Corona (band)

Italian Eurodance band

This article is about the Italian music band. For the Irish music band, see The Coronas. For other uses, see Corona (disambiguation).

Corona

Corona's lead singer Olga de Souza performing in Brazil, 2013

Background information
Origin| Italy
Genres| Eurodance
Years active| 1993–present
Labels| DWA (Dance World Attack), ZYX
Members| Olga Maria de Souza
Past members|

* Francesco Bontempi
* Jenny B
* Sandy Chambers
* Francesco Conte
* Paolo Dughero

Website| www.coronadance.com

Corona is an Italian Eurodance project. Initially as a group formed by Brazilian-born singer and model Olga Maria de Souza and producer Francesco "Checco" Bontempi (a.k.a. Lee Marrow), they found commercial success with the worldwide hits "The Rhythm of the Night" (1993) and "Baby Baby" (1995). After the second album, Bontempi left the group and was replaced by Francesco Conte and Paolo Dughero.[1][2]

## History

[edit]

### Beginning of the band's career: 1993–1996

[edit]

Corona's first single, "The Rhythm of the Night", was released in Italy in November 1993[3] on Roberto Zanetti's DWA record label and became an instant hit. It featured the voice of the Italian singer Giovanna Bersola, better known by her stage name Jenny B. It stayed at number 1 on the Italian music chart for eight consecutive weeks, but was not released elsewhere until the following year. A remixed version of the song became a number 2 hit in the United Kingdom in September 1994.[4] Like several early 1990s Eurodance/Hi-NRG songs that eventually became American hits, "The Rhythm of the Night" did not become popular in the United States until well after its success had peaked in Europe. However, by spring 1995, the song was all over American radio and clubs, eventually reaching #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was later released as a track in the 1995 studio album The Rhythm of the Night. Lead vocals for the remaining songs in the album were by the Welsh singer Sandy Chambers who also sang on the group's second album, Walking On Music.

Corona followed up with the 1995 singles "Baby Baby" and "Try Me Out", with similar success. The single "I Don't Wanna Be a Star" was a moderate hit. A fifth single, "Do You Want Me", became a regional hit in discotheques in the Eastern U.S. The Rhythm of the Night album sold modestly, peaking at #2 on the US Top Heatseekers chart and at #154 on the Billboard 200.

### 1996–2004

[edit]

In 1996, after the demise of Discomagic Records, DWA Records reorganized its staff due to internal conflicts.[5] As a result, the production of Corona was moved from DWA Records to Bontempi's own label (World Of Music, which was also a sublabel of Discomagic).

The third album, And Me U, was released in 2001 by Brazil's Abril Music, under the name Corona X. This time the vocals were by new vocalists, the sisters Bernadette "Brandy" Jones and Bambi Jones' (who died of cancer in 2010). Again, de Souza was just the face but still not the voice, as many people thought. Although Bontempi co-wrote some of the material in the album, he did not participate in the production and left the band. In 2004, as a tribute to de Souza's native Brazil, Corona sang "A cor dos teus olhos" ("The Colour of Your Eyes") which was distributed by 5000. De Souza described the song like an imprint of her childhood memory. It was an immediate hit. The same year "Garota Brasileira", a song with spicy samba sounds, became a hit in Japan.[6]

### 2005–2009

[edit]

Towards the end of 2005, Souza finally sang on the records for the first time and re-emerged onto the European music scene with "Back in Time", peaking at #36 in the Italian charts. It was followed by "I’ll Be Your Lady" (2006), the first song co-authored by de Souza.

### 2010–2016

[edit]

Corona's album Y Generation (2010), reached #1 on the Italian iTunes dance album chart. The first single was "Angel"”, followed by "Saturday" and "My Song". Corona's last single, "Super Model" reached #44 on the Italian Singles Chart and was later included in a re-edition of the album called Y Generation Remixed.

### 2020s

[edit]

In February 2024, they were selected alongside DJ Jad, Wlady and Ice MC to compete in the final of Una voce per San Marino 2024, the Sammarinese national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.[7] They finally placed 14th in the contest classification while the Spanish Rock music band Megara took 1st place.

## Discography

[edit]

### Studio albums

[edit]

Title  | Album details  | Peak chart positions  | Certifications

|
|
|

AUS
[8] | FIN
[9] | SCO
[10] | JPN
[11] | SWI
[12] | UK
[13] | US
[14] | US
Heat
[15]
The Rhythm of the Night |

* Released: April 1995
* Label: Dance World Attack

| 10  | 30  | 21  | 1 | 35  | 18  | 154  | 2  |

* AUS: Gold[16]

Walking on Music |

* Released: June 1998
* Label: RTI Music (Italy)

| —  | —  | —  | 5  | 58  | —  | —  | —  |
And Me U |

* Released: July 2000
* Label: Universal Records (Italy)

| —  | —  | —  | 10  | —  | —  | —  | —  |
Y Generation |

* Released: July 2010
* Label: 1st Pop (Italy)

| —  | —  | —  | 8  | 59  | —  | —  | —  |
"—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

### Singles

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Peak chart positions  | Certifications | Album

|
|
|
|

ITA
[17] | AUS
[18] | AUT
[19] | FIN
[20] | FRA
[21] | GER
[22] | SPA
[23] | SWE
[24] | UK
[25] | US
[26]
1993  | "The Rhythm of the Night"  | 1  | 8  | 6  | —  | 3  | 8  | 3  | 28  | 2  | 11  |

* AUS: Gold[27]
* FRA: Gold[28]
* GER: Gold[29]
* UK: Platinum[30]

| The Rhythm of the Night
1995  | "Baby Baby"  | 1  | 7  | 13  | 6  | 16  | 41  | 2  | 10  | 5  | 57  |

* AUS: Gold[31]
* UK: Silver[32]

"Try Me Out"  | 2  | 10  | 20  | 5  | 11  | 40  | 4  | 17  | 6  | —  |

* AUS: Gold[31]
* UK: Silver[33]

"I Don't Wanna Be a Star"  | 2  | 109  | 25  | 6  | 18  | 69  | 1  | 37  | 22  | —  |
1996  | "Megamix"  | 20  | 161  | —  | —  | 40  | —  | —  | 43  | 36  | —  |  | Non-album single
1997  | "The Power of Love"  | 25  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | 7  | —  | —  | —  |  | Walking on Music
1998  | "Walking on Music"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | 4  | —  | —  | —  |
"Magic Touch"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | 3  | —  | —  | —  |
2000  | "Good Love"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |  | And Me U
"Volcano"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |
2006  | "Back in Time"  | 36  | —  | —  | 15  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |  | Non-album singles
"I'll Be Your Lady"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |
2008  | "Baby I Don't Care"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |
2009  | "La Playa Del Sol"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |
2010  | "Angel"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |  | Y Generation
2011  | "My Song (La Lai)"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |
2012  | "Hurry Up" (featuring Mikey P.) | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |  | Non-album singles
2013  | "Queen of Town"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |
2014  | "Stay with Me"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |
2015  | "We Used to Love"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |
2016  | "Super Model"  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  | —  |
"—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Francesco Bontempi". Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
2. ^ Corona Archived 5 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine on Discogs
3. ^ "Corona". The Eurodance Encyclopaedia. Archived from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
4. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 121\. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
5. ^ DWA Records at archive.org
6. ^ "Me - Corona - Olga Maria de Souza". Coronadance. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
7. ^ "San Marino 2024: 'Una Voce Per San Marino' names released". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 19 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
8. ^ "Australian Albums". Australian Charts. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
9. ^ "Finnish Albums". Finnish Charts. Archived from the original on 9 September 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
10. ^ Scottish Albums:
* "The Rhythm of the Night": "Corona - The Rhythm of the Night". Official Charts. Archived from the original on 18 January 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
11. ^ "Ranking > CD Album" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
12. ^ "Swiss Albums". Hitparade. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
13. ^ "UK Albums". Official Charts. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
14. ^ "Billboard 200: Corona". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
15. ^ "Heatseekers Album: Corona". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
16. ^ "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Albums 1995". Imgur. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
17. ^ "Italian Singles". hitparadeitalia.it. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
18. ^ Australian (ARIA Chart) peaks:
* Peaks within the top 50: "australian-charts.com > Discography Corona". Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 1 December 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
* "I Don't Wanna Be a Star": "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 5 June 2015". Imgur. Archived from the original on 5 June 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
* "Megamix": "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 12 July 2016". Imgur. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
19. ^ "Austrian Singles". austriancharts.at. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
20. ^ "Sisältää hitin: Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1961" (in Finnish). Sisältää Hitin - Suomen listalevyt (Timo Pennanen). Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
21. ^ "French Singles". lescharts.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
22. ^ German Singles:
* "The Rhythm of the Night": "Corona - The Rhythm of the Night" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
* "Baby Baby": "Corona - Baby Baby" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
* "Try Me Out": "Corona - Try Me Out" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
* "I Don't Wanna Be a Star": "Corona - I Don't Wanna Be a Star" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
23. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
24. ^ "Swedish Albums". swedishcharts.com. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
25. ^ "UK Singles". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
26. ^ "Billboard 100: Corona". Billboard Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
27. ^ "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles 1994". Imgur. ARIA. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
28. ^ French certifications Archived 25 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 January 200)
29. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Corona)" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
30. ^ "BPI Certification". British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on 25 March 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
31. ^ a b "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles 1995". Imgur. ARIA). Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
32. ^ "British certifications – Baby Baby". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
33. ^ "Award". Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Corona

* Olga Souza
* Francesco Bontempi
* Jenny B
* Sandra Chambers

Main albums|

* The Rhythm of the Night
* Walking on Music
* And Me U
* Y Generation

Singles|

* "The Rhythm of the Night"
* "Baby Baby"
* "Try Me Out"
* "I Don't Wanna Be a Star"

Related articles|

* Italo house
* Eurodance

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI

Artists|

* MusicBrainz

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