They are thought to have sold more than 20 million records and 50 million compilations worldwide. On April 11, 2009, Ray and Anita are set to perform together for the first time in 13 years at the "I Love The 90s" concert in Hasselt, Belgium.
They were signed to Byte Records (Belgium) and were licenced to many other record labels, including PWL Continental in the UK, run by Pete Waterman of Stock, Aitken & Waterman fame, who had produced dozens of hits for the likes of Kylie Minogue and Rick Astley.
However Waterman, deciding that the rap was unsuitable for the UK market, where instrumental rave music had become extremely popular, removed most of the vocals from the track except for the line "y'all ready for this?", which was sampled from The D.O.C.'s "It's Funky Enough". "Get Ready For This" was an instant hit, peaking at no. 2 in the chart and was the twelfth best-selling single of 1991, earning a silver sales certificate. It went on to reach no. 4 in Belgium, no. 10 in the Netherlands and no. 2 in Australia. It also worked its way up to no. 14 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.
A follow-up single, "Twilight Zone", followed in January 1992 which also reached no. 2 in the UK, selling 234,000 copies. It went one further in the duo's homeland where it topped the chart and was certified gold, and it was also a hit in the United States where it charted at #49 on the Hot 100 (and #5 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart). To capitalise on this success, the album Get Ready!, featuring the two singles and seven other brand new tracks including two ballads, was released on February 24. Two further singles were released, "Workaholic" and "The Magic Friend", which helped the album go on to sell 2.6 million copies worldwide.
Sample of "No Limit", the first single from No Limits, which spent five weeks at number one in the UK.
Although Ray and Anita were sceptical about the track DeCoster and Wilde wanted to push as the lead single from the act's second album, "No Limit" was released in January 1993 and the repetitive nature of the song helped it become their most successful single ever, and by far the best remembered by the general public even now. The single topped the charts in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and in the United Kingdom where it sold 532,000 copies and ended up the fourth best-seller of 1993.
"Tribal Dance" was released as a single shortly before the album No Limits hit stores in May. Three further singles were issued: "Faces", which was considerably different in pace to previous releases, "Maximum Overdrive" and a re-recorded version of "Let The Beat Control Your Body", which was changed to "Let The Bass Control Your Body" in France to avoid any confusion with the slang word "bite" (meaning "penis"). "Throw The Groove Down" was released after this, but not as a full single release. Alternatively, the American label Radikal Records issued a limited edition titled "The U.S. Remixes".
But despite the phenomenal success that the duo were enjoying, they were criticised heavily by the music industry and the British press dubbed them "2 Untalented". Ray and Anita were dismissed as "puppets" and the lyrical depth of their songs was questioned. However, it should be noted that both performers took an active part in writing their material and Ray's raps were cut from the UK album release, being once again deemed, in Jean-Paul DeCoster's words, "too clumsy for the British market". Whilst some dance music fans also expressed dislike for the commerciality of their sound and the banality of their lyrics, others, such as one music critic in Melody Maker wrote that whilst they were "juvenile" and "puerile", on the other hand "2 Unlimited stand for energy and excitement.
And if you're not thrilled by the lobotomising insistence of 'Workaholic', 'Contrast' and the rest you're either dead from the toes up, or too grown-up for your own good." It was also noted by the band's manager Michel Maartens that 2 Unlimited were launched at a time when "many parents feared that house and techno would damage their children. It was associated with pills and nightly escapades. But Ray and Anita proved to be the acceptable faces of techno. When Mum and Dad saw they were harmless pop stars, all mistrust was over." The band's image and sound were at the same time responsible for both their popularity with the public and their unpopularity with critics, with Melody Maker describing them as "a crude, bastardized assault on tasteful dance standards."
The No Limits album was even more successful than the first, selling in excess of 3 million copies. At the MIDEM convention, 2 Unlimited were presented with 80 platinum and gold awards from 26 different countries, as well as winning "World's Best-Selling Benelux Act" at the World Music Awards 1993.
Real Things (1994–1995)
In May 1994, the duo's tenth single "The Real Thing" was released and it proved that their fans were still interested as they sent the single to no. 1 in the Netherlands and no. 6 in the UK. The title was aimed as a dig at the several other similar sounding eurodance acts who had appeared to copy the 2 Unlimited sound. Their third album, called Real Things, was instantly certified gold in the UK and 2 Unlimited became the first dance act to achieve two number one albums. Only two continental European acts have had more UK number one albums - Pavarotti and ABBA. Real Things was their first album that PWL made no changes to, perhaps because by then rap in dance records had become more common and accepted. "No One" surprised many fans by being a straight-forward pop record and was picked as the second single.
By the end of 1994 they had sold another 322,000 singles in the UK alone and they were still winning more awards than they had room for on their mantelpiece, as they were presented with Smash Hits' "Best Dance Act" award for the second year running, and the Popprijs award for their services to Dutch music. They were also still performing to huge crowds at Wembley Arena in London and to 450,000 people at the Parkpop Festival in the Netherlands. At the height of their career, Ray and Anita were thought to be performing around 200 shows a year.
In March 1995, "
Here I Go" was another top 5 hit in their homeland but by charting at no. 22 it broke the duo's run of eleven consecutive UK top 20 hits. The fourth and final single was the ballad "Nothing Like the Rain" which was not quite as successful and did not even receive a UK release.
Whilst they were very popular all around the world, major success continued to elude 2 Unlimited in the United States. But three years after it was originally released, "
Get Ready For This" started getting major radio support and charted at no. 83 on the Hot 100 in October 1994, eventually peaking at number 38. This helped first album Get Ready! make its way to the 500,000 mark, earning it a gold certificate despite never climbing higher than no. 197 on the chart. The track has become a firm favourite at arena-based sporting events and has featured on several Hollywood movie soundtracks such as Space Jam, Flubber and Bring It On. It also featured famously in the Friends TV series episode where the group played an acrimonious game of Thanksgiving American Football.
Hits Unlimited (1995–1996)
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In October 1995, 2 Unlimited released their first compilation album Hits Unlimited, prompting rumours that they were about to split up. The single "Do What's Good For Me" was another top 20 hit and their 27th appearance on Top Of The Pops. The song was also re-recorded as "Kids Like You And Me" to promote awareness about homeless youth in the Netherlands. Following the surprise belated success of "Get Ready For This" in the USA, the "best of" was heavily promoted there but only managed no. 107 on the Billboard 200, with the single reaching no. 33 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. The rumours continued when Pete Waterman announced that Ray and Anita had split up when in fact they hadn't, and Ray expressed his aspirations to be a record producer. In February 1996, the band performed at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival (Spanish: Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar) in Chile, topping the bill alongside Ace of Base. Despite their insistence that they were planning a world tour, in April 1996, shortly after
the release of the single "Jump for Joy", both Ray and Anita announced that 2 Unlimited was over.
It later emerged that after having spent so much time together they were no longer getting on as well as they once had, and there was disagreement about the future sound of 2 Unlimited. They had asked for more creative input and they also felt that they were not getting a fair share of the huge amount of money being earned by the project. As no agreement was reached, they each went their separate ways before a final single ("Spread Your Love") was released in June 1996. Jean-Paul DeCoster went on to sue Anita for breaking her contract, but he lost the case as it was considered that he had not paid Anita enough and was ordered to give her the
same amount of money he had demanded of her.Anita went on to DJ for Dutch radio station Radio 538, recorded a single with reggae artist Mad Cobra and in 2000 released a solo album called Reality. Ray created his own label called X-Ray Records, which scored a Top 10 hit in the Netherlands with T.O.F.'s "Funk It Up". He also released two solo singles in 1997 which failed to chart but found more success in 1999 with the group V.I.P. Allstars. Ray now lives in Monte Carlo with his wife and his son Rayvano, and Anita continues to tour clubs as part of the group
Divas of Dance. An Internet petition to reunite Ray, Anita, Jean-Paul and Phil in 2005 was unsuccessful.
II (1998–1999)
As they still owned the rights to the name "2 Unlimited", DeCoster and Wilde recruited two new (again Dutch) singers, Romy van Ooijen (b. 18 November 1971) and Marjon van Iwaarden (b. 18 June 1974), in order to capitalise on previous success. "Wanna Get Up" did well in the Netherlands, reaching no. 10 but the single, which was remixed by Sash! for UK release, was unsuccessful in the UK, barely scraping the top 40.
The album II, which was decidedly poppier than previous 2 Unlimited albums, was released in April 1998. It was a relative failure and subsequent singles "Edge Of Heaven" and "Never Surrender" couldn't stop the rot. Before long, both Romy and Marjon left the act.
Remixes (2000–present)In 2000, Byte Records released the remix singles "No Limit (Millennium Remixes)" and "Twilight Zone (Millennium Remixes)". A remix album was to be released that year but some master tapes were stolen from Byte, and taken to Russia where they were released as a bootleg compilation. In 2001, Byte finally released it "Greatest Hits Remixes" featuring many new remixes. Some of the remixes from the stolen master tapes released in Russia were not included. The album was released solely in Japan to curve the piracy. In 2002, Trance Remixes: Special Edition was released in Japan featuring many more new remixes not included in the previous compilation. In recent years, many "best of" compilations have been released in various territories, often with new remixes. Most notably, ZYX Records in 2003 released "No Limit 2.3", and it was a moderate hit, reaching no. 41 in the German singles chart. It was promoted by a new duo, Débora Remagen and James Giscombe they were being lined up as a 2 Unlimited "version 3". They still perform, mainly in Eastern Europe, although are not allowed to use their own voices. This due to rights issues.
A new CD and DVD set containing all the duo's video-clips called The Complete History was released in 2004 along with a single, "
Tribal Dance 2.4" (originally released on 12" vinyl in November 2003 as Tribal Dance 2.3). 2005 saw the release of "The Refreshed Album" in Mexico featuring stunning artwork, but the same remixes found on previous remix albums. In 2006, the DVD was re-packaged with a different CD Greatest Remix Hits, which was released in Australia. The following years would see this package re-released in Argentina, Denmark, Sweden, Asia and South Africa.
Ray and Anita continue to perform their old hits separately in nightclubs and university student union clubs around the world. They both plan to release new solo material in 2009.
On April 11, 2009, Ray and Anita are set to perform together for the first time in 13 years at the "I Love The 90s" concert in Hasselt, Belgium.
