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Sweet Coffee Biography
Are you looking for a special feeling? Then let Sweet Coffee take you by the hand with 'Special Kind Of Feeling', the second single from the new album, 'Perfect Storm'. An album that makes the best of promises come true. This is the story of a group that has come through the storm stronger than ever.
Unbelievable but true: there’s just over a year between 'Memory Lane' and 'Perfect Storm' the second album from Sweet Coffee. It doesn’t seem long enough considering everything that has happened to the group in that time: hits, awards, staff changes.
Let’s go back to the middle of 2004. 'Memory Lane' is in the shops, and a big name is born. Songs like 'Don't Need You' and 'Holdin' On' are being welcomed with open arms by DJ’s and Sweet Coffee is getting rave reviews in the home and overseas press. That sound! Those songs! That boldness! Because Sweet Coffee quickly seems to be more than just a studio project, when the group makes a risky move towards live gigs, so winning even more converts. Nearly 10,000 albums sold. That’s a pretty strong start.
It was obvious that the debut of Sweet Coffee hadn’t gone unnoticed when the group was nominated for a Zamu Award, the highest accolade you can get in your own country. The newcomers also turned up in the year listings. At the same time there’s a little ‘trouble in paradise’ because the singer sees the future a little differently than the founding members of the band, Patrick Bruyndonx and Raffaele Brescia. Gordian knots were cut, choices made. For a while Sweet Coffee is without a singer. Not for long though.
Because luckily there is Bibi Diabokua. A singer that Patrick and Raffaele already knew by name and reputation before they started with Sweet Coffee Bibi is available and wonder of wonders all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. "Fate sent us to Bibi ", Raffaele recalls. "We’d hardly met, before we were already recording songs together."
'New Day', the first single with the new line-up, seems to herald in 'Perfect Storm', the album on which the group began working right after Bibi’s arrival. The single is a statement, and a message of hope. The dream-debut of a new singer, who is fast becoming a whole lot more than just a singer.
Because Bibi – at home with dance and the 'nu soul' of Erykah Badu or Jill Scott – helps write all the songs on the new album, and so is becoming an important element in the new sound of Sweet Coffee. "Our sound could get even more positive, even more physical", she thinks. And so a sound comes into being that preserves the hit feel, as well as that jazzy funk feeling that is such a part of the distinct Sweet Coffee signature. But the new Sweet Coffee is more than that even. Just try out the new CD in the car one night on the deserted highway, and you’ll see what we mean: strong songs merge into one mood, slivers of nuances swathe melodies that bring together the best of pop music, dance and jazz. The everlasting class of Donald Fagen often sounds through...
Today, Sweet Coffee is a group with a story. The difficult choices of the last year have led to a trinity that is stronger than ever before. That’s where the title of the album 'Perfect Storm' comes from, says Raffaele. "That means the storm which we as a group all came through. But today, together with Bibi, we’re sailing calmer waters again. The period now behind us has strengthened us: we know now that we can overcome the greatest problems. Now we have the feeling, more than ever, that we’re on one long adventure. We can go anywhere we want with Sweet Coffee."
It’s precisely that, which remains one of the group’s biggest trump cards, and explains the crossover potential of this music. Maybe that’s what we mean with a 'Special Kind Of Feeling'? Sweet Coffee keeps on choosing not to choose: this group doesn’t make music for the clubs. Or for your living room. Or for your car, or for the radio. Sweet Coffee makes music for everywhere. And the next stop is the stage, the latest ambition of these three, to take it live and see what comes out of it. Watch and listen to this group and know that this project – just like all the others – is in full swing. And put out the word: Sweet Coffee is still here, stronger than ever.
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