Today we find ourselves visiting the Netherlands in the 1980’s. 2 Unlimited is a Dutch dance act founded by Belgian producers Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde in 1991 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Their first collaboration under the name of Bizz Nizz resulted in a single called “Don’t Miss The Party Line” which entered the top 10 in the UK. The two then decided to continue to work together.
They initially had created an instrumental track they called “Get Ready for This” in May 1991, and they decided that it needed some vocals. De Coster recalls: That 12-inch single became a club hit, and we invited Ray Slijngaard to have a go at it. We had worked with him on “Money Money”, an unreleased single by Bizz Nizz. By September he returned the tape to us. To our surprise, he had also added the female vocals of a certain Anita Doth, a traffic warden from Amsterdam. He told us she was a good friend of his out of the city’s nightlife. Ray discussed the possibility of forming a duo to front the project. They were so pleased with the result that they agreed to work with them as a duo, and thus 2 Unlimited was born.
As their first single, “Get Ready for This”, was well received in their home market, Belgium, where it managed to peak at No. 8. It also peaked at No. 10 in the Netherlands and managed to climb to No. 2 in Australia and the UK. The single worked its way up to No. 38 on the US Billboard chart only three years after its original release. A follow-up single, “Twilight Zone”, followed in January 1992, and topped the chart in the Netherlands. It also charted well in numerous markets, reaching No. 2 in the UK.
2 Unlimited’s lead single from their 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, Finland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and in the United Kingdom. In Germany, it was certified Platinum for sales of 500,000 units. The track received modest airplay on North American radio stations, reaching the top 25 in the US Dance charts.
“Tribal Dance” was released as a single shortly before the album No Limits! hit the stores in May 1993. It entered the top 5 in Austria, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and in the UK. In Germany, “Tribal Dance” was certified Gold for sales of over 250,000 units.
Three further singles were issued from the second album: “Faces”, which was considerably different in pace to previous releases; “Maximum Overdrive”; and a re-recorded version of “Let the Beat Control Your Body”. 2 Unlimited’s second album proved more successful than its predecessor, entering the top 5 album charts in Austria, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. In the UK, the album climbed all the way to the top of the album chart.
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, as well as the top 5 in Belgium, Germany, and Norway. In March 1995, while the follow-up single, “Here I Go”, was another top 5 hit in the Netherlands, the band’s commercial success seemed to be declining elsewhere as the song made it in the top 20 only in Austria, Belgium, and Sweden. The fourth and final single was the ballad “Nothing Like The Rain”, which was not quite as successful and did not receive a release in many territories, including the UK.
In October 1995, 2 Unlimited released their first compilation album, Hits Unlimited, prompting rumours that they were about to split up. Despite their insistence that they were planning a world tour, in April 1996, shortly after the release of the single “Jump for Joy”, both Slijngaard and Doth 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 band. 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.
