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A Touch of Class (group)

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This article is about the German-based international pop group also known as ATC. For the American soul/R&B group from Philadelphia, see Touch of Class (band). For other uses, see A Touch of Class.
A Touch of Class
From left to right: Tracey Elizabeth Packham, Joseph "Joey" Murray, Livio Salvi, and Sarah Egglestone in February 2001.
From left to right: Tracey Elizabeth Packham, Joseph "Joey" Murray, Livio Salvi, and Sarah Egglestone in February 2001.
Background information
Also known asATC
OriginHamburg, Germany[1]
GenresEurodance
Years active1997–2003
Past membersJoseph "Joey" Murray
Sarah Egglestone
Tracey Elizabeth Packham
Livio Salvi

A Touch of Class (often shortened in initials as ATC) were an international Eurodance group based in Germany, although the four members each came from different countries[2]—Joseph "Joey" Murray from New Zealand, Sarah Egglestone from Australia, Livio Salvi from Italy, and Tracey Elizabeth Packham from England. The pop group was active from 1997 and their most successful release was "Around the World (La La La La La)", released in 2000. The group disbanded at the end of 2003. Murray and Salvi would later form a cover band Démodé Trio with Yvette Robinson in 2016.

Career

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The four met together in Hamburg, Germany as cast members of the international Broadway theatre German production of the stage musical Cats from October 1997 to April 1998.[3] Sarah Egglestone played Bombalurina, Livio Salvi played Mungojerrie, Tracey Packham played Syllabub, and Joey Murray played as Munkustrap/swing dancer. The four quickly became friends and decided to form a dance group. Egglestone noted, "We were there sitting watching television one day, seeing groups and saying 'there's no reason [...] why we can't do this.'"[4] The group first met with producers Alex Christensen and Thomas M. Stein in 1999 and began working on material under the name ATC.[5] The group experimented with merging male and female vocals together. "Producers don't seem to want to mix the voices so often [...] that helps give us that little bit of an edge," Murray remarked.

Their first single, "Around the World (La La La La La)" (which was an English cover of the song "Pesenka" by the Russian group Ruki Vverh!) was first released on 1 April 2000 and went number one in Germany for six weeks in summer 2000. It was later an only Top 40 hit in the United Kingdom and United States.

Their debut album Planet Pop, featuring songs from Alex Christensen and Clyde Ward, was released on 6 February 2001 by Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Republic Records, for which they were awarded an ECHO for Best Dance Act.

In 2001, the group released the single "I'm In Heaven (When You Kiss Me)", which was moderately successful in parts of Europe. In 2002, "Set Me Free" was released as a single but was not successful. In 2003, the DJ and producer ATB successfully took the band's record label to court, and the band was forced to formally drop the ATC initials.[2] Following the name change, the group released a final single, "New York City", and their second album, Touch the Sky in 2003, but they did not match the success of their previous records and the group disbanded as the members decided to go their separate ways.[2]

Discography

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Albums

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Title Album details
Planet Pop
  • Released: 6 November 2000 (Int.) 6 February 2001 (US)
  • Label: Republic/Universal (formerly; US), King Size/BMG (currently; worldwide)
  • Formats: CD, Audio Cassette
Touch the Sky
  • Released: 23 March 2003
  • Label: Sony BMG
  • Formats: CD, digital download

Singles

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Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds) 		Album
AUS AUT
[6] 		BEL
[7] 		FIN FRA GER
[8] 		NED POL[9] SWE SWI
[10] 		UK US
2000 "Around the World (La La La La La)" 11 1 10 7 12 1 5 1 8 1 15 28
  • GER: Platinum
  • AUT: Gold
  • SWI: Gold
  • FRA: Silver
 Planet Pop
"My Heart Beats Like a Drum (Dum Dum Dum)" 76 6 11 12 39 3 37 18 38 21 — —
  • GER: Gold
"Why Oh Why" — 16 39 — — 16 — 29 — 64 — —
"Thinking of You" — — — — — 46 — — — 51 — —
2001 "I'm In Heaven (When You Kiss Me)" — 27 — — — 22 — — — 31 — — Touch the Sky
"Call on Me"[11] — — — — — — — — — — — —
2002 "Set Me Free"[12] — — — — — 44 — — — — — —
2003 "New York City" — — — — — 81 — — — — — —
2019 "All Around the World (La La La)"
(with R3hab) 		— 35 11 10
[13] 		63
[14] 		29 — — 62
[15] 		39 — — Non-album single
"—" denotes releases that failed to chart or not released in that country.

References

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  1. ^ "Livio Salvi - Facebook". Facebook. Retrieved 2016-08-28.
  2. ^ a b c "ATC, biography discography, recent releases, news, featurings of europop group". The Eurodance Encyclopædia. EurokDJ.com. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
  3. ^ "Germany performers". LemonDeDeCats.free.fr. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  4. ^ "0:26 - ATC A Touch of Class Behind The Scenes 2001 - YouTube". YouTube. 2013-09-15. Retrieved 2016-09-03.[dead YouTube link]
  5. ^ "ATC - Biografia - Muzyka - WP.PL". Muzyka.wp.pl/. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  6. ^ "Discographie ATC". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Discografie ATC". Ultratop. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  8. ^ "Discographie ATC". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  9. ^ Peak chart positions for singles in Poland:
  10. ^ "Discographie ATC". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  11. ^ "ATC - Call On Me - CDsp @ FaN Sklep z Muzyką". Fan.pl. Retrieved 2013-02-22.
  12. ^ "ATC - Set Me Free - CDsp (P)2002 @ FaN Sklep z Muzyką". Fan.pl. Retrieved 2013-02-22.
  13. ^ "Suomen Virallinen Lista".
  14. ^ "Le Top de la semaine : Top Singles (téléchargement + streaming) – SNEP (Week 29, 2019)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the original on 4 August 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Veckolista Singlar, vecka 27". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
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