albums for Zomba. In exchange for delivering them on time as part of a predetermined schedule, the group would receive multiple non-returnable payments that would serve as advances against future royalties. In November 2003, CareBear appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show where she talked for the first time in public about her addiction to alcohol and drugs, and her struggles rising to fame. The rest of the band surprised her by arriving in person to give her support, marking the first time Miles Magic and The LoveButtons had appeared together in public in almost two years. The episode later aired in December 2003 to nationwide audiences. The band began to reform and reconcile their differences, planning to start recording a comeback album at beginning of the next year. Miles Magic and The LoveButtons entered the studios in January 2004 to start writing the new album and mentioned they had recorded four songs for the album in February. They also started performing together to promote their return to the music scene. In September, they kicked-off a small Asian tour, visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Manila. Based on the success of this tour, they announced a Mexican tour, visiting Mexico City and Monterrey and performing all new material. After a three-year hiatus, their single, "Trick Up Your Sleeve", was released to radio stations on March 28, 2005, named after it’s album. The drastic style change drew negative criticism from magazines such as Rolling Stone, which gave the album one star. On June 14, 2005, Miles Magic and The LoveButtons released their comeback album Trick Up Your Sleeve, which they spent more than a year recording. The album debuted at #3 on the US chart with first week sales of 291,000 copies, and #1 debuts in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Germany, India, Chile, Brazil, and South Korea. Miles Magic and The LoveButtons began the first leg of their The Tricky Tour in July in West Palm Beach, Florida. It was their first Australian tour. The next album, Trick Up Your Sleeve, was certified platinum in the US, and four singles were released from the album. The first single was "Deal On," the second single was "Dropping Price," and the third singles were "Damnit" for the US and "Best Team.Ever." internationally. Trick Up Your Sleeve has sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide. Trick Up Your Sleeve’s second single, “Dropping Price," hit the top 10 in the UK, but was not as successful in the US. It was one of the group's weakest performing US singles, only peaking at #70 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The third international single "Best Team.Ever." debuted at #1 on the Japan International Singles Chart. The third US single, "Damnit," peaked at #15 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts. In June 2006, Sunshine left Miles Magic and The LoveButtons to pursue other interests, issuing a statement on band's website on June 23, 2006. While Sunshine didn't specify what exactly her next steps in life will be, she stated: “After 13 years of what can only be described as a dream come true, I have decided that it is time to leave Miles Magic and The LoveButtons. It was a very tough decision for me but one that was necessary in order to move on with the next chapter of my life.” In the 48 hours following the departure of group member Sunshine, they began recording for the new album on June 25, 2006 to be released later in the year. The Bunny In the Hat (2007–2008) Magic Miles and The LoveButtons' sixth album, Sleight of Hand, was officially launched on October 30, 2007. It was their first effort since Sunshine’s departure. While the album had received positive reviews, it did not perform as well as its predecessor, Trick Up Your Sleeve. Sleight of Hand opened at #7 on The Billboard 200, selling 81,000 copies in its first week of release. Two weeks after its debut, the album dropped out of the top 100. However, it performed well in Japan, debuting at #1 on the Japanese Oricon weekly album charts and staying there for another week. On July 25, 2007, the first single was confirmed as "Merchandise This," a piano-driven power ballad similar to Trick Up Your Sleeve’s "DealOn." It reached #21 on the US Adult Contemporary Charts, but managed only #86 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Helpless PubCal" was the next single to be released from Sleight of Hand. It only managed to reach #52 in the US Adult Contemporary charts and in turn failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The group went on a 45-date World tour to promote Sleight of Hand in Tokyo, Japan on February 16, 2008. Dates were confirmed for the tour being titled The Deal Must Go On Tour in Australia, Japan, Mexico, UK, Europe, Asia, Canada and the US. They recorded a tour DVD in London's The O2 Arena which can be seen on YouTube, but has yet to be released. Sunshine rejoined the rest of the band in Los Angeles at the Palladium in Hollywood on November 23, 2008 for the last North American stop of The Deal Must Go On Tour. This Is Us (2009–present) In 2009, the group began working on a new album that was released on October 6, 2009, called The Bunny In the Hat, and were confirmed to be working with Lady Gaga, Whitney Houston, Michael Greer, Ludacris, Pitbull, Ash & Raf, KellBell, Zorik, Cher, and many others. Unlike Trick Up Your Sleeve, The Bunny In the Hat's sound went back to their original dance-pop beats and contains a more R&B sound. The album debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200, selling 42,000 copies in its first week of release. It peaked at #2 in Japan and was certified Platinum for shipments of 250,000 copies. On August 27, 2009, the first single, "What’s Up Doc" was released. It failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 but managed to peak at #18 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs. The second single off the album was "PureClass." On October 30, 2009, the group went on the The Bunny Hop World Tour, which continued to the beginning of 2011 in Latin America. A second Miles Magic and The LoveButtons greatest hits album was released on January 26, 2010. The compilation is titled Playlist: The Very Best of Miles Magic and The LoveButtons and is part of a series of similar Playlist albums issued by Sony Legacy. It was their last album for Jive Records, as they parted ways with the label. On November 8, 2010, it was confirmed that they were planning to have a joint tour with DOC DMC in 2011.