2 Brothers On The 4th Floor is one of the most successful bands in the world of Eurodance. Bobby and Martin Boer are the creators and founders of the Dutch duo. Two brothers started this project in their own apartments on the fourth floor, where they lived in 1991.
The 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor is one of the most successful Eurodance teams in the world. Bobby and Martin Boer, the creators of this Dutch duo, are the two brothers Bobby and Martin Boer who started this project in their apartment on the 4th floor where they lived in 1991.
Their first single became an instant international hit. "Can't Help Myself" has reached the top ten (10s) all over the world. "Turn Da Music Up", their second single, was less successful but received very well in clubs around the world.
The first two singles were performed by rapper Da Smooth Baron MC. He was paired with vocalist Gail Robinson on "Turn Da Music Up". After these two singles, the project did not release new compositions for almost two years.
This was almost until the end of 1993, when the Boer brothers presented new material called 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor. Together with this new material, they also introduced new guys. Da Smooth Baron MC and Gail Robinson vacated their seats for D-Rock and Des'Ray.
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More on D-Rock: D-Rock has been partying for 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor even before Da Smooth Baron MC joined the band! He was supposed to be the rapper on the first 2 Brothers single "Can't Help Myself". But since he was busy with some other things at the time, he decided not to join the 2 Brothers as their rapper. So he recommended 2 Brothers to another, namely Da Smooth Baron MC.
The first single from Des'Ray and D-Rock was titled "Never Alone". This is a eurodance composition about different races from all over the world living together in peace and harmony. As Des'Ray sings in this song:… .. Black And White, Dancing Together… Side By Side We'll Make Things Better… You're Never Alone… .. (… .. Black and White, dancing together… we are near let's make things better ... you are never alone ... ..)
This attitude pushed the single straight to the top of the Dutch charts, and after staying there for several weeks, it eventually went gold. After "Never Alone" the 2 Brothers continued to create other successful international hits including "Let Me Be Free", "Fly (Through The Starry Night)", "Come Take My Hand" and of course "Dreams (Will Come Alive)", their the most popular hit to date, which has been taken from their debut album of the same name. "Dreams (Will Come Alive)" became # 1 in Holland and topped the top ten hits in Italy, Spain, Belgium, France, Israel, Norway, Sweden, South Africa and many other countries.
Des'Ray and D-Rock weren't "complete" newcomers to the music world. Des'Ray, whose real name is Desire Manders, previously worked with Bobby and Martin on another dance project called Fun Da Mental. Great occasion to mention that she was in the Dutch charts with two singles at the same time in 1993! Simultaneously with the single 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor ("Never Alone") and another one from Fun Da Mental ("Dancing On A Higher Ground"). In 1996 she received her Cum Laude diploma from the conservatory (Jazz Music) and became one of the few dancers with a real musical education !! D-Rock released a solo single titled "I Can't Believe It's Over" before he joined the 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor. Unfortunately for him, this single was unsuccessful.
After Ray and Anita left 2 Unlimited, 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor can be regarded as one of the most successful dance teams in the Netherlands, along with Twenty 4 Seven and T-Spoon. With their 10 singles, they consistently took all 10 first places in the charts of their native country and several first places in the "dozens" of Norway, Sweden, Italy, Israel and many other countries.
The popular Italian dance team Cappella made several remixes for one of the 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor singles. "Fly (Through The Starry Night) - The Remixes" was released a couple of weeks after the original release and contained 4 mixes made by Cappella and Alici. These mixes included the Happy Hardcore Mix, Mars Plastic Mix, and two C. C. Q. T. Mixes (one radio mix and one longer version). These mixes had the typical Cappella-sound and this combined with Des'Ray and D-Rock vocals made the sound amazing !! Let's hope these two fantastic teams get together more often in the near future !!!
The 2 Brothers, meanwhile, are releasing a Christmas Carol. "Christmas Time" is based on another 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor single, "There's A Key", which was released a few weeks earlier. The Happy Hardcore "bouncing" beats were removed, the lyrics changed and only a few Christmas sounds were added to create a real Christmas atmosphere.
996 saw the release of their second album, simply titled "2." Aside from hit singles, it also contains some good R&B tracks that indicate an impending style change from 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor. If you're in luck, you may have received a copy of Album "2" containing a bonus CD-ROM! It includes clips of the most famous hits and has 2 Megamix video clips - "Euro Megamix" and "Happy Hardcore Megamix". These video clips are quite unique because not only the songs were mixed together, but the video clips were "mixed" !!
If you are unfamiliar with "Eurodance" or "Happy Hardcore" you can check out the first album "Dreams" which is completely eurorodance-style and the second album "2" which contains several happy hardcore tracks !!
In May 1997 they released the last single taken from the album "2". "One Day" is the first R&B track to be released by 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor.
The video for this song was filmed in sunny California and shows Des'Ray as Madame Futura and as a girl who works at a gas station. D-Rock is a big man with a lot of money. He heads for Las Vegas for a good casino game, but stops at a gas station to refuel. But when refueling his car, Des'Ray takes all the money from Dee-Rock's bag and fills it with old newspapers. When D-Rock gets to Las Vegas, he discovers that it is missing. He goes back to the gas station and looks for Des'Ray because he finds out that she was the one who conned him. While D-Rock is inside the station, Des'Ray gets into his car and drives off ... with his money!
This is a really cool video for a classic summer hit! Maxi-CD contains 9 tracks. It also contains some happy hardcore remixes by Critical Mass and Lipstick and some R&B mixes. "Real-X" was also included in the Maxi single !!
In August 1997 they released another eurodance-stormer called "I'm Thinkin 'Of U". This single was a cover version of the Sister Sledge song. Transformed into a new and very danceable eurodance track, this single naturally reached its well-deserved tops in the charts.
The video clip for this song is somewhat similar to the continuation of the video for "One Day" !!! This time, D-Rock wants her money back and sneaks along with 2 villainous girls to the Des'Ray villa, where she has a party. Fortunately, Des'Ray has already been informed of Dee-Rock's whereabouts, so she knows what to expect. And she is organizing her own trap for the robbers !!! ... How is this whole end ?? The end is not all, but for those who are interested it will be a great incentive to watch this clip !!!
Additional Information: Around 1995, Bobby and Martin Boer released a single titled "Eye Of The Tiger" in the name of X-Generation. This track is a cover version of a song made by the famous Survivor for the Rocky films. Des'Ray became the vocalist for this song, but the song was not officially released in the Netherlands, as it was aimed at a foreign market. If you stumble upon this energetic eurodance track, check it out! She's really good at listening!
Seven months later, after the previous single "I'm Thinkin 'Of U" Des'Ray and D-Rock are back with their new single !!! And wow !!! What a style change !!!
The new single, which was released at the end of March, is titled "Do You Know?" This song is a remake of the old classic "Theme From Mahogany" by Diana Ross. Remakes and covers of famous songs are the new trend for 2 Brothers On the 4th Floor ?? This is their second remake in a row!
Back to the song ... After reading the previous few sentences, you might well understand that new songs are no longer eurodance ... However, this is not an R&B or a happy hardcore track either !!! "Do You Know?" This is a EuroClassic / Classic Pop-composition in the Sweetbox style "Everything's Gonna Be Allright" and "Don't Run Away".
The "stomping" beat does not appear, but is replaced in accordance with the classic instruments, which are almost identical to those used by Sweetbox. Besides the chorus, you can hear Des'Ray singing a part of the opera that is very reminiscent of The Rapsody "Prince Igor" by singer Sissel. Des'Ray and D-Rock are very happy to have this song in the mx repertoire and change the style !!
This song is quite good because it stays in the memory after the first listening. Des'Ray's vocals are very sublime and the D-Rock sounds are as vicious as ever. The 2 Brothers seems to be one of the few dance teams to release 'message songs'. Only by carefully listening to the words of this composition, you will understand what is meant. Also a nice video was released with the song, which is definitely worth seeing !!
Eurodance on this road to the top is over, they are releasing a completely different single and I hope they really know where they are going ... But luckily for us, both Des'Ray and D-Rock said they like eurodance too much (to forget about him J), so the new album will definitely contain some new euro tracks!
And yes ... they kept their promise ... They are back with a new single called "The Sun Will Be Shining". Des'Ray and D-Rock return to eurodance roots with this track that recognizes the 2 Brothers bass line !!! Here is the danceable "I'm Thinkin 'Of U", and the more sensual "Let Me Be Free", and even the classic "Fly". Great composition. Every eurodance lover must have it.
Additional Information: 'Glassmaster', (original used to stamp the CD) "The Sun Will Be Shining" was lost before it got to the CD maker. Everyone thought it was stolen, but it turned out that someone at CNR Records accidentally sent it to the 2 Brothers fan club. The fan club returned it immediately and now "The Sun Will Be Shining" is available to everyone! Both the 2-track single and the full CD contain a bonus CD-Rom track! Both have the video for "The Sun Will Be Shining" and the CD-Maxi contains a bonus called "The Making Of ... 2 Brothers In Venezuela". In addition, the full CD contains club mixes by Mark van Dale With Enrico, Dub Foundation and Dance Therapy. Pay special attention to the Dub Foundation Mix ... the sound is absolutely amazing, reminiscent of what Carlos used on "Rush Me" and "The Silmarillia" !!
February 1999 was the month that "The Sun Will Be Shining" was released !!! The name of the new single was still kept secret ...
For "Heaven Is Here" the 2 Brothers completely revamped the sound to future trance, creating one of their most catchy and powerful songs of the time! Des'Ray is busy with all vocals, so she sings both the verses and the chorus! The new single from 2 Brothers is a perfect example of future trance ... a new generation of eurodance songs. So it sounds like any Sash song! or DJ Quicksilver! Remixes were done by Olav Basoski, D-Rock and Marco V. & Benjamin.
In October 1999, 8 months after the performance of 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor, the single "Heaven Is Here" was officially released! Next, a new dance track is being prepared for release! The title of the new single is "Living In Cyberspace" and the basis for the old Trance-X single "Living On Video" It was slated for a Dutch release on October 29th. This single was to be the last one before the release of the new album, slated for early 2000.
June 2000: We said that "Living In Cyberspace" was the last pre-release of the new album ... but the 2 Brothers decided to choose a different song for the album release. This time they decided to remake the song taken from the musicians "Oliver!" The song "Who Will Buy?" was transformed into the groovy "Wonderful Feeling". If all goes well, this single will be the last pre-release of the new album! A video for this song was also released.
