Lasgo

Infobox musical artist
Name = Lasgo


Img_capt =
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Background = group_or_band
Origin = flagicon|Belgium Belgium
Genre = Eurodance, Vocal Trance, Trance, Electronic
Occupation = Singer, songwriter
Years_active = 2000–present
Label = Positiva (UK) (2002–present), Robbins Entertainment (US) (2002–present), EMI Music (BE) (2001–present)
URL = [http://www.lasgo.be/ http://www.lasgo.be]
Current_members = Jelle van Dael
Peter Luts
Past_members = Evi Goffin (2001-2008)
Dave McCullen (2001-2008)

Lasgo is a trio of dance music musicians from Belgium. The group formed in 2000 and is composed of Jelle van Dael as the vocalist,(after Evi Goffin left the band in 2008) and Peter Luts and Dave McCullen as the producers.

Career Overview

The group has sold more than 5 million copies of their albums "Some Things" and "Far Away", and the singles from those albums.

Lasgo's first appearance was on the Holiday Party, one of the biggest out parties in Belgium. The Music Factory recorded the show to produce a video clip. In October, Lasgo also won the best national single award on the Belgian TMF Awards 2001. At the same time, it went gold in the charts with 25000 copies sold.

Peter Luts confirmed (on Belgian radio) that Evi Goffin was not returning to the band after choosing to become a full-time mom. Luts announced at the same time that he was looking for a new vocalist for the band. Together with Belgian TV station JIMtv, he organised a televised search (like Idols) for a new vocalist [http://jim.be/v7/frontpage.php?id=1100] . The winner of this competition was Jelle van Dael, who is now the new vocalist of the band.

"Something"

The track then went for an international career. In Spain, where the track was released simultaneously, the single was the best selling vinyl at the distributor the week it was released. In October 2001, "Something" peaked at #8 in the Dutch charts, while in Germany they entered the charts at #11. On February 25, 2002, Positiva Records released "Something" in the United Kingdom. It was also successful there; it entered the charts at #4, and #3 in the Scottish charts. "Something" also peaked at #19 in Australia. They got A-rotation on BBC Radio 1 and performed on Nickelodeon, Popworld, and Top of the Pops. As "Something" became more popular throughout Europe, they shot a videoclip in Prague for international usage. In Brazil "Something" is peaked at #1 in the Brazilian Hot 100.

"Alone"

On November 2, 2001, Lasgo released their second single "Alone" in Belgium. This single was taken from Lasgo's first full album called "Some Things", which was released on November 19, 2001. The music video for "Alone" was shot in the night of November 25-November 26 in a large office in Berlin, Germany. Alone peaked at #3 in the official Belgian CD charts.

Due to all the success in other countries, Peter Luts was asked to remix Delerium's track Underwater for EMI Germany and also crafted a Lasgo remix for Aurora's song "The Day It Rained Forever" on Positiva Records (UK).

During 2002, Lasgo was nominated for several awards: International Dance Club Hit of the Year (with "Something") and International New Dance Group of the Year at the Danish Dance Awards and Best Trance Act at the Dancestar World Music Awards 2002 (which was won by Ian Van Dahl's song "Castles in the Sky").

In August 2002, "Alone" was released in the UK and reached #7 in the official charts. The full album "Some Things" was released in the UK at the end of August.

"Pray"

Although rumours suggested that either "I Wonder" or "Blue" would be the third Lasgo single, eventually it turned out that neither was correct when "Pray" was released almost a year after "Alone" in October 2002, but reached only #17 in the charts in the UK, while their previous two singles had been Top 10 hits. At around the same time, "Some Things" was released in the United States.

In November 2002 Lasgo won the Smash Hits award for Best Dance Act of the Year 2002 in the UK. Ian Van Dahl was also nominated in the same category.

December 2002 marked the release of the 2nd version of "Some Things" in Belgium. The re-release featured 3 new songs ("Searching", "You", and "I Wonder") along with the best remixes of their hits.

On February 28, 2003 A&S Productions held a big party in Club Carr in Willebroek, Belgium, to celebrate the huge success of Lasgo and Ian Van Dahl both in Belgium and abroad. The event included live performances of both Lasgo and Ian Van Dahl, the introduction of a new dance act (Tara Low) and DJs 'G-bric, Kurt, Jan Vervloet and Dimitri Chantzis.

"Surrender"

The fourth Lasgo single, "Surrender", was released on vinyl in October 2003. "Surrender" was released as a CD single in January 2004 in Belgium. The worldwide release was set on February 2, 2004, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The UK followed later in April 2004.

In March 2004, Lasgo won their second award (Best Hi-NRG/Euro track with "Alone") at the Winter Music Conference's International Dance Music Awards in Miami, Florida. The year before they won the Best New Dance Artist Group Award.

At the MIDEM 2004 music conference in Cannes (France), Lasgo was one of the winners of the European Border Breakers award. This award, given out by the European Commission, wants to enhance the exchange/export of pop music across country borders.

Surrender topped "Billboard"'s Dance Chart in January 2005.

"All Night Long"

The second single from the second album, "Far Away", was called "All Night Long". It was released on vinyl on December 20, 2004, and as a CD single in January 2005. "Far Away" and was released on January 15, 2005; it also included "Surrender". In 2007 the single was finally released in the UK but never charted.

"All Night Long" went #1 in many dance clubs' charts, including those in Brazil and Belgium. Although it was not as successful as "Surrender," it did manage to chart in the Dutch top 40 (which was a big surprise since "Surrender" and even "Alone" failed to chart there at all), it became their second biggest hit in the Netherlands.

"Who's That Girl"

"Who's That Girl" was the third single from "Far Away", but it was less successful than "All Night Long". "Who's That Girl" was sung by Dave Beyer, not Evi Goffin; Evi performed all of the other vocals on "Far Away".

"Yesterday"

Though not formally released as a single, "Yesterday" has been quite popular with Lasgo's fans, and it entered Brazil's Hot 100 Songs and Top 40 Dance.

"Hold Me Now"

"Hold Me Now" has been released as the second single in the United States from the "Far Away" album by Robbins Entertainment on June 27, 2006. The first single from the album "Surrender" was released almost two years prior. It is a cover Version of the Thompson Twins track of the same name.

"Lying"

"Lying" is the fourth single and last released from their second album, "Far Away". It was never released in the UK. It was a mediocre success, reaching the top 20 in Belgium, but did not chart in any other territories.

"Out of my Mind"

"Out Of My Mind" was released on September 1st, 2008. In Belgium, it's their biggest hit since Surrender, peaking at #7 in the main chart and #2 in the danceclub chart. It is also the lead single of their forthcoming 3rd album, which will be released beginning 2009. Out Of My Mind will also be released in the UK in 2009. In the Netherlands the song became Lasgo's fourth top40 hit, peaking at #39

Discography

Albums

ingles

*(*) Single is charting
*(**) Belgian dance chart

External links

* [http://www.lasgo.be www.lasgo.be] - official site.
* [http://www.lasgo.tk www.lasgo.tk] - Uk Site.
* [http://www.lasgopage.eu www.lasgopage.eu] - unofficial site.
* [http://dancevibes.be/interviews/lasgo.jsp Lasgo interview by dancevibes.be]