CeCe Peniston (born Cecilia Veronica Peniston) is an African American recording artist and former beauty queen. At the beginning of the nineties, she was considered to be one of the most successful dance club artists in the history of the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play, scoring five major number one hits in the chart within three years. Her signature song Finally became one of the biggest dance singles, selling three million copies worldwide.
On February 4, 2011, Peniston signed a record deal with West Swagg Music Group/Bungalo Records, with full distribution through Universal Music Group Distribution, and declared to release a new solo album after fifteen years since her last studio set was recorded.
By the end of 2011, three digital singles were issued eventually. Apart from a new song called Stoopid! and released on April 26, two remixed versions of her older hits, such as Keep On Walkin’ and Finally followed on August 9, respectively on October 3, 2011.
With hits like Drill Instructor and Soldier Soldier, the group has earned 19 gold and platinum records throughout Europe.
In 2005 the front man of the group (Franky Gee), died totally unexpected.
The Captain Jackname was revived in 2008.
Bruce Lacy’s wife finds out on a Tupperware party, about a big Captain Jack audition and makes the first contact to the producer Udo Niebergall. Bruce prevails and wins the audition as one of numerous contestants and was from that moment on the new face of the group.
Laura Martin did also a successful Audition-gig in May 2009 in Mallorca, she is the new female face on leadsinger Bruce Lacy´s side for Captain Jack.
The new lineup’s first single was more pointing towards the dance-pop and hip hop scene, dropping the original lineup’s eurodance style.
Captain Hollywood Project was created in 1991 and build around the rapper Tony Dawson-Harrison a.k.a. Captain Hollywood. The name was a credit to his dancers and students in the videos. The first album Do That Thang was released in 1990 and was a big disaster, since Europe was not ready for hip hop style. Two singles were released from it: Do That Thang and Shirley.
But in 1992 he released his first single More & More from his forthcoming second album. A new Eurodance style and a new female vocalist Nina. The success was great: it reached no. 1 all over Europe, and entered the MTV chart no. 3 in the European year single chart. It was followed by Only With You, another huge no. 1 all over Europe.
In 1993 the second album Love Is Not Sex sold 400,000 copies worldwide. The following single was All I Want, a pop-dance track that disappointed some Euro fans. It did quite well in the German charts and on MTV anyway. Released in 1994 with a totally new mix, Impossible was also a great hit which climbed high on Europe charts and reached no. 10 in Israel.
In 1995, after a year of silence, the third album Animals Or Humans was released. It sold 200,000 copies worldwide. Nina had gone for a solo career, being replaced by a new female vocalist named Petra. Tony established his own record company and studios called “Hollywood Productions”. He teamed up with 2 new producers: Tom Jacques a.k.a. G. Coin and Thomas Adler, together with Attack II. Katzmann still produced 4 tracks on this album.
They scored another big hit with “Flying High”, no. 1 everywhere in Europe and no. 6 in Israel. After that came another beautiful, fast-paced Euro track “Find Another Way” which had the same kind of success. The third single from the album was “The Way Love Is”, a little weak and disappointing compared to the previous hits.
In the middle of 1996 Captain Hollywood came back. He teamed up with three new producers P Force, Miles Gordon and Alex Belcher and changed his haircut too. But Petra was still part of the team. “Over And Over”, the first single to be released from the forthcoming new album, was a very successful euro track. The fourth album was released during the summer, entitled “The Afterparty”. It was released under the simple name of Captain Hollywood (instead of Captain Hollywood Project), since it was created without his dancers. It also means he wanted to open a new chapter in his career.
Afterwards he released his second single “Love & Pain” in a remixed version. The album version was in the same style of “Over And Over”, but for the single and video version he teamed up with Masterboy and the result was simply amazing. Unfortunately, it flopped in sales and in charts. His last album wasn’t a real success compared to the 5 million copies sold in total.
