Black Box

Black Box

Black Box is an Italian house and italo house group from Reggio Emilia. It is active from 1988 to 1998 and is best known for the single “Ride on Time”. The group includes Daniele Davoli, Valerio Semplici, Mirko Limoni, Celestine, Charvoni and Martha Wash.

Formation and early work

Daniele Davoli, Valerio Semplici and Mirko Limoni first work together in a group called Groove Groove Melody, where they record dance music under names including Starlight and Wood Allen. They later use several other aliases. In 1989 they team up with singer and model Catherine Quinol, also known as Katrin, and form Black Box.

Success with “Ride on Time”

“Ride on Time” becomes the group’s breakout single and reaches number one in the UK. It appears in the top ten in many countries and becomes the UK’s best-selling single of 1989. The track samples “Love Sensation”, the 1978 disco song by Loleatta Holloway, and the title comes from a mishearing of the lyric “Cause you’re right on time”.

Dreamland and later releases

By early 1990, Martha Wash provides vocals on a number of tracks, including “Everybody, Everybody”, which becomes one of the group’s two top ten hits in North America. The song “Strike It Up” is another major US hit. The debut album Dreamland is later released in 1990; it reaches gold status in both the UK and the US and double-platinum status in Australia, where it spends eight weeks at number one in early 1991. The album produces six major hits across mainstream charts and clubs.

Later career

The group releases the remix album Mixed Up in 1991. In July 1993 it issues “Rocking To The Music” on the Deconstruction label, but the single does not match the success of the earlier releases. A CD single titled “Bright on time” appears in 1999 with different DJ mix versions of “Ride on time”.

Collaborators and performance details

Black Box works with singer/model Catherine Quinol on the group’s early presentation, while Martha Wash provides vocals on most of the album material. Quinol lip-syncs in live performances and in music videos. Heather Smalls is enlisted to re-record the vocals for the album version of “Ride on Time”.

Chart impact and legacy

The group is associated with several club and radio staples in the early 1990s. In the United States, “Everybody, Everybody” and “Strike It Up” remain familiar on rhythmic radio and in clubs, and both appear on Jock Jams albums. Black Box is also notable for achieving major album success within piano-house, a style that often performs more strongly in singles than in full-length releases.